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Why I hate Christmas gift giving at work

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blackomen
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06 Dec 2019, 2:41 pm

At my previous job, I decided to buy all of my coworkers Christmas gifts. Turns out, I was the only person who brought gifts out of the entire office.

Fast forward to this Christmas and a new job.. Remembering last year, I decided to skip on getting any Christmas gifts. And today it's only Dec 6 and yet all of my coworkers brought others gifts except I.

How am I supposed to know if I should bring gifts or not cause I always seem to be on the "wrong" side.


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shortfatbalduglyman
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06 Dec 2019, 4:24 pm

You don't know

Not everyone celebrates all holiday



blackomen
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06 Dec 2019, 4:26 pm

shortfatbalduglyman wrote:
You don't know

Not everyone celebrates all holiday


And at my previous job where I was the only one bringing gifts, several coworkers were devout Christians.


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blueroses
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28 Dec 2019, 10:38 pm

This year, I let my direct reports, who are all new hires, know that they weren't obligated to buy me anything or exchange gifts with each other and getting everyone on the same page before the holiday like that seemed to work pretty well. But, I did have a few other people outside our department who got me gifts that I wasn't expecting and it was a bit awkward because I didn't get them anything.

When in doubt in the past, I have typically just done a group gift for everyone, like a tray of homemade cookies or a gadget for the break room, rather than buying individual gifts. That way, if someone got me something, I could feel like I wasn't a total deadbeat because at least I did something, but I also wasn't putting others in a weird position by buying them a gift if they didn't get me anything.



Sweetleaf
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28 Dec 2019, 10:43 pm

blackomen wrote:
At my previous job, I decided to buy all of my coworkers Christmas gifts. Turns out, I was the only person who brought gifts out of the entire office.

Fast forward to this Christmas and a new job.. Remembering last year, I decided to skip on getting any Christmas gifts. And today it's only Dec 6 and yet all of my coworkers brought others gifts except I.

How am I supposed to know if I should bring gifts or not cause I always seem to be on the "wrong" side.


A few people gave each other gifts at my work...but lots of people didn't, then the management people gave everyone christmas cards which was nice. But yeah I wouldn't really feel comfortable getting gifts for people I don't know, I mean maybe next year if I am closer to some coworkers then perhaps it would seem appropriate to give gifts...but I certainly don't think gift giving would be expected at a work place.


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