Guess what they said at work the other day: "Julius, do you want to be involved in Secret Santa this year?" to which I replied: "No thank you," and was then promptly asked: "Why not?!" to which I replied: "for personal reasons!" and looked away. My manager seemed crestfallen as everybody else in my office had volunteered to do it. Personally I would rather give the money to charity. One thing for sure is that I am not going traipsing round the shops looking for a gift for someone I probably don't even like anyway. I haven't got the time!
The perfect Christmas present........NOT
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was that summer?
I only buy pressies for children and our parents these days. The world's gone completely mad!
Julius I so agree with you. I HATE Secret Santa. Yes, you always get someone you don't like but you go out of your way to spend your £10 wisely and buy something useful or just nice. What do you get in return? Chocolate body paint, some old writing paper, a book that's been read 5 times or a paper apron with some smutty slogan on it. Hate doing it but you're a miserable old sh*t if you don't join in.
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Yes, you are right, Candycane. The way my manager reacted you'd have thought I'd done something really awful! I thought I was being direct, yet tactful. I was really surprised when I was expected to justify my decision. I hate Secret Santa. It's always suggested by some awful person who thinks it will be "fun" and they are more than likely just trying to raise their profile within the business. Secret Santa is awful. I'm so glad I had the strength to resist it this year!
Usually suggested by the office bully who scares people into buying them Moet or Glenlivet or something that clearly cost more than £10. Funny how the organiser always gets something awesome while I get 50 ways to bury a dead cat. Ho hum. Yeah, I know, miserable old git lol.
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Boris Bear
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The person I got in secret Santa has really naffed me off this week but the item I had ordered seems to be lost in the post (ordered two weeks ago and still waiting) so they might get a more generic present.
I am always mystified at how in virtually every workplace they always do that Secret Santa thing at this time of year. It's always suggested as being "fun." Personally I think it's about as funny as a funeral. If I'm going to buy something for someone I will do it because I like them and because I want to give them something. Recently my colleague Angela had her house broken into for the 3rd time in a YEAR. She was putting a brave face on it but I could see it was getting her down. They took all her jewellery. I ordered a silver charm for her as a gift, and she absolutely LOVED it. It cheered her up no end and I was happy to give the gift. I was glad I could make a difference, and that's how it should be, not just some office bore foists it upon people! I was upset that my manager pressed me for an explanation.
MinxyKitten
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See, that's what gifts should be about. I would rather do this throughout the year than be forced into doing the whole xmas thing. I bet she appreciated that more than most people appreciate their xmas presents, especially a secret santa one.
I hate secret santa too. I always refuse. One company I worked for really rubbed it in my face one year, making a huge thing of opening the gifts and putting things in my face, so I told them that I had given £5 for each person to a local children's charity, that soon shut them up!! I hadn't, at the time, but I just wanted to make them feel bad!! (I did donate the next day as I felt guilty about using them as an excuse, ha ha)
loveallthingsitalian
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Last year our SS had a twist where they were opened in turn with the person opening was able to swop their gift with any of the preceding ones. No on did this, being too polite, until one fella decided to swap his grotty one for a very large box of nice sweets. This did not go down well, a bit of a strop happened, mayhem on the following gifts. so far no mention of anything this year so hopefully it has been permanently shelved.
Oh my goodness, what a great story! That is a perfect example of why Secret Santa should be outlawed. It does exactly the opposite of what it's supposed to. Am glad I'm not doing it this year.
May
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I used to hate this system where I worked ...always manipulated to get who they wanted ....couldn't prove IT but I had a feeling ....
loveallthingsitalian
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I thought I'd revive this thread as for the first time ever I've refused to take part in the secret santa at work this year. I've written a couple of posts on the subject before as we've had some proper "howlers" over the years. Smutty notebook given to a god fearing 60 something, I was given a shoebox full of dusty second hand rubbish, cheap chocolates with the receipt still attached. I remember the time and care I spent finding what I thought was the perfect gift for my recipient last time I took part to discover that he didn't like it so I decided then and there that's my lot! As I was the person who used to organise it I decided that if it was gonna go ahead next year somebody else could take over the reins - Nobody did so for the past few years our department haven't bothered with it. This year it's been revived not by me I hasten to add, but I've said I'm not taking part, firstly we have so many new people in the department that I hardly know and from my last experience of thinking I did know what someone would like and failing I've decided it's too much unnecessary stress. When it comes to gift buying I am very fussy and would never buy somebody just anything, and as the budget is pretty low (£10 max) I'd have to work extra hard to get something decent. One year I received a little plastic pouch containing an olive rich handcream and a body lotion an inoffensive but boring gift which ended up in my charity shop donation bag so I really don't see the point!
I took part once in a Secret Santa. It was a disaster and I vowed I'd never do it again. I was over generous to my recipient and from him I received crap.
I get what you're saying but I don't mind spending a tenner on someone that I wouldn't normally buy a present for, but I'll admit I do panic a bit when I draw out the name of somebody I'm not that familiar with but I'm prepared to put in every effort possible but at my age I just can't be bothered with the extra hassle any more. From what I've seen at my place over the years is the zero lack of effort put in by others and though my worst present by far was the shoe box full of $hite it did grate a lot when I was presented with a small box of Lindt truffles with a receipt showing they'd paid less than £4 for them and to add insult to injury they were on a three for two offer at the time and with staff discount they'd have still amounted to under the suggested spend amount. They could've chosen three different flavours for me, and whilst it wouldn't have been the most exciting gift to receive I wouldn't have felt insulted! When something stops being fun then it's time to stop!
Battiola73
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My last job was in an office of ten people, three of which (including me) said we wouldn’t participate in the Secret Santa. We were asked why and we gave our reasons, mainly that we didn’t really celebrate Christmas. After the whole office discussed it, we decided we’d donate the £120 to a local charity. In subsequent years we did the same. Better they had the money than us getting gifts that invariably got binned.
Don't like these secret santas or collections in general. There was once a collection for a girl that was getting married in our office and she had never spoken two words to me since I started working there so I politely declined to donate. Then someone told the whole office what a cheapskate I was and I was forever after the bad guy. I don't join in any of these things now.
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I don’t blame you! Many years ago a similar scenario occurred in the office I was working at and the young lady in question was also getting married I refused to contribute because I didn’t like her as she was a hard faced bully, however she was also leaving so whether I’d had had the guts to make a stand had she been staying is debatable! I tend to avoid leaving do’s and collections. If it’s someone I really care about I’d sooner but them a little something just from me and will go to their leaving do if we intend to stay in touch - otherwise I’d rather save my money and stay at home.
