Buying gifts is a difficult task if you're someone who genuinely cares. You could spend weeks considering what the person likes, what the person might need, what the person might enjoy, or what the person might not know they want. This might be why it hurts when you receive a gift that isn't reflective of your personality at all. It can feel like the gift-giver invested zero time in deciding what to get, showing they never really knew you.
Reddit user, u/Volitile_Star330, wanted to hear about:
You Play The Sportsball Game, Right?
lisa simpson basketball GIF
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I have never ever displayed any interest in sports whatsoever. When I was 13 or 14 my dad got me a basketball hoop while my brother got a kick-a-- stereo. I knew it was an expensive gift so I spent some time outside for a bit just shooting baskets (or trying to anyway) but I was super bummed that I got something I didn't want and that my dad didn't know me at all.
You Got To Do Everything Yourself
Over the 30+ years my husband and I have been together, he has probably gotten me maybe a handful of gifts that didn't suck. He's given me CDs of music I loathe (but he likes), DVDs of movies I'd never watch, sports equipment for sports I do not play, ugly a-- clothing that were not in my size, food that that everyone who has ever met me knows I do not eat, household cleaning appliances, etc.
I don't know how many times I've opened these gifts and wanted to ask him what in the wide world of sports was he thinking when he picked these items out. I pretty much just buy my own birthday and Christmas presents now. That way I'm never disappointed.
See Your Faces Everywhere
A poker card set with pictures of me and my girlfriend. (The same picture on every card)
I hate poker, and I was told to not use the cards to play. So.. wtf am I supposed to do with them?
25 Years Too Late
Sparkly silver short-sleeved crop-top sweater.
I'm hot 100% of the time - I don't wear sweaters. But if I did, what use is one that doesn't cover my arms or belly. It was also about 25 years too young (a look) for me.
Yes, I am hard to buy for. But this wasn't even in the right ballpark!
(Returned it for a feather pillow. Thank goodness for gift receipts.)
Jerks
I got shapewear as a birthday gift when I was 15.
My family threw a quinceañera party for me and invited a ton of extended family I didn't know. This lady who hadn't seen me in person since I was a toddler gave me shapewear. It wasn't even good shapewear, it was a cheap stretchy white top that only made it to my waist, so it turned my boobs and belly into a cylinder, my hips/waist looked like a popped can of pillsbury biscuits.
A bunch of other ladies gave me business casual tops, which I passed on to my mom since we were both the same size and she liked them. I was going to donate them. My mom wore one to another party by mistake and the lady who gave it to me saw and called it out. My mom just told her I let her borrow it but the lady wasn't having it.
I get not knowing me, but who thinks a 15 year old wants shapewear and office work clothes? Most 15 year olds in my area can only get retail or food jobs that require a uniform anyway.
What 12-Year Old Doesn't Need...Light...?
My papa got me a lamp.
Don't get me wrong, it's great and I do use it but.. I was 12.
What Do You Mean You Don't Eat No Meat?
Granny wanted (kindly) to buy lots of meat for our wedding breakfast.
We're both vegetarian :/
When They're Trying To Make Sure You Get The Message
When I was a teenager, my mom would always buy me makeup. Like whatever the latest and greatest palettes and kits were or whatever. I've never been very feminine and I hate wearing makeup. On one hand, I felt bad because makeup is so expensive. On the other, I always thought it was kind of weird like is she trying to guilt me into being a pretty little girl
Be Careful Of What You Say Around Family
intimidating homer simpson GIF
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I said I liked wolves ONCE and suddenly from ages 12-17 all the gifts I got were wolf-related, even as I started (VERY LOUDLY) thinking cats were great and wolves are kinda mediocre IMO.
If I get one more wolf ceramic I'm busting down a wall. I haven't even mentioned wolves in years. I turn 22 in a few months.
Okay, This One Is Just Odd
My grandparents made us (3 siblings) tubs with wooden tops for coloring. We could put our crayons in the tub and then color on the wooden top.
We were all teenagers.
You Have One Of These, Right?
Super late, but my aunt once got me an ipad case.
I've never owned any apple products.
Maybe You Can Use The Can As A Wheel?
Got a pair of leather work gloves and a can of roast beef from my grandparents for my 16th birthday.
I was into skateboarding...
Blow The Reaper Down
My parents once got me a grim reaper Halloween decoration that sang "Blow the Man Down" for my birthday (in September). I was thoroughly confused. My mom said they found it in some gift shop in a town they went for vacation, and that I "like weird things".
Thanks, mom.
Wait...You Don't Even Know Which One?
Me and my siblings were jointly gifted a tree, but all we got was a certificate to say a tree was dedicated to us but couldn't be told which tree on the plot so we can't even visit it....
That's Fatherly Love
One year for [Christmas] my dad gave me a used flashlight.
3 months later on my birthday he gave me a half empty pack of batteries. For the flashlight.
When A Gag Gift Backfires
my sister and mother gave me children's toys for my 17th birthday. we're talking like rattles and soft toys that are made for babies development.
nothing else.
they thought i'd find it funny. i thought it was really hurtful.
Someone Who's Never Been To Your Home
Lush is considered fairly fancy around here. For about 4-5 years after I moved out of home, three separate relatives would give me lush bath bombs every Christmas.
I lived in maybe 6 rentals in that time, and not one of them had a bath.
I too have a drawer full of bath bombs and no bathtub. But I'm hopeful that one day I will find a bathtub to use my lifetime supply of bath bombs
When They Really Don't Know You
One Christmas my mom and uncle each got me a bottle of liquor.
I can't drink. I have an extreme alcohol intolerance. Get real bad Asian flush, a migraine, my chest gets real tight. It's awful.
When They REALLY Don't Know You
season 14 episode 6 GIF
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Tattoo removal coupon.
I dont even have any tattoos
"Why would you buy me a gun rack? I don't even own A gun?!?"
That's what your comment reminded me of.
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I miss people being sane. Though that maybe election cycle issues not COVID. We'll never know.
I thought I was Alone...
Black Friday Nbc GIF by SuperstoreGiphy"Being able to grocery shop after 11 pm."
Reading_Rainboner
"Hell yes. I miss the days where the Walmart across the street was open 24 hours."
Small_Tax_9432
let's just go...
"I miss spontaneity... everything now seems to have a barrier of difficulty."
iidosee
"I live very close to Disneyland so I have an annual pass. My friends and I would just go there after work and hang out and grab a bite to eat."
"Now, we have to reserve a day to go. And most of the time, the days are at 'full' capacity so we couldn't even reserve. I don't want to schedule to hang out at Disneyland for a couple hours for July. So yeah, I definitely miss the 'lets go eat at Disneyland tonight?' texts."
mymymissmai
Not til 24-25
"Functioning global supply chains. Ah, the product you want has got microchips in it? 9 month wait."
richard-king
"Minimum, I'd been saying for a while now that I wouldn't expect a true return to normalcy in terms of electronics prices till 2024-2025. Although Crypto crashing through the floor really took some of the pressure off graphics cards which I really appreciate."
statiiic
WTF?!?!
"How affordable everything was!"
Disastrous_Hour_6776
"Yep. Today I was bagging up my things at the grocery store and I heard the cashier say to the lady behind me 'thats $78.12.' She had -- 2 boxes of Kellogg's corn flakes, a carton of 12 eggs, milk, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, a small cheese cake, English muffins, coffee, and a small whole frozen chicken that could maybe feed 3 people if the meat portioning was small."
SnowyInuk
Sushi
sushi GIFGiphy"My favorite sushi place. It was good quality, close by, kid-friendly, and not too expensive."
InannasPocket
All of this... it was a simpler time.
NASTY
Janet Jackson Reaction GIFGiphy"As a retail worker, just how f**king NASTY some people have gotten."
DmitriPetrov*itch
"They applauded you for being an essential worker but won’t vote for policies that’ll raise minimum wage while insisting a wage cap for heavily paid employees."
sketchysketchist
CHANGES your DNA...
"Some of the people closest to me became very bitter and petty over the last 2 years. So many people have the 'crazy eyes' now."
__--__7
"So true and holidays with the family is like who has the biggest tinfoil hat building contest. How many jumps does your brain have to go through to think that the Covid vaccine CHANGES your DNA into the patented DNA so that the government now controls your body."
"So like vaccinated people now have a singular DNA set. I feel like I still have a chunk of my brain just broken off due to that comment alone. I was also told by same family member that I could never donate blood again due to the vaccine. I guess it is so my patented DNA doesn't affect people?? FYI my vaccinated butt just donated today fine and multiple other times after the vaccine."
tyreka13
Homeward Bound
"House prices."
adrianinked
"I'm resigned to never thinking I have a chance on owning property where I live. I'm 30 and just can't imagine it anymore. And I don't want to live anywhere else so, whatever."
Osdab2daf
"That didn’t happen because of the pandemic. That was already happening regardless."
CH11DW
Oh Mickey
"All Day Breakfast at McDonalds."
hutch2522
"It was honestly hell to do, and not very popular. ITs margins aren't anywhere dinner and lunch specials. ON top of that, the temperatures are such that They require its own grill, meaning that if you have 2 grills in shop, you are down 50% of lunch capacity."
Freyas_Follower
Way back when...
Season 5 Friends Tv Show GIF by FriendsGiphy"Hanging out with friends. And I mean waaaaaay before Covid. Like 2006 back when I had some friends."
LoocsinatasYT
I miss the old days. Maybe we'll get back there.
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I'm waffling between G-O-D and nothing. So please give me some education.
911
Role Playing Reaction GIF by Hyper RPGGiphy"We need to look out for each other because help isn't coming."
cknipe
Peace Out
"More than 2 decades ago, a priest was giving a sermon in my church and he said 'our faith requires you to believe without question. Why call it faith if you have to ask questions?' I haven't returned to church. Not until my wedding day but you know what I mean."
asiangontear
Delusion
"When I was young I used to think that after death you would have access to a PC that you could see absolutely anything about your life. Stats, any question you had no matter how obscure, replays of moments, perspectives of others in relation to you. No matter what you wanted to know, if it was relatable to you, you could see it. I know it's silly, but as time goes on I just want it to be real, and I don't think I'd have any issue allowing myself to fall into that delusion."
eggwardpenisglands
I think nothing happens...
"Realistically, I think nothing happens. We literally experience nothing after death. Same thing that we experience before birth. We don't exist, so it's nothing. I think the tenant that we should follow while living is to try to be happy and healthy while minimizing the damage we do to each other."
"What I would LIKE to happen after death is whatever you believe in, exists. I think Christians should get to go to heaven if they truly believe in it, Hindus and Buddhists get reincarnated, and everyone else also gets to experience what they believe they will experience."
"'I would still experience Nothing. Maybe it's one of those things where at the moment of death their brain makes them experience what feels like an infinitely long moment in time where they experience their afterlife. I just think it would be neat for everybody."
Better_Meat_
Shrug
Happy GIFGiphy"Best advice I received from a dear senior on their way out. 'You win some, you lose some' shrug. Nothing divine, life is that simple and wonderful, accept it and move on."
Tune_Kindly
It all sounds pretty simple. Why are people so up in arms about Atheists?
Whatever
Bored Episode 15 GIF by The SimpsonsGiphy"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do."
imCIK
Cool with Empty
"Nothing. [Serious]."
rumblingtummy29
"I feel this way about death. When I was 5, my grandfather died and my cousin simple said, he is dead, that means you are gone forever. Everything ends up dying, even plants and animals. I'm now in my 40's and still have this simplistic view of life and death. People think I'm ambivalent to life and death but it's just what it is."
thepigfish82
puppet-masters...
"I think a lot of religious people struggle with the fact that we are all just swirling units of chaos. There is no grand plan or great orchestrator. I think that’s why people who are prone to religion are also susceptible to things like Q anon and the Cabal and all that. They REALLY want to believe that there is some almighty puppet-master who determines all of humanity’s fate."
Lngtmelrker
“we’re living in a society!”
"Just be a kind and empathetic person not because you’re worried about some cosmic justice, but because it’s the right thing to do. If there is some being that created us there’s no way they actually care about believing in it or adhering to some rules from over 2000 years ago."
"Also a big thing for me is that I find the idea that you need religion or the Bible in order to have morals and ethics pretty dumb. It’s pretty f**king clear that most evangelicals have neither. But my main thing is being a good person simply because, as George Costanza once said we’re living in a society!' If you’re only a good person in order to make it to heaven you probably aren’t actually a good and moral person."
conservative_genius
That's All
Circle Of Life Loop GIFGiphy"You're born. You live. You die. That's it. After you die you cease to exist, the same as before you were born."
serefina
Believe what you want. We're all here together. So let's focus there.
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I feel like this article can go on forever. Let's get some highlights.
Wasted Time
Nbc Im Done GIF by SuperstoreGiphy"Meetings that could and should have been an email."
Sirena609
Lotto People
"Getting stuck behind people playing the lottery at a corner store."
thenuggetlover
"I also used to work in a gas station and you’re SO right. I f**king hated the lottery people. Especially since my store had a small staff and there was usually only one of us working at a time, which meant that I couldn’t get any of my other work done as long as they were there."
"And you’re right, it’s also pretty sad to watch. I had one lady who used to come in every day and spent hundreds and HUNDREDS of dollars on scratch tickets. One day, she won $200 after spending probably around $600 and she was so excited and saying she can 'finally pay her bills.'"
i-am-your-god-now
Aware...
"No situational awareness. Job, home, shopping, driving. Think for one minute and go about. OBSERVE!!"
Dizzy-Foundation8122
"My mom is one of those people who leave the shopping cart in the middle of the damn aisle and proceed to walk twenty feet away. After correcting her a million times to no effect I just walk away now so people don’t know I’m with her."
OutrageousEvent
Shut Up!
"Endless barking in the middle of the night, I love animals but that sh*t I can't stand."
Acceptable-Lemon2924
"Endless barking in general drives me up a wall. One of my friends dogs was barking almost an entire gaming session the other day. I wanted to reach through the computer and smack him for letting it go on."
bangersnmash13
Kindness
customer service waiter GIFGiphy"People being mean to service workers, especially if the workers are very young."'
scaryboilednoodles
All of these things. I hate them all.
Admit It
Admit It Tell The Truth GIF by TV LandGiphy"People who never accept fault when they mess something up. Like, why blame a million people when it was clearly you who did it???"
Quirky-Area-8978
From Above
"My upstairs neighbors."
lutzow89
"I had terrible neighbors at my previous apartment. It was a one person studio for students, but her boyfriend was clearly living with her illegally and he was loud."
"One night we knocked n the door at 3 AM because of the loud music and an unknown girl opened the door. I just thought they were having a little party. But the next door I saw the girl living there come home with a suitcase after having been away for the weekend... Her BF was cheating on her in her own apartment."
Th3_Accountant
Move Away
"People who sit directly next to me at the airport, movie theater, any other place where you can choose a seat when there is PLENTY of other seating."
BacardiPardy33
"I can’t YES this enough and the ones who can’t park for crap so they park so close you can’t open doors on one side of the car or the ones who park directly behind when you pulled through so the door won’t open to load groceries."
BacardiPardy33
It's Over
"People who try to restart old drama. Like I'm done with you, just leave me alone."
Tired_Potatos
"Yep, half the reason I've basically quit playing one of my favorite online video games. People keep bringing old crap up or sh*tting on on someone who used to be our friend. I got tired of it so I just ejected the game out of me."
CaucasianHumus
AHHHHH!!!
move leading GIFGiphy"People walking too slow in front of me with no way to get around them. It’s even worse if it’s a couple or group taking up the whole sidewalk. HAVE SOME SPATIAL AWARENESS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
_-v0x-_
Life in general pisses me off. I'm easy.
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