Can a gift be the kiss of death?

[Ramsey]

One time I broke up with a guy because he gave me fuzzy bedroom slippers shaped like gorillas for Christmas. That was his only gift to me, after dating for over a year. (No, he wasn't destitute.) These things were hideous. Tacky. Huge. Really ugly. And so totally the complete opposite of what I could possibly want as a gift in a million years. (Those of you familiar with my taste in footwear will understand. :evilgrin:) I dumped him shortly after dumping the slippers in the garbage.

True, it probably wasn't JUST the slippers. But they were really like a bolt of lightening telling me that this guy just really didn't know me at all. And probably never would. Or even worse, it was a plot on his part to get me to dump him.

My husband thinks that was a bit harsh. (I think he's just afraid he'll give me something I consider inappropriate. He shouldn't worry, he does pretty well.) I pointed out that if I hadn't dumped that wrong guy, I might not have been available to marry him :-).

But seriously, what are some of the worst gifts you've ever gotten??

[Bunny]

1. Well, I can't comment on the worst gifts I've ever gotten, because

there weren't any that were that colossally bad!

It was a good move to dump him for that gift, when you'd been dating him for a year, it was the ONLY thing he got you, and he was not broke.

[UncleSepp]

2. An XBOX.

Now, I'd wanted an XBOX, and hubby wanted an XBOX. I bugged him for many months about getting one, and he said no to it, because it would require that we would get a new television. In his logic, that meant a new big expensive tv and somehow a DVD player too. Then, he asked me if I wanted an XBOX for my birthday one year, and I said, no. If we're going to get an XBOX, we ought to just get one for both of us, not as my birthday present.

He got the XBOX.

We then went to the electronics store and came home with a big new TV and a DVD player/home theater system. He bought the one with a pretty blue light on it that the salesman said the ladies like. (I thought, let's get the conversion kit that allows the XBOX to play DVDs.)

He then proceeded to play the one game I really wanted to play, HALO, until he had gone way past the point where I was in the game, got much better at it than I was, and spoiled the plot.

This gets better.

Wait for it...

We are separating. In addition to a small table that was a gift from my mother to me from before we got married, guess what he claimed he was taking with him?

The XBOX.

To use as a DVD player.

He said I could take the home theater system he bought, that I didn't want, the one with the pretty blue light. Know what else is special about the DVD player?

It's broken.

[AlienGirl]

6. Don't let him get away with that!

You give that guy an inch and he'll want... (you know the rest).

Seriously, it's YOUR X-box!!

Tucker

[UncleSepp]

7. I objected - his answer? NOW it's yours?

He was actually pissed when I said he couldn't have it. I had maintained since he bought it that I was mad because it wasn't really a present for me. So now he's mad because I want to keep it and use it for MY dvd player, and maybe actually play a game on it all the way through without him ruining it for me or sitting at my elbow giving me puppy eyes because I am either not paying attention to him or hogging the television. I'll give it away to Goodwill before he gets it.

[AlienGirl]

8. Good--don't make concessions on this one

He's being a jerk about it. "Now" it's yours, because it was yours from the minute he GAVE it to you. Just cause in his mind everything that's yours is his too doesn't make it so.

Edited to add: BOUNDARY ISSUES...

Tucker

[UncleSepp]

10. The broken home theater system is the killer for me.

I never wanted the stupid thing, and now that it makes horrible noises, he'll be generous and 'give' it to me.

Funny, he's complaining about "having" to take the "enormous futon", but he doesn't want to just sell it because he's attached to it. Well, tough crap. I seem to recall that when we moved up here to Seattle the first time, I bought everything we have out of my relocation money. I also seem to recall that when we moved from Bellevue to Seattle, he was unemployed, and I bought everything once again. If I wanted to get crabby about it, it's all mine.

Need some furniture?

[AlienGirl]

11. I have no room for it

Your husband is a dear friend, but he can also be irritating as hell, and he can be a real ass toward you sometimes. Plus he has boundary issues about property and space and things. (I mean, come on...it was a birthday gift, for petesake, he gave it to you, of course it's yours! Even if you didn't want it!)

Tucker

[matcom]

3. sooooooooo

i should take back the donkey fuzzy slippers i got you THIS year? x(

but they are CUTE!!

*you don't love me anymore* :cry:

[Ramsey]

4. Do they have stiletto heels?

I'll always love you no matter what hideosity you give me, but I may still throw them away. What can I say, I'm a sucker for you!

:loveya:

[matcom]

5. would i give you ANYTHING without?

just WAIT till you open up your new THONG!! :loveya: :bounce:

[SOteric]

9. I'm a sappy, sentimental goober of a person.

Even in the face of totally hideous gorilla slippers, I probably would have kept them. And while wearing them wouldn't have happened, I'd have given them an honoured place on my closet shelf.

Did I mention I'm a sappy, sentimental goober of a person?

[purr]

12. A stupid musical stuffed reindeer that played xmas carols..

yes. it was from my bf of 3 years at the time (the father of my 2 kids), then he taped a jewelry box on the hand of it and I was like OMG.. hes finally going to commit and settle down. Nope. Opened it up and there was a cheap necklace in it (not to sound ungrateful but this was really cheap), and then he stated "You know I wish it was something else" - meaning an engagement ring. I was like uh huh buddy.. Along with these wonderful gifts was a plastic snowman for outside on the porch that still had the price tag on it - $1.99.

That was the next to the last christmas together.. I left him at 4 1/2 years along and pregnant with my now 2 yr old. Sometimes I look back, but his childish antics/behavior knocks me back into place.

[Chicago Democrat]

13. The clap

:)

[KitchenWitch]

14. I hate hearts (too cutesy)

An old boyfriend that I had dated for over 2 years bought me a heart necklace (after two years, he should have known me better than that). I would have rather been taken to a nice dinner somewhere.

[Left Is Write]

15. An ex-boyfriend of mine...

Gave me for Christmas in 1994 (when I was 28):

A decent 35mm camera. That was good.

Clothes purchased at the going-out-of-business sale of a local department store. They were purchased from the "I'm not even good enough for the Golden Girls" department. There were two polyester knit skirts with elasticized waists, one in a faux "patchwork denim" pattern, and the other a brown plaid. The skirts had matching polyester knit vests. To complete the look were two blouses, one white and one yellow, each with those complicated tie collars that look like they ought to be worn by nuns.

Any of you who have ever seen a picture of me know that I DO NOT DRESS THIS WAY. I do not plan to dress like that EVER.

My boyfriend had known me for eight months. Presumably at some point he noticed what I wore.

I think his mother picked out that crap. She didn't like me much.

[barackmyworld]

16. The absence of a gift is pretty bad

yep.

[ScreamingMeemie]

17. Either the set of tires, or the chain saw, or the lawn mower...I could go

on. Not the kiss of death though. They were all things we needed. My gift is the man himself. ;)

[Ramsey]

20. Very understanding MrsGrumpy

My husband's mother likes to tell how one of the reasons she divorced my husband's father is because he gave her household appliances for gifts year after year of their marriage. Vacuum cleaners. Blenders. Cans of paint, for her to paint the kitchen, etc. Did they need these things? Probably yes. But she felt they should have been purchased out of household funds and not substituted for meaningful gifts from the heart!!

[UncleSepp]

24. I can sympathize with your husband's mother!

I feel the same way about the stupid XBox.

[MidwestMomma]

18. One year Santa got me an ant farm

That was it for me and Santa.

After all, any magical being who makes lists and checks them twice should have known that I had a full blown bug phobia and was DEATHLY afraid of all bugs ESPECIALLY ants.

Things were never the same between me and Santa after that and a few years later, I quit believing in him altogether. :7

[AlienGirl]

21. I'd like to get my kids an ant farm

for at their dad's house... :evilgrin:

Tucker

[xmas74]

19. A home pregnancy test.

Only gift after five years together. I'll call it a gift because it was about the only thing he ever bought me.
Wait-I forgot about the club sandwich that went w/ the EPT.

[skygazer]

22. Well, the box of Tampax rates right up there

This was from my stepmother for Christmas the year I was 16 (she was one of those ridiculously practical people). I got, besides the Tampax, a bottle of shampoo, a bottle of conditioner, a set of sheets and a clothes hamper for my bedroom. All things I was just longing to get for Christmas at the age of 16 - oh, and opening them in front of the family was a hoot, too.

[Karenina]

23. Gift means

POISON in Deutsch! ;-)