The Most Useless Gifts People Have Ever Received
Reddit user magdalene_kk asked: 'what's the most useless gift you've ever gotten?'
Let's be honest. We all enjoy the kind gesture of gift-giving–especially when you're on the receiving end.
Sometimes the gift you receive symbolizes friendships, or something simple that acknowledges how special you are from a work colleague.
Even gag gifts are fun. After all, the gift-giver has taken the time to look for an item that will trigger a hilarious response, knowing you might get a kick out of it, perhaps due to an inside joke.
After all, it's the thought that counts, right?
Occasionally, however, you might receive a gift that will make you want to hide an ungrateful expression on your face as people are watching.
What could those be?
Strangers online had a few ideas after Redditor magdalene_kk asked:
"What's the most useless gift you've ever gotten?"
Intentions behind these gifts were questioned.
Wrong Size
"Clothes that were too small. Intentionally small."
"I’m a size 4 (I’m short). My aunt got me some really nice tops in a size 0 because 'you looked so good last summer when you got all svelte.'”
"I had bronchitis and lost 10lbs."
– Dramiotic
Reading Material
"My former MIL used to 'gift' me all the owners manuals from her small appliances purchased in last year as an actual Christmas gift. The first year this happened I was very perplexed. She of course explained 'I read of these things'. For stuff I actually owned but for her electric knife sharpener or (my favorite) the garbage disposal they had installed lol"
– Mundane-Cabinet9883
Not A Win-Win
"I was in college across the country but went to visit my mother. For Christmas she gave me a stack of board games (trivial pursuit, Life...) but when I want to leave she said they had to stay there. We never played [board] games but she wanted an excuse to buy them for herself. Thanks.... merry Christmas I guess."
– azorianmilk
Sometimes, the gift-giver is a little presumptuous thinking the recipient would actually use and appreciate the gift.
Niche Appliance
"A quesadilla maker. I know their heart was in the right place, but it was HUGE, impossible to clean, and doesn't do anything that I can't already do with a normal non-stick frying pan. One of quickest gifts I've ever gotten rid of after taking it home. It was literally too big for any of our cupboards."
– DevinBelow
The Dullest Cut
"That's such a mood. Got a set of knives from my parents a couple years back. I do a lot of cooking, they thought it would be a nice gift. The knives themselves were trash, I can stand the chefs knife point first on the back of my hand and it won't break the skin. And the block they came in couldn't be cleaned, so that's not much use either. I don't want to be ungrateful, but holy hell."
– CheesusAlmighty
Not For Every Occasion
"My wife got me a travel lint roller for Christmas. Granted I was on my way to Iraq...so technically I was about to travel, but lint was the least of my worries."
– GOAT0352
Out Of Tune
"A Harmonica from my mother one Christmas."
"She said it was something musical and cost her €30, I was convinced it was the Red Hot Chili Pepper DVD I kept mentioning and really wanted."
"I was really into playing guitar at the time, but had zero interest in a harmonica in some random off key."
– PatTheLogicalLiar
And these just might be the absolute worst, "Are you kidding me?" type gifts.
Ye Olde Log
"My MIL regifted me a Christmas gift she never even opened. It was a loaf of homemade sourdough bread that had undergone a year of anaerobic decomposition."
– zenos_dog
No Value
"An expired gift card…"
– Chaitoshi
"I've gotten those too. They're usually just gift cards someone else has gotten, but never got around to using."
– JackFisherBooks
Sugar Rush
"Cheap sweets from my in laws. Like off brand cookies, donuts, etc. After the conversation about being diabetic. Also after a conversation about my parents being pastry chefs. I didn't take them with me when I left their house."
– cardinal1977
Imposter
"A cheap knock-off Barbie doll. It was a secret Santa gift the girl who gave it to me said it could be my girlfriend. I just gave it to my niece who wasn't so thrilled about it either."
– Beneficial-Jelly5746
You don't have to spend a lot of money to delight someone with a gift.
But if you're going to spend a few bucks on the cheapest knock-off brand treats from the dollar store, make sure you remember the person for whom it's intended isn't a diabetic.
Also, don't dump your unwanted Christmas presents from last year under the guise of a goodwill gesture.
That's just unacceptable.
Hate is never a good thing.
But everyone once and a while we can't help ourselves.
There are just some things in life that deserve no love.
We don't want to hate because it's unhealthy for us personally to carry it around.
But giving it to something worthy can be freeing.
Like airplane ticket fees. Okay, I'm angry now.
Redditor IssaHunna wanted everyone to discuss all the things being shown justifiable rage. They asked:
"What’s gets a lot of hate, but deserves every bit of it?"
Also... hurricanes. I hate hurricanes. I've survived too many.
Liars
Taylor Paparazzi GIFGiphy"Tabloids. I’m amazed that they’re still allowed to exist considering how much bullcrap they publish."
RonskyGorzama
Rip Off
"Scammers that rip off old and poor people."
By_Testing
"I’ve been going through my grandparent's mail (grandma went through a mail hoarding phase at the end) and the sheer amount and types of old people scammers is mind-blowing - people are f**king shameless!! I can’t just chuck it all out either because there are random blank checks, insurance info, etc interspersed with everything - like grandma was signing checks left and right for anything and everything."
josefinanegra
Wasted Seconds
"Non-skippable video ads."
"That freaking five-second warning is the bane of my existence. Way to snap me out of my flow state. They should just get the ad playing immediately, so I can waste 5 seconds of my time instead of 10, 5 on the ad, 5 on feeling pissed that there's an ad about to come."
sacrivice
"Don't forget unmutable, non-skippable video ads. It's what ruined angry birds since I cant safely play it in the crapper at work now."
NotPoliticallyCorect
We Hate U!
"Cancer."
D-Rez
"I’m 34 and I have stage 3 brain cancer and stage 3 breast cancer. Chemo literally feels like drinking bleach and suffering the side effects for days afterwards. I’ll probably not be able to have kids anymore either because I found out I could pass it along and I would never wish this on anyone."
NewCityNewTrends
"Took my godfather. Liver and testicular. He didn’t smoke or drink. 10 years on I still think about him every day. It’s not fair."
Funk5oulBrother
2X a day...
are you there what GIF by Shalita GrantGiphy"Robocalls."
hex_1101
"Hey, hey Scam Likely is my best friend and calls me at least twice a day no one can live up to that dedication."
jait2603
If these Robocalls don't stop. I may go to jail.
Bad Loops
president obama news GIF by NowThis Giphy"Balance billing, preexisting conditions, and other insurance industry loopholes."
Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
Crazies
"Scientology."
bassistheplace246
"Off the top of my head: They organize their members to tear down anyone who insults the faith and do horrible things to people who leave the cult."
"Leah Remini had a hell of a time getting out and a worse time after she left. A real religion doesn’t destroy you when you leave. They HATE therapists and mental health professionals. Stated reason is that we’re too manipulative and profit off suffering- personally I think that’s projection, they’re mad that we actually help people suffering instead of just fleecing them."
rooftopfilth
Haters!
"The Westboro Baptist Church."
JustinChristoph
"So, interesting thing about Westboro, being from and living in Kansas, not too far from Wichita, we heard about Westboro ALL THE TIME a decade or so ago. They'd protest funerals, pride parades, birthday parties, basically anything they could find. And then something amazing happened. Westboro started getting bullied HARD by people in Kansas, like viciously and mercilessly bullied."
"They would protest, and there would always be a counter protest, and people would just bully the crap out of them the entire time Westboro was protesting. It got so bad that they had to scale back both the amount of protests they were doing and how many people were going, and no longer brought their kids with them. Eventually they just faded into obscurity."
maggotshero
Evil
"Animal abuse."
elkresurgence
"And that goes for all animals. Obviously recognizing the abuse that animals like dogs and cats face is important, but people tend to ignore and even laugh off the rampant abuse of fish, amphibians, and reptiles."
GoldH2O
"Fish abuse deserves more hate, it feels like every man and his dog crams a billion different types of fish into a chlorinated, un cycled hellhole and it’s considered normal, but some ribs showing on your dog and every middle aged white woman will yell at you for hours."
Ill_Writer8430
"The last two theater-based comedy shows I went to nearly made me homicidal. It's crazy how many people think it's ok to just talk through the whole thing or get drunk as hell beforehand and make a bunch of noise the entire time. Why the hell did you even come?!"
dcbluestar
Why are people so rude in the theater? Why are you paying to talk in public instead of at home.
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People Break Down The Most Useless Lessons They Still Teach In School
Young students who hated math questioned why they had to learn something that would never be applied in real life.
Curious to hear about these subjects from former students, Redditor highnrgy asked:
"What's the most useless thing they teach in school?"
At least these subjects can be great conversation starters.
Questionable Diagram
"The tongue/taste map. Not only useless, but incorrect."
"Oh sh*t I totally forgot about this. I remember having to fill out a diagram of a tongue with the tastes on different parts of it."
What The Calculator Killed
"Well, I'm old so take my answer in context."
"How to use an abacus."
"When I was younger I learned the abacus enough in asian math school that I was able to do abacus calculations using 'muscle memory' so essentially an invisible abacus, which allowed me to do double digit multiplication in my head pretty easily...so pretty helpful if you can do that lol."
Curious Competition
"They taught competitive cup stacking in my elementary school. Still have no idea why."
"Edit: This was in central Canada, but clearly it was widespread across a lot of North America. Please stop asking me if I went to your school, I probably didn't."
– smango19
These Redditors thought the way the following history lessons were taught were better left in the past.
Selective Historical Moments
"Not useless, just poorly taught: History."
"It was just a collection of dates, names, and numbers. Memorize this stuff, we'll have a test."
"The significance of so many historical events was never taught or discussed. WW2 was the only one that was somewhat approached at scale, but even then it boiled down to Germany was pissed off about WW1 and Hitler hated the Jews."
"This was at a good high school too, the whole class was in advanced classes (IB / AP)."
– v-_-v
The Contested Theory
"I was taught that Columbus knew that the world was round, but everyone else thought it was flat. So, yeah. . . That."
– High_5
The Pride Of The School
"The entire life of my school founder, the worst of all is that they teach us the same thing all the years."
– Toshi3xx
These lessons would have better benefited students matriculating a performing arts school.
Line-Dancing
"We did it too... in Australia. Bunch of uncoordinated kids stomping around to Achey Breakey Heart. What a waste of my damn time."
Questionable Athletic Skill
"I graduated in 1991 for context and, while living in Phoenix, they taught us square dancing in gym class. I must say though that the most useful skill that I was taught at that school that I use every single day is typing."
The Necessary Steps
"In order to graduate middle school you were required to complete the Cupid shuffle, cotton eyed joe, and electric slide in front of your class. I guess this taught us the concept of pure embarrassment."
– zachdrop
Tackling Sports
"I didnt understand how to throw a baseball or a basketball untill I was 15 and a fellow classmate showed me that the way I move my fingers and release with my wrist made incredible differences."
"The teach just kept saying 'use your wrist' without explaining what I was doing wrong."
"I hated sports as a kid. I really wanted to be on teams and LEARN how to play but i just git benched because I didnt understand the rules or how to throw."
"On every single level, public school failed me. The only thing I learned was how to take a test."
My experience with driver's education was completely useless. I do think it's a good requirement, but I happened to have an instructor who did not teach me the basics of how to drive. At all.
When I got behind the wheel for the first time for the class, I didn't realize that my fellow students in the car had already gotten a general idea of how to operate a vehicle because they learned it from their parents, a luxury I didn't have available to me at the time.
I didn't know at the time that once I shifted out of park, the car would move forward without me hitting the gas. When that happened, I panicked and slammed the brakes.
Everyone in the car screamed, including the instructor. Maybe he should have explained to me the process of starting a car without assuming I already knew how.
For the record, I'm now an excellent driver, if I may say so, myself.
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People Explain Which Terrible Products Are Actually Sold By The Millions
Terrible products usually flop before they make it big, but sometimes a truly awful item hits the market at just the right time and starts to sell, sell, sell.
Many of us have looked at something we or a loved one bought just a few days later and asked ourselves, "why on Earth did we pay money for this?"
Reddit user eyeleegal asked:
"What terrible product sells by the millions?"
Get The Good Pencils
"Sh*tty pencils."
"They're cheaper so it's what all the parents buy at back to school time, but they're so bad."
"-They break too easily. -They can't be sharpened because the lead falls out or isn't centered. -They ruin good sharpeners. -Erasers either don't work or disintegrate instantly."
"Get Ticonderoga or Staedtler. 1 pencil of either of these is worth 20 of the no names."
Literally None Of These Work
Get Rich Quick Books/schemes particularly ones showing how easy it is to make passive income. -Mr_Seymore_Butts
Don't Buy These!
"Hartz brand pet flea treatments/medication. It's dangerous and has been the cause of death for many pets. IIRC it's a nerve agent that's supposed to make the pet's blood toxic to fleas."
"I used some on my cat once and she started freaking out, then had trouble waking normally (her legs were twitching and kicking, clearly out of her control), and tears of brown thick liquid started streaming down her face. I picked her up and frantically gave her a bath hoping to wash any of the remaining chemicals off the back of her neck before any more of that poison seeped "
Tap Water Is Fine In Most Places
Bottled water, there's so much totally unnecessary waste from that. I use a reusable bottle all the time and refill it often. It's way cheaper too.
Sneakers Don't Need To Cost $1k
"I just saw an ex-partner of high school showed their new Balenciaga sneakers on social media. I remember it is one of the famous expensive brands in the world so I went to their official page and search for those sneakers' price: $1050! WTF?! That is nearly five minimum salaries together in my country. ☹️"
"And they look like something out of JCPenny that has been bedazzled."
You're Paying For The Name
"All massive/famous brands such as Gucci etc"
"They are all honestly made ridiculously cheap and ur getting overcharged for fabric u won't use in a few months. U can probably find clothing/items made of the exact same thing but it will be hundreds or thousands of £/$ cheaper because it doesn't have the words 'Gucci on it"
"As with any fashion house, Gucci produces plenty of very high quality, unbranded clothing. They even outsource their suit making to Zegna, which is one of the best suit makers in the world."
"The reason why Gucci is always the brand mentioned is because they don't differentiate the cheap (to produce, that is) branded crap from the nice stuff. It's all lumped under the "Gucci" umbrella, when it's more like the difference between Dolce & Gabbana and D&G back in the day."
It's So Scratchy
homer simpson episode 6 GIFGiphy"big rolls of one-ply toilet paper"
"It actually serves a purpose. Imaging having 3 small girls that believe you need 15 feet of tp to blot yourself dry. Cottonelle roll will last 3 hours."
Not So Golden
"Reddit Gold. It was cute and the perks were nice when Reddit was a small niche website but now that the site's got funding out the wazoo there's no reason it should still cost money."
It's Just Soda, But Worse
"Energy Drinks. They are just terrible in every way and some people drink 3-4 a day. They are so popular now they've replaced soft drinks except they are 10x worst for you."
The Real Crime
"Circus peanuts. Seriously, who is buying these horrid things?"
"Close second…candy corn"
While some of these products have legitimate use cases, like the 1-ply toilet paper, that doesn't necessarily make them good.
People Explain Which Things Are Actually Easier To Create Than To Destroy
The beginning is always easy.
The end is always an issue.
That's why it's the end. Final.
I've always found that true about writing.
Where else does it apply?
Redditor JimmyJoeJoe__ wanted to discuss all the things that are way too easy to begin. They asked:
Tasks that drain your energy always start strong. But that finish is drama.
I heard...
Scandal Gossip GIF by FX NetworksGiphy"Rumors."
Back2Bach
"I don’t know about that. Fleetwood Mac put a lot of time and effort into that album and you can just snap it with your bare hands if you barely try."
willthethrill4700
What you owe...
"Debt."
Berniethedog
"As a person with student debt, I feel this on a spiritual level 😭."
meandering_simpleton
"Make sure to refinance your loans now! With inflation at its highest in 40 years they are likely to raise interests rates so I’d suggest consolidating your loans and get a fixed rate if you’re on a variable rate now. I just went from high 6% variable arp to 3.22% fixed!! Saving me literally thousands in interest. And this was only for my non-federal loans totalling around 71,000, I suspect the government has a plan for these fed loans."
LysolLounge
It'll only get worse...
"Anxiety."
theletterQfivetimes
"This is so true. A couple of years ago I started having a permanent feeling of dizziness. Like, all of the time. Not even lying in bed would help. I went to see a couple of doctors and they all said 'yeah, you're having problems with your inner ear.' They prescribed me medication for that but it didn't really work. I spent a long, long time like this and even got used to it."
"Turns out it was anxiety. But I just realised it when I had a burst of daily panic attacks over the course of two (horrible) weeks. I didn't even know it could have something in common. Later I was told by my therapist that anxiety can manifest itself in a lot of uncommon ways like dizziness, memory problems, ringing of the ears, feeling cold all the time, etc."
"It's awful. So, I guess it's better to listen to your body and get help whenever you feel something different even though it could feel harmless. Time will only worsen anxiety."
wxnderingcat
Body Issues
"Body fat."
EerieArizona
"I can’t lose the muscle I gained when I used to work out now I just have thick thighs for life. I wish I could work out and lose fat but not get too yoked. Running is also not ideal because it loses stomach fat for me, but the leg fat kind of just stays around. I’m a dude with a weird body."
REDDIT
"destroy"
the graduate plastics GIFGiphy"Plastic."
Carbonatite
"I guess it depends on how you define destroy right? To 'destroy' most stuff you just gotta like snap it in half or break it or something, which is definitely easier for a piece of plastic than creating it."
BurpYoshi
Those are great examples. Rumors. So true. You can't unring a bell.
Destruction
Kids Playing GIF by moodmanGiphy"Children."
Simple-Definition366
"There's one way to create them, but tons of ways to destroy them."
DeathSpiral321
I don't know for sure...
"Conspiracy theory."
I_Lick_Bananas
"That's what they want you to think."
CB-CKLRDRZEX-JKX-F
"Honestly the long term successful conspiracy theories are usually pretty sophisticated, but those are just a small fraction. Conspiracy theories are an incredibly interesting phenomenon to study evolution."
Single_Blueberry
People
"Humanity itself. What i mean to say is that humanity has been through so much, The crusades, the black plague, ww1 and 2. Humanity are vicious little monkeys that are incredibly hard to kill while yes nukes are a easy answer, mutually assured destruction isn't exactly a goal for any country so I doubt nukes are of any concern but that other stuff can wipe us out easily"
krusteeklown
Cemented
"A concrete sidewalk."
among_apes
"Concrete in general. People pour massive chunks (mass pour) of that not really thinking about it getting ripped up in 20 years, so often it’s a lot bigger than you’d like it to be."
HongKongBasedJesus
Flames
Scared On Fire GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy"A housefire."
MarsNirgal
"Fire in general."
doochebag420696969
Fire. All it takes is seconds. One match. And boom... such is life.
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