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And yet companies do it, so it clearly still needs to be said.
Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
31–40 of 309 posts
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#32Some of these are objectively bad ($5 grocery card) while others (team dinner) are basically complaints about a job/coworkers you hate (now these fools are taking your free time, too).
If it's cash-equivalent (i.e. I can actually use it in a store I commonly go to) then I don't mind even $5. I mean, it's not something that would make me particularly happy, but $5 is more than $0. I have also used some company swag for years (cups, water bottles, hoodies, scarves, backpacks, etc.) with no complaints, if it's not cheap-ass stuff but a proper product with a logo slapped on it, why not. I mean, if it's…
Once when I was a kid, too young to have any sense, I wanted to make some money shovelling snow. I didn't realize yet that you need to make an sgreement with your customer before doing the work. This was a small town in upstate new york so even the strangers were not really strangers. As a kid you don't really see any adult as being all that different from your parents or teachers.
So dippy me just starts shovelling the sidewalk in front of one of the shops on main street, a good chunk of storefront between the shop and the street that hadn't been done when the others had been.
It took a good hour or more, and I cleaned it all up good, no haphazard slack job. Then the owner comes out when it's all done and gives me 2 quarters. This is about '77 to '79, that's 1978 to be clear not 1878...
I go home and my dad asks how I did and I tell him, and he said first, you should have asked if he wanted his sidewalk shovelled first, and agreed on a price before doing it, so in that sense you can't complain because you did that to yourself. However seperately, you should have given him the 50 cents back and said no thank you sir. if this is all you can spare, then you obviously must need it more than me. And refuse to take the 50 cents and even refuse to take anything even if he then offers more. You were wrong to just start doing something without being told to, but he should be ashamed to do that.
That is what's wrong with a $5 gift. Or an uttery thoughtless gift. Keep it. You obviously need it more than me.
It's more about dignity and respect and thoughtfullness than plain money, but a tiny token money value with no other aspect to make it more about being funny or something, is itself a message.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
If it's cash-equivalent (i.e. I can actually use it in a store I commonly go to) then I don't mind even $5. I mean, it's not something that would make me particularly happy, but $5 is more than $0. I have also used some company swag for years (cups, water bottles, hoodies, scarves, backpacks, etc.) with no complaints, if it's not cheap-ass stuff but a proper product with a logo slapped on it, why not. I mean, if it's…
Once when I was a kid, too young to have any sense, I wanted to make some money shovelling snow. I didn't realize yet that you need to make an sgreement with your customer before doing the work. This was a small town in upstate new york so even the strangers were not really strangers. As a kid you don't really see any adult as being all that different from your parents or teachers. So dippy me just starts shovelling…
I don't think it's the same situation. Not accepting 50 cents for shoveling establishes the price for this work - i.e. creates situation where there's "paid work" - which costs more than $0.50 and "free/charity work" which costs nothing. With gifts, it's neither - you don't work for gifts, you work for the salary. The gifts are extra - unless there's something in the contract, or they are culturally expected - e.g. in Israel, it is customary for every company of decent size to give out gifts on certain holidays, and if it's not done, it's considered a cultural faux pas. Shitty gift could in this situation be considered as trying to change the cultural norm and thus one could push back by refusing them, for example - thus signaling that the cultural duty of gift-giving remains un-fullfilled. But in the US, I don't think there's any cultural custom like that?
> It's more about dignity and respect and thoughtfullness
I guess I just don't think people giving me money for free is an affront to my dignity. In fact, I am willing to accept monetary donations of any size (well, maybe above $1, otherwise it's too much trouble to bother) - as long as they are not accompanied with any reciprocal expectation from me. As I said, if there are expectation or cultural norm, that's different business.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#34>that form allowed the company to then tax me on that ‘gift’ as income, Wrong. There is no "form" needed for taxation, it is required by the IRS (in U.S.) and the company does not "tax" anyone. Employer gifts (other than de minimis amounts) are taxable compensation. (see IRS Publication 15-B for details). A good employer will "gross up" cash gifts to cover the taxes.
But surely the embroidering of a company logo on it vastly reduces the value of the item, and this must be accounted for. If I have a new Cotopaxi or Arc'teryx item I can sell it on Facebook Marketplace for 90% of its MSRP. But if it has a fucking TurboTax Information Security Team logo on it I doubt I could get 25%. So I hope this is accounted for in the taxation.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#35Nothing like a $100 amazon gift card for working the weekend.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#36> “It was company swag (a stone drink coaster with the company logo on it) that I had to sign a form for and that form allowed the company to then tax me on that ‘gift’ as income,”
Yeah, i dont think the problem there is just that it is swag.
Lots of swag is kind of crap, but on occasion i've gotten some higher end swag, and i dont really mind it.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#37Why flag this? It's 100% true. My last place gave us cheap baseball caps and light jackets with the company logo. I would never wear either of those unless it was on the clock and a required part of something like staffing a booth representing the company at a convention or something. And they weren't even good quality compny advertizing, they were junk. Imagine giving your kids a presentvfor their birthday, and it's…
not showing flagged for me? is it just greyed out? I think that's just downvoted not flagged?
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#38Quoted post unavailable.
No, it's a thinly veiled advertisement for a company that facilitates... cash-equivalent bulk gifting.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#39Why flag this? It's 100% true. My last place gave us cheap baseball caps and light jackets with the company logo. I would never wear either of those unless it was on the clock and a required part of something like staffing a booth representing the company at a convention or something. And they weren't even good quality compny advertizing, they were junk. Imagine giving your kids a presentvfor their birthday, and it's…
> You don't give "worlds best dad" mugs to your kids.
True, I gave them all "world's luckiest kids" mugs, it's far more appropriate.
It also matches their bedroom decor... https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2005-12-04
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#40Some of these criticisms come across as pretty entitled and spoiled. Lots of places never give out any gifts, or give you a shitty cheap watch or a plastic company pen in recognition for 30 years of dedicated service. The socks complaint really bugs me. If I received a pair of socks from my boss, as long as they weren't tube socks, I'd actually like and use them! As long as you don't love in the tropics, it's hard to…
I remember on reddit someone was complaining about getting a Victorinox pocketknife for a five year anniversary gift, and it was a nice 30+ dollar knife, and people were complaining loudly about the insensitivity of it. I wondered aloud to my partner, would they be happier if they just got a certificate?
I would be weirded out by a pocketknife. What would i even do with it? I dont live in the woods.