Example 68: a Company T-Shirt.
Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
241–250 of 309 posts
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
This must be regional/cultural because for my family and friends socks is the kiss-off gift of a person who doesn't give a damn about you but needs to buy you a gift.
Your company isn't family and friends though and they can't give you a personalised gift that your closest people can do. It's strange to expect the same treatment here.
I also wouldn't expect them to give a gift that has derogatory meaning in the area.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
You should consider the communicative value of gifts, a communicative gift is one where someone likes something and believes that the receiver will also like it, this is not just I like TinTin comics so I will give the big book of TinTin to receiver because how could someone not love TinTin? I love TinTin so he's great! A communicative gift is I know they won't like TinTin the way I do but given that they are a lesbi…
That's similar to how I see it. My niece recently turned 16 and in a recent conversation I discovered she's into fantasy but hasn't heard of the Discworld novels. I looked up which book is commonly considered the best intro to the series (Small Gods) and bought her that. It might spark a real interest, or it might turn out that Discworld is too dated and unappealing to teenagers these days, but that bit of thought ma…
> Small Gods
You chose well.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
This must be regional/cultural because for my family and friends socks is the kiss-off gift of a person who doesn't give a damn about you but needs to buy you a gift.
Definitely regional/cultural because in my region, socks would be something given within family or close friends. I've never seen an acquaintance or a company give socks here. (Not that I would mind to receive some, good socks are a great gift, it's just that it's not done here).
Yeah. I would be weirded out if my company gave me socks. Cups and coats are more the norm. Well, cash has been the go to recently. Cash doesn't offend anyone.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#245Top of my list: anything involving food. I’m allergic to casein and whey (proteins found in milk). And any amount of cross-contamination will make me physically sick. Caffeine and alcohol aggravate my mental health issues. This was a disaster at my last job. Every event involving food, one of the following happens: - Pizza party, donuts, cake, etc as rewards. A number of people choose not to eat these because of calo…
It sounds like you are allergic to something else if every restaurant you go to has "cross contamination issues".
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#246So I had a buddy, he was a junior-ish very talented dev in this big retailer where I was working as well. This retailer obv had massive campaigns for black friday, but also obv very shitty and inflexible systems. This buddy of mine found that the black friday promotions pricings import failed 5 min before midnight. Meaning that not only would there be no black friday pricing, there would be no pricing at all on the s…
I don't necessarily think he should have been compensated based on the (theoretical) loss of money. He was employed after all. And properly someone else would haved saved the day early enough anyway. But 25$ is quite an embarrassment. Nothing would have been better in that case.
It sounds like he went above and beyond the call of duty.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#247[deleted]
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#248So I had a buddy, he was a junior-ish very talented dev in this big retailer where I was working as well. This retailer obv had massive campaigns for black friday, but also obv very shitty and inflexible systems. This buddy of mine found that the black friday promotions pricings import failed 5 min before midnight. Meaning that not only would there be no black friday pricing, there would be no pricing at all on the s…
So it was a bug that he could fix in only 5 minutes that solved everything? It sounds like he fixed a wrongly defined variable. Probably should have gotten something better but also someone should have excoriated the QA team/system and whoever wrote the code.
Whoever made that mistake should have just taken your buddy out for a nice dinner.
Also completely agree with everyone on the misaligned incentives.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m glad that works for you, but it doesn’t for me. The one ‘life hack’ that’s ever worked for me is to own a single type of sock (white, cotton, Nike). The entire batch of 30 pairs was bought at the same time so they wear evenly, meaning all socks match with all other socks. When I get down to a few functioning pairs, into the bin they go and a new batch is ordered. My family knows not to buy me socks…
I'm baffled that someone would settle on 'white, cotton, Nike' as the most appropriate one sock model to own.
I buy them in bulk from a factory outlet nearby, so the price is reasonable given my income. Furthermore I find they can withstand the hilly and muddy half marathons that I run, while keeping my feet in good condition. I like to run after work, so by wearing these socks to work I can give myself one less thing to pack/change into. (I dislike the aesthetics of dark socks with shorts)
As I must wear smart clothes to work, and white socks with a suit is a fashion faux pas, this means I must wear smart boots to work. But this works for me as then I choose zip-up boots to save time doing laces.
I acknowledge this 'life hack' is a minor time and convenience saving with some drawbacks, and clearly won't work for everyone. But as a working father with two young children, this gives me a little more time to spend on myself, and a little more time with them.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#250Question for the thread - maybe giving out gifts from the company is just a bad idea right alongside forced birthday celebrations?