Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sounds horribly wasteful to throw it into the bin. There are a myriad of uses for old socks, even if they are no longer wearable.
Like what?
I can think of a few but they all boil down to "use them as rags".
Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
81–90 of 309 posts
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#82Is there a good gift recommendation website or service? Gifting is essential and so hard. I’m sure billions of dollars are left unspent yearly because people didn’t find a gift in time.
I love the tradition of gifting fancy fruit in Japan. Individual pieces of fruit which are objectively perfect and treated with an absurd amount of care and therefore priced at a silly level, but apparently also quite delicious.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#83Not just employee gifts, but nearly all gifts are valued less by the receiver than the giver. A gift represents a decision made on behalf of the receiver by the giver. In very few situations would the receiver make the same decision as the giver with the same resources. It's assumed that the receiver will use the same resources in an optimal manner, so gift-giving is a net negative. In some circumstances, gifts are v…
This is a very simplistic and very narrow perspective about gifting when looked from this side. I don't consider gifts as the items solely. The person who brought the gift spent some time pondering what would I like, gave his/her best shot. Spent time and funds to acquire this and gave it to me. Yes, it might not be the exact item I'd get; yes, it might not be crazy expensive (or just flat out cheap and simple). But…
Yes, this is a very utilitarian and pessimistic view of gift giving, and probably not great for me to have. I've been shaped by years of required and thoughtless gift giving.
Items of low value, carefully selected, actually work really well for gifts! I think the process of curation can dramatically increase their perceived value, compared to a "serious" gift. But at some point, you just have too much stuff of all kinds, and you have to start getting rid of it.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#84This may be the first time, that I saw "406 Not Acceptable" in a Browser. As opposed to in Postman or an log file. How did this happen? Something between backend and frontend breaking under the HN load?
Not even that server accepts me :-(
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#85> A good gift gives employees a renewed fervor to work harder, helps them feel more motivated, and makes them feel more valued by their employers. Does it? I’ve never experienced this. A company is not a person. A good gift or a bad gift makes me feel the company made a business decision that affected me, just like any other business decision that affected me.
I really can’t imagine a gift that would motivate me as an employee. There are things i might appreciate, but the only “gift” I would find motivational would be a raise.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#86Not just employee gifts, but nearly all gifts are valued less by the receiver than the giver. A gift represents a decision made on behalf of the receiver by the giver. In very few situations would the receiver make the same decision as the giver with the same resources. It's assumed that the receiver will use the same resources in an optimal manner, so gift-giving is a net negative. In some circumstances, gifts are v…
Gifts are primarily an expression of care.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#87A company I know gave all their employees company branded beach towels, sunscreen, water bottles, and bucket hats for Christmas when it was making record profits. Being in the southern hemisphere, beach paraphernalia is seasonally appropriate, but I suspect they would've preferred just being given their share of the money that was spent on company branded products. Or, you know, a bonus because, well, record profits.…
Often, this is a side-effect of tax code weirdness.
In my legislative framework, branded stuff is considered "advertisement", which can be given out with any amount of value to employees. Non-branded stuff - or money - would be taxable income. With a tax rate of up to 48%, that's a difference, and paperwork for the employee.
So I have a very nice thermos with my employer's logo on it, and I am quite happy about it.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#88This may be the first time, that I saw "406 Not Acceptable" in a Browser. As opposed to in Postman or an log file. How did this happen? Something between backend and frontend breaking under the HN load?
There are a number of websites on HN where I've faced this while on a datacenter network; though I hadn't investigated the previous instances simply because I was using a VPN on my phone.
In a rather interesting twist, this page serves up Datadome's bot management scripts; but I wonder why they don't proceed with the fingerprinting as opposed to directly blocking the user.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#89Not just employee gifts, but nearly all gifts are valued less by the receiver than the giver. A gift represents a decision made on behalf of the receiver by the giver. In very few situations would the receiver make the same decision as the giver with the same resources. It's assumed that the receiver will use the same resources in an optimal manner, so gift-giving is a net negative. In some circumstances, gifts are v…
It's why I prefer to give hard cold cash. Not even gift cards...cash. And definitely not those stupid Visa gift cards where you pay a activation fee and occasionally get scammed.
I'm also from an Asian background where cash is more acceptable. I feel any other form of gifting is a ruse to increase consumerism, i.e. the popularity of gift registries, the perception that one isnt thoughtful if you dont yet a good gift etc.
Re: Employee gift ideas that make people feel bad
#90I get "406 Not Acceptable
openresty" when I try to open link. Am I the only one?