9 worst holiday gifts from bosses

Image courtesy of Flickr user astrogrl

With less than two weeks to go until Christmas, you can rest assured that bosses everywhere will be handing out presents. Some of these presents will be great, some good, and some merely okay. But here are nine true stories of ones that were exceptionally bad.

Underwear and booze

Alison: When I turned 21, my boss gave me a pack of wine coolers and a gift certificate to Victoria's Secret. Seriously. I was too young to realize how wildly inappropriate this was, but old enough to know that I felt creeped out by it.

Tax is on you

Alyssa: One year my sister worked at a major theme park and was required to work on Christmas Day. In acknowledgement of this, her boss gave all of the hourly employees a present: A gift certificate for one of the in-park vendor stands for a medium soda OR a banana. (Yes, those were the two choices.) When she cashed hers in for a banana, she was told that the gift certificate did not cover sales tax and had to pay that out of pocket.

Something useful and inappropriate

DragonLady: Worst gift I can ever remember receiving was a pack of sanitary napkins. The wrapping was nice, mind you, with ribbons and all. And even with a card that says, "Something useful, from:" And when we all opened it there in the office afterward, imagine our shock when we found all the women in the department received the same gift. Our boss (a guy) was known to be a chauvinist, but until that day, we did not know how bad it was. He came over after seeing us opening the presents and even smirked, "I hope I got your preferred brands correctly." Needless to say, we resigned one after the other in quick succession in less than two weeks.

Gift-giving rules for the workplace

Stale pastries and an insult

Dee: At my first job out of college, I worked as a legal secretary for a couple of partners at a small law firm. I'd been there over a year and had become accustomed to jokes at my expense, borderline verbal abuse from both the lawyers and dissatisfied clients, being expected to work long hours with no overtime pay and being pestered in the elevator on my way back from getting the mail as to how much money had come in that day. (Really a winner of a first job!) One day, a partner came in with coffee from the cafe downstairs and said, "You know, when I was in law school, I couldn't afford good coffee and fresh pastries." (Hath hell frozen over? Has he bought me coffee?) At which point he says, "All I could afford were day-old muffins," and tosses a stale muffin at me, leaving a nice grease stain on my blouse when I failed to catch it. That was my only gift in the 15 months before I quit -- a stale muffin.

A not-so-generous gift certificate

Wonder_aloud: The first year at my current company they called everyone down by team and gave them grocery store gift cards for $7.58. And they made you sign for them.

Religion in the workplace

Dani: The boss at my last job was very religious, and so one year she handed out little books that seemed to have come from her church bookshop. I got fairly lucky with something Christmas-related (useless but non-offensive). Two of my co-workers got titles along the lines of: "Answers to all the big questions in life" and "Why other religions are wrong," handed over with a smile and a "I think this book really fits you." And no, we were not in any way affiliated to a religious organization, nor were any of my co-workers particularly religious.

Stolen by the boss

DLD: One year after the holidays, I was standing at my desk when my boss went by. I showed him the scratch pad my sister had given me (it had that sketchy cat form The New Yorker cartoons on it). I said, "Look at this great scratch pad my sister gave me for Christmas!" He stopped, looked, took it, said "Thank you," and went on into his office. From time to time he would send me notes written on it.

Just plain disturbing

Lara: One year I was hugely pregnant in December with just days to go and my boss gave me a keychain in the shape of a pregnant woman. It was clear, and inside her belly a little baby bobbed around in liquid. I think it was meant to be funny, but mostly it was disturbing.

A bonus of your own paycheck plus a bank fee

Alyssa: Last year at Christmas each employee at my husband's firm received an envelope containing $100 cash. Presuming this was a holiday bonus, we spent it on groceries, some things for our two kids, a dinner out, etc. Like a lot of grown-ups, our paychecks are deposited electronically and we have many bills drafted out the same way, such as our utilities, car insurance, etc. A week later, on payday, we discovered in the worst possible way that the $100 was not a gift, but was simply deducted from my husband's salary and presented as cash. Because his week's pay was now $100 less, suddenly all the drafts of our bills began coming out of an account that was $100 smaller than it was supposed to be, until finally, a check bounced and the bank charged us $36.

What's the worst gift you've ever received from a boss? Or if you're a bad boss, confess in the comments section what rotten presents you've purchased.

[AlterEgo67]

I once got a $25 American Express gift card from a fellow employee who I had done a few favors for during the year such as covering her class the last hour of the day every Wednesday so she could get out early and take her husband to his chemo. When I get any gift card I always call the number on the back before I try to use it... just in case... I want to make sure it has money on it so I don't look stupid in the store. Well, the guy told me that the card had never been funded properly. He didn't say it had been used. He said not funded properly. That meant to me it was either stolen or that the cashier did something wrong when ringing it up. Not sure. Since we were both teacher, she may have "re-gifted" a card given to her by a student. There's no telling where the mishap occurred. I wanted to just drop it, but a friend basically forced me to tell her under the assumption that the giver had paid $25 and wasted her money. So, embarrassed, I went and told the giver about the funding thing and gave the card back. I felt stupid. It seems if she HAD purchased it and something went wrong with the loading of the card, she could have easily had it fixed at the point of purchase. The next week, I got a gawdy, tacky Elvis watch with a giant picture of Elvis and studded rhinestones. I smiled and said thank you and even wore it a few times to school so she could see that I wore it. I think both things I got were "re-gifts" from students.

[kmclarkson]

Not a gift from a boss per se, but when I was a first-year preschool teacher I got a stick of deodorant as a Christmas gift from one of the kids' families. I was stunned and not sure what to make of it - half offended and half alarmed - were they trying to give me a "gentle hint" that I SMELLED? Turns out all the staff got the same thing, and then we further discovered that these parents, who were VERY recent immigrants from a less developed part of the world, didn't know the difference between deodorant and perfume. They thought they were giving us perfume!

[Desidawn]

These comments are very interesting, because it tells how bosses and coworkers have a hard time giving gifts. I received a pen a couple of years ago, which had a bible verse on it. I have received a coupon for a ham from HEB grocery, which I worked for many years ago, this was the best gift, I received. I received a keychain from the David Robinson foundation, which opened the Carver Academy to school disadvantaged youth, who paid tuition to attend. The keychain had a C on it for Carver, and all employees got the same thing.

[underdogcity]

I don't have any bad stories about Holiday bonus time, but through the years I have never gotten any amazing ones, either; and one year it was unusual.

In the 70's I worked maintenance in a 3 block complex which housed a large catholic parish. When the last day of work approached before the Christmas break, many gifts and cards were left for my co-workers and I, in our main office building. As I sorted through each of my similarly shaped gifts, unwrapped them and lined them up on the table, I found I had 3 individual 5ths of assorted brands of whiskey, 2 5ths of brandy, and 3 separate bottles of fine wine. However the convent nuns, who were the largest and most devoted consumers of all alter wine, opted to give us a very small and modest cash gift.

[MichelleH2100]

One large retail company in Michigan I used to work for gave all of their employees a coupon for a free doughnut in the bakery.

At another company we had an employee gift exchange and my boss gave a picture of himself and a few roles of toliet paper in a nicely wrapped box. Thank goodness, I didn't fall for the pretty wrapping and had selcted another gift.

[rmazin]

For a few years I was a member of a senior executive team that was taken out for an expensive holiday dinner followed by an overnight stay at a lovely inn. During dinner we were each presented with gifts. As the youngest participant, and only woman, it was not always the most comfortable outing. I did not know how to respond when the annual present was a pricey limited edition Christmas tree ornament. I'm Jewish.

[AlterEgo67]

Ummm.... you respond by smiling and saying "thank you". Then you go home, throw it away and celebrate Hanukkah however you like.

[cawiggi]

I had two terrible gifts while working at the same office. A co-worker gave me a McDonald's gift card that had been used. Yes, the card had a $0 balance because it had been used.

The other present was worse. My boss pressured us to chip in $100 each to give the CEO a remote car starter for his Cadillac, and in the process, we grew to believe that our boss expected a gift, too.


This put us in the ackward position of feeling it was expected that we buy a gift for our immediate boss. Which we did. I gave him a $40 bottle of his favorite liquor.

Imagine my shock to open my Christmas bonus of $70 which is half of what I spent on them.

[SufferTheMasses]

As a supervisor in a manufacturing plant, one year I was required to give out these chintzy watches that looked too cheap to have even come from a 25 cent machine or the claw game. What made it better is that we had been working 7 days a week for the last month (with nearly a month left of this schedule to go) and it felt like a slap in the face to the people that had been working so hard to give them such an obvious piece of garbage.

[Surplus_Imagination]

My husband has been employed for a small, family owned company 16 years. Each Christmas I bake literally dozens upon dozens of cookies for both the two owners and my husband, and for them to give out to their customers. I've done this 16 years in the spirit of Christmas. Never have have the two owners thanked me. One just grumbles if I send the same cookie more than one in a season.

One year, I was overwhelmed at work to the point I was working 7 days a week. I only sent in cookies a couple of time. The reward was that the grumbly owner didn't give my husband his usual Christmas bonus because I didn't send in enough cookies!

Regardless of their nastiness, I keep sending them in. It is Christmas.

[pagan11460]

Seeing other comments reminded me of another bad Christmas present. (I already posted one here yesterday.) I worked for a hotel when I was 21. I was front desk staff and someone had to cover the front desk on Christmas night. Unfortunately, it was my turn. It was a very sloooooow night. The MOD (manager on duty) asked me if I would like to have a nice Christmas dinner. (He was one of the big cheeses at this hotel - very rich and very cheap!) I was really surprised when he said that he'd cook us filet mignon from the hotel kitchen. I thought it was so nice of him and I readily agreed to have that nice Christmas dinner. A little while later, he came upstairs with a room service cart, a bottle of wine and two covered dishes. But I noticed that there was only one wine glass. When he uncovered the dishes, he had the biggest, fattest, very juicy and rare filet mignon in front of him. Mine? He actually cut a filet in half and cooked it for probably the same length of time that he cooked his big juicy filet. So... my half of a filet was like a hockey puck... dry and cooked well done - yuk. And he sat there and ate his fabulous dinner and he drank the bottle of wine - telling me that I couldn't have a glass because I was "working." What was he doing? Wasn't he working, too? Oh well. I have been wondering for years what he did with the other half of the filet.