10 terrible holiday gifts from bosses

(MoneyWatch) Almost every boss was once an employee. You'd think with that history behind them, when shopping for holiday gifts, bosses would be trying their best to get things their employees would like -- or at least be able to use. I asked MoneyWatch readers to tell me the worst gifts they've ever received from their bosses. And while I can't personally verify our readers' "gift" accounts, here are 10 that I'm glad I didn't receive.

Nothing says Christmas like turkey, but...

At one of my first jobs, management brought a caterer in with 50 or so frozen turkeys at the start of my shift a few days before Thanksgiving. We were all given one. Not a gift certificate FOR a frozen turkey, but an actual frozen turkey. Unfortunately, as you might imagine we did not have room in the break room refrigerator for 50 frozen turkeys. And we were not allowed to go home to drop them off.

Christmas bonuses plus a special likeness of the boss

My husband (full-time) and I (part-time) both worked for a guy who gave a Christmas lunch for the company at a cafeteria. There he signed two dollar bills that he gave to everyone attending. In addition, full-time employees got a bronze coin minted with his profile on it. I made my husband pull into a 7-11 on the way home and spent the two dollars. He carried his around for ages for the laughs.

Is it a gift if you still receive a bill?

At the annual Christmas luncheon my boss presented me with a Christmas present....which was a coffee mug. When I got back to the office, I had a bill on my chair for the cost of the Christmas luncheon and the mug.

• What do your employees want for Christmas
• Should parents get time off preference for holidays
• How to handle office party embarrassments

This boss stole the Christmas gift

We were all called to the office for our Christmas bonuses. One of the bosses, "Emily," had a cast on her leg and was on crutches. Of course we were sympathetic and told her we were sorry that it had happened especially at Christmas time. Anyway, imagine our disbelief as "Emily" hobbled around telling each of us "Happy Holidays" and then handing us a smudged and wrinkled piece of cheap copy paper with the "Happy Holidays" printed on it.

OH but there was justice that day. The owner of the company shows up for the office party. He looks around at the office and not seeing any decorations or food asks what the $5,000 he donated for the party was spent on. After hemming and hawing the "bosses" admitted they went clubbing with their husbands and spent the entire $5,000 on themselves. But it gets even better because just as they are telling the owner what they had done a cop shows up to ask some questions about the incident of the previous night which we learned was an altercation the two couples were involved in outside of a club.

The best part of all was learning that one of their husbands was arrested and "Emily" had fallen and broken her leg while engaging in a drunken brawl outside of a club.

So I guess the best gift I got from a boss for Christmas was the knowledge that once in awhile good old fashioned justice prevails and you don't have to do anything to get it. It just happens.

But bosses need gifts too

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 awkward 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.

At least half of this present was useful

At another company we had an employee gift exchange and my boss gave a picture of himself and a few rolls of toilet paper in a nicely wrapped box.

Christmas dinner?

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 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.

Paying for management

We used to have a work Christmas party, paid for by the company, that we could take a guest to. Then we had to pay for a guest. Then we had to pay for ourselves and any guest. Then we discovered that the fee we were paying paid for management to continue to attend for free.

Can you say cheap?

One year, three empty boxes, next year hand lotion buy one get one free, another year a pack of Kleenex with one votive candle and samples of cappuccino and I don't drink coffee, another year a piece of orange/purple cloth, and when I retired after 33 years of working for him didn't even get a card.

Beans are better than nothing

Our current bosses -- all 4 of them -- got together one year and gave us each little bags of beans, containing seasoning and a recipe for bean soup. We all laughed at their frugality. However, in the intervening years, we have received nothing; bean soup is starting to look better all the time.

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?

[Desidawn]

You guys did this article, last year! Is there anything new?

[JYPayne]

Well if it makes any of you feel better not all bosses are like those described, some care very much about the people who keep the business running for them. I took all of my employees on an all expenses paid three day trip to Lapland last year for their Christmas treat. We went to Paris the year before that and London the year before that. They all get a big bag of presents from me for themselves and if they have children there is always a gift for them too. There really is no need to be frugal, miserable and downright mean at Christmas. Happy employees are productive employees and there's just no excuse for some of the things I've read here. Disgusting in fact! Merry Christmas to you all and I suggest you change jobs!!! Julie Payne.

[haniegirl]

I had a female boss who had great taste in jewelry and other items for Christmas and my birthday, which were never disappointing. But one year, she gave me a set of Christmas coffee mugs - which were cute, but we have so much Christmas stuff that I decided to exchange them at Williams Sonoma for something we could use. When I got to the register, it could not be found on their system. Finally, they found something and the clerk told me that they could give me $1.99 or store credit. The only thing I could think of was that this must have been a re-gift of some sort, because it was very unlike my boss to give something so cheap. I think she would have been horrified to find out that it was only worth $1.99.

[jheydecker]

At a previous company, everyone was given a box of candy. When I took it home, my son opened it up and half the candy was missing! I heard that a number of other people who were not the "in-crowd" suffered similar issues. I didn't want the gift, didn't need it, and found the "joke" extremely insulting. I didn't last much longer at that company.

[gcgirlfriend]

Wow. I feel very fortunate to not have had any of these experiences. I've certainly had holiday bonuses fall short of expectation, but never a frozen turkey I couldn't take home.

All the more reason to encourage gift cards as gifts from the boss. Even so, you still have to pick the right gift card or you end up spoiling the fun anyway. For example, a woman I know receives a gift card to the boss's favorite restaurant. It's not HER favorite restaurant, but his. Not only does the gift card she receive reflect HIS preferences, but it's pricey. So she still has to watch her dollars when using the gift card to be sure she can afford the complete meal.

If you don't know what gift card employees want, then:
1 - Ask them.
2 - Give a generic gift card (Visa, Mastercard, or even Safeway's CHOICE card)
3 - Give a gift card that has a variety of products like Amazon, Target, or Wal-Mart.

If it's something you want, it's a "present" (as in, "I present this to you.") If it's something the recipient wants, it's a gift.

[hischildren]

Mathion,
I say BOOO to you! I'm a business owner and I'm happy that MOJITOMAMMA could express his/her mind.

[AlBlack52]

Mathion
Secret Santa is called Kris Kringle here in Australia. It is organised by the staff for the staff, and the boss gets the same $20 present as anyone else. To avoid the horrors you mention we are trailling a new system:
KRIS KRINGLE GAME
To play all you have do is show up with a wrapped $20 present. The game sounds complicated but when we get going it'll be easy to follow.
If your not sure of what to bring;
• think of buying something you would want to steal from someone else (this will make sense when you read the rules below)
• keep it clean and not offensive (something you would be happy to take home and show your other family)

Rules:
All gifts are placed in the centre of the group.
Each participant then draws a number from a hat to determine the order of play. It's easier if we write everyone up in on butchers paper and cross them off as we go.

Participant 1 selects a gift and unwraps it.

Participant 2 can either
a) unwrap a gift from the centre, or
b) take the opened gift of Participant 1
if they take the opened gift then the Participant 1 opens another gift from the centre.

Participant 3 can either
a) unwrap a gift from the centre, or
b) take the opened gift of Participant 1 or 2
if they take an opened gift then the participant that had their gift stolen can either
a) open another gift from the centre, or
b) take the opened gift of another participant HOWEVER they cannot take the gift back that was just stolen from them.

etc

Each round stops when someone opens a gift from the centre. Then it defaults back to the order drawn from the hat at the beginning. The present in front of you could change many times during the game or not at all.

The game stops when the last present is unwrapped. Then everyone takes home the present that is left in front of them.

Of course this will blow about an hour more time, but what the hey...it is Christmas.

[PK2013]

I loved the secret santa at our office. One year, contractors showed up who went cheap and bought 10 picture frames from target and the main goal of the FT employees was to avoid getting stuck with them. Despite the misery of the participants, it was hilarious. So next year, I got a cheap picture frame out of my closet and filled it wiht $20 worth of... lottery tickets. They fought over it like a tiger after a gazelle. Lots more fun.

Then the next year, the new director told me: "This event doesn't match the company anymore, don't you think?" I guess he had a point. He didn't make a pretense that the company was going to be worth working for anymore.

[Msaligned]

I used to work at a great company that, every year at Christmas, gave us either an 18-pound turkey or a whole ham. Our choice. You could also get a fruit basket if you were a vegetarian. I always got the ham and the thing was enormous! I never failed to appreciate it. Most places I've worked don't give you anything - which is fine. But it really makes that place stand out.

[AWTinSC]

Worst "End-of-Year" present? I was an IT consultant with a company that also handed out REAL whole turkeys! We joked that we got a turkey for Xmas and a "bird" the rest of the year.

Best? Different company. Boss Lady won it semi-big in Lost Wages one year and those on staff whom she liked received $1000 in new 100-dollar bills wrapped with a "Treasure Island" band. No check to cash; no tax deducts. Suh-weeeeet!

Oh, and the programmer she couldn't stand got zilch. Ew.

[rrd4887]

I love Christmas, I love my job, we don't swap presents at work (don't get me wrong, I LOVE PRESENTS), and I 100% agree with Mathion. Both his/her postings.