What's the worst present you've ever received?

People keep giving me steak house gift cards.

I'm a vegetarian. I can only eat a roll there.

I received a framed picture of my parents, from my parents. They said it was because I didn't have a picture of them hung up in my house.

At the call center I worked at, our Christmas bonus was a dress shirt with the company logo on it.

My wife wears it when she dyes her hair.

Oh fuck i have a long history of this...

My parents got me a cheap set of tools, pliers, screw drivers, level and a wood burner with no wood to burn at 10. My brother got a gameboy SP and Pokémon.

Two years later I got an electric shaver and Cologne. I didn't start growing facial hair until 17 and didn't have enough to need more than one pass with a razor until 26. Still have the Cologne, it's not awful but it's also not a smell that works for me.

14 I got a store made cake and $20. I can't eat the cake, the frosting makes my face hurt and that's been a problem since I was 5 so they know I can't eat the cake.

Basically, I didn't get a present for me until I met my wife at 30.

I once got a picture of a really cool present from my dad, which he said was in the mail. Never got the present.

My mate’s little sister was sad and bemused one Christmas when their parents bought her a (single) Pom-pom. Why would you not buy a pair?

I was given 30 quarters that had letters and numbers on each one in a black velvet pouch. If you put them in a certain order, it had a message. The quarters went in year order. The message was a Bible passage according to Matthew. It was when Judas was given 30 silver for betraying Jesus.

The context, I told one of our friends that the gifter was trying to get with his wife while he was deployed. He denied and then made me feel like shit to insinuate such a thing. Turns out, it was true.

I still have the quarters so I could give them back some day.

Not me, but my wife.

She receives an envelope from her grandmother, oh cool, money!
She opened it and it was empty. Okay, no fuss she probably forgot to fill one when making all of them for the family. A week later, she told her grandma it was empty. Her grandma replied "No! There's no way it was empty, your mistaken." This is par for the course. She ignores my wife all the time and talks down to her.

So an empty envelope is the worst I've seen.

I was deployed and got a box from my home unit that was basically just trash. I think it was supposed to be funny, but it was just a lot of scrap paper thrown into a box. Nothing written on them that was for me. Nothing to signal anything. Just a big box of trash that could have been nothing more than the recycling bin upended into it.

That was pretty heartbreaking.

My mother-in-law gave me a booked called The Etiquette Edge which essentially explained how to be polite

About 20 years ago

I went to my family Christmas with my then-partner. I got a Grinch onesie from my family

We then attended my partner's family Christmas where basically the entire living room was stuffed with presents for the kids (my partner and their siblings). My then-partner complained about how the siblings all got more $$ worth of presents. I pointed out that I got a pair of pjs for Christmas. The reply: "it's not about the dollar amount, it's just they got more than me" (paraphrased)

I hated that present. A fucking onesie? It was such a disappointing present, and for a long time I used it as an example for questions just like this

I kept it and wore it. Eventually I lost the bitterness and started to cherish it even. Which is why I still wear it regularly this time of year! It's quite warm.. plus, it has pockets!

Grinch tax:

My gran once gave me a toilet brush. The base had penguins floating in blue liquid, but it was ultimately just a cheap toilet brush.

I gave her a beautiful marble maze.

I didn’t bother after that.

I had an aunt and uncle who, when I was a kid maybe 12, were not well off. They got my brother and I each this toyset that was like make pretend welding. It had a hand tool that, if I remember, let you weld with this soft plastic to make things with the parts in the kit.

It also had a chamber near the nozzle that spun and contained something that made a bunch of sparks.

Well... The thing kept zapping and burning me. Kinda hurt. So, being 12, I complained about it.

And of course, I was an ingrate for not liking the toy they could afford instead of a Lego set or something. The worst of it was I got what my parents meant, my aunt and uncle were kind of ashamed. But it burned me.

Hell I thought it was really cool, and even said so, but I couldn't keep playing with it due to, you know, my hand being red and kinda cut up.

Just bad times all around.

And no, no one suggested put a glove on, and it did not come with one.

My mom's boyfriend got me this huge present that just fit under the tree that was pretty heavy. I racked my brain trying to figure out what it was, had no idea. Got to be honest i was a little hyped up to open this thing, even though my opinion of the boyfriend was average

Christmas day I finally get to find out what it is. open the box and it was a Microwave; a second hand microwave. He had replaced his, wasn't even a good microwave (5 minutes to boil a cup of water) Mom already had a microwave and i was 14 years old.

Someone sent me what they referred to as a self-help DVD that was just some motivational speaker type of person invalidating my issues. A virus in the DVD also temporarily destroyed my friend's DVD player in the process of playing it.

Not the gift itself, but the response.

First of all, even before Christmas I said I'd prefer NO GIFTS at all. Regardless, my dad got me some inkjet HP printer. I thanked him for it, but asked him that we'd return it. I tried to be respectful, but regardless, he got mad at me and didn't talk with me for like 2 days.

Later he sent me the money for it and asked me to buy something for it and show him what it was. I do not know why I couldn't just keep it as extra money, but oh well, it had to be spent on something.
I got a refurbished ThinkPad for that. Pretty good device, by far beating value of HP inkjet. I even got it with a 2 year warranty (without extended) like with a new device, while only 1 year is required.

So I’m a trans guy and as a kid I was very obviously masculine, stereotypical tomboy. One of my aunts that married into the family gave me, maybe around age 5-7, a toy makeup kit. To this day I don’t know wtf she was thinking, because it wasn’t like she never met or saw me. Was it thoughtless or passive aggressive? Who can say ¯(ツ)/¯

My sister wanted me to be the Godfather to her children. She considered it a "gift."

I'm an atheist. I told her explicitly "Hey, you remember I'm an atheist, right?" Part of this whole Godfather business is making a promise to raise them religiously if their parent dies. I thought I was being considerate and kind by being honest that I did not want to be a Godfather because I could not in good conscience make such a promise.

Nope, I'm the bad guy, not the person who knew I was atheist and decided to not respect that at all anyway by asking me to be a Godfather to begin with.

My Dad once gifted me a bazinga shirt. I don't watch the big bang theory.

My sister gifted me the third book of a fantasy trilogy series once.
I never read or got the first two books.

Also, when I was little, my grandma (who hated me with passion) bought me a pink bike just to piss me off, because she thought a boy wouldn't ever like that color. I rode that bike until I was too tall to use it and every time she saw me enjoying that thing she was furious. :)

Top three would be my weird Christmas 'bonuses' from a previous employer. In order of weirdness: some fake notes (representing the companies record profits that year), a single bike pedal, and finally a spanner which had been spray painted orange.

Years ago my father in law gave me a Costco sized flat of Nanaimo bars. Like just wrapped it and that was that. I was so bummed as I thought it was a big coffee table book. I ended up cutting them all in half and freezing them, so we had treats through the year. My husband and I still joke about it. As we passed them in Costco last week he suggested I return the favour.

A tri-fold wallet. It was a good wallet, and I appreciated the gesture. It's just that I HATE tri-fold wallets.

My mother got me Rogaine for my birthday last year. Pretty rude and uncalled for I felt but now I've stopped cutting it and have the longest hair I've ever had so I guess she hit a nerve with that one

XXL pajamas. I'm a medium bordering on small so I was swimming in them.

I think I also got a video game for a console I didn't have but the gesture was nice.

Gift certificate to a tanning salon when I was a Goth kid.

Too small clothes so I'd be excited to go on a diet and lose weight... as an already very sick underweight teen with an eating disorder who wasn't a wize zero "but you'll get there"

Paulo Cohelo's garbage books to "help me with my constant depression that keeps bringing everyone down and you like books, no?"

Stuffed animal toy thay was first intended for a baby shower but the mom didn't want it so "why should it go to waste if you can have it as a birthday present"

Plastic surgery offering as a sweet sixteen present "so you can feel beautiful"

Professional acne treatment (Accutane) as a birthday present because "Oh you poor thing need it"

A used and stained old yellow blouse "because it will make you look happier" I hate yellow.

And the list goes on lol. That was growing up and it is one of the many reasons why I am no contact with all of those people.

Now as an independent adult in a stable loving relaionship surrounded by nice genuine friends, I actually get very thoughtful and beautiful gifts. Some expensive, some with no monetary cost.

A broken propeller toy wrapped in a ripped up plastic grocery bag.

One time my roommate gave me a welding starter set cuz he wanted to learn how to weld LOL.

In middle school, there was this one super unpopular girl that gifted me acne medication for Christmas.... Unprompted. We weren't even friends and yes, I had acne problems like most teens did.

I never bullied anyone in my life before and since, but I did that year.... This was why she was so unpopular. The year after, she called 1 of the 2 only black kids the N word, got her ass kicked and either removed or expelled from school.

I have no idea why anyone would go around picking fights, especially with no friends to begin with. Before anyone asks, no, no mental health issues.

Edit: I also wasnt "popular" and had very little friends too. I mean, it wasnt right either way to turn bully either but I was young

I've always been a computer/theatre nerd. When I was a teen my parents bought me a bike. I did not express nor have any interest in a bike, but I'm sure my mom felt I needed to go outside more and spend less time on the computer. A week or two later while upset at me about something else she complained that I haven't even used my new bike yet.

A goddamned bible. What the fuck am I going to do with that?

A box of Mario fruit snacks when I was a kid.

one of my buddies got a mtn dew. thats it

another got a playstation gift card, which would have been good but he didnt have a playstation

Pizza baking sheets. They didn't fit in my oven.

A paella pan. I don't like paella.

A coffee grinder. It just doesn't grind coffee beans to the right size.

A random Italian cookbook. I have a chefs degree. I'm well down with basic Italian cooking.

See, I cook every day. Twice. And on occasion I love to cook for friends but that also means I'm over poor quality cooking stuff. I'll buy my own gear. Most people think they do me a favour but I just have useless stuff piling up over the years. I'm grateful to get gifts but last year I just told people right a way that if they want to give me cooking related gifts I would be equally happy with some special sort of salt of some fun ingredients to cook with. Those things don't last as long but it would make for a much better gift for a food enthousiast.

Rum flavoured spirit drink.. Twice.

My grandmother bought me a dark green, polyester, turtle-neck shirt; when I was 12. I never even tried it on.

When I was younger and foolish, I agreed to help my boss feel a staffing void for a month and a half, which involved at least 20 hours of extra work. I was on salary, so of course it was unpaid overtime. My boss gave me a bonus of $50. That alone is kind of messed up, but my boss should have given me a raise, because it was the end of the year and that's when raises ought to be given, and instead of giving me a raise they gave me that $50 bonus.

I took the money, but I immediately lost all respect for my boss and stopped caring about that job. It was a good lesson, though. Don't work unpaid overtime, and expect your boss to shaft you, because they can take home the money that ought to be going into your wallet, if you let them.

Motivational calendar...

Thanks mom

I think I only ever received one good present.

Mug from Hotspot, probably. It's actually pretty great though.

Nothing

Sounds really fucked up of me, but I once had a girlfriend gift me a painting she made for me. I could tell she really tried, took her time, spent money on it, and she chose a subject matter I really liked, but it was absolutely terrible. One of the worst paintings I've ever seen.

It put me in such a dilemma because she even framed it and was expecting me to hang it up at my place but I couldn't bear to hang it and see it 'decorating' my place. I thanked her a lot when she gave it to me but I would've preferred she had gotten me nothing instead.

I think the "worst" thing I ever got was a VR headset. It wasn't a bad present per say and I really liked it at the time but unfortunately the VR space died pretty fast and it was completely useless soon after I got it.

Edit: it was a headset where you put your phone inside, I should have said that first