Employees Break Down The Worst Company Gifts They've Ever Received

It's nice when your boss or employer shows their appreciation for your work and commitment with a gift.

Particularly if that gift is a sizable bonus.

Of course, receiving something other than cash can be nice as well.

Most of the time.

Every so often, be it for the holidays, your birthday, or retirement, people have received presents which have left them literally speechless.

And not in a good way.

Redditor akinafleetfoot was eager to hear about the worst presents someone has ever received from a boss or employer, leading them to ask:

"What’s the worst company gift you’ve ever received?"

How Well They Knew Me...

"A 10-year anniversary memory book with my name spelled wrong on every page."- EngrBabe·

Attention To Detail...

"Company coffee mug with the company name misspelled."

"It was a large company."- Klotzster

The Thought Doesn't Count When They're THOUGHTLESS!

"Invited to a nice restaurant with other employees."

"Spouses were invited but had to pay their way."

"We were told to claim our meal on our expense forms."

"But our boss hadn't cleared it with his boss so all our claims were rejected."

"So my wife and I went to a nice restaurant, had to pay for both of our meals, and had to hang out with our boss while doing it."

"This was a twice-a-year date night type restaurant, so we wasted one of our date nights with coworkers."

"I've been thinking that it is possible this manager did this on purpose."

"The other thing he did is tell a few of us that we had been working so hard and putting in so much unpaid overtime (we were salaried) that he'd take three of us golfing for the afternoon."

"By the end of the round, he said we should all probably use a half day of our holidays on our monthly time sheet."- cisco55

homer simpson bill GIF Giphy

Planning For The Future, Maybe?

"My company is owned by a holdings company, so it's a bunch of different unrelated stuff."

"They keep giving us these vouchers to spend at their store."

"So I did a tour of the campus, and they brought us to the store."

"And it's literally elderly medical care stuff, like the things you would attach to your toilet and bathtubs to have bars to hold onto."

"They also have those super big chairs with all the gadgets and whistles."

"They're like 4 grand."

"So thanks for the 5 dollar voucher lol."

"I seriously have no idea what anyone was thinking when they came up with this reward system."- Skootchy

Food As It Should Be...

"A coupon for 15% off Panera Bread catering."

"I forwarded the email to abuse."

"They said it was real."- bleu_flame

Travel And Accommodation Not Included...

"Two free tickets to a cinema."

"The issue was that the closest cinema in that particular chain was about 800 miles away from me."- ATHYRIO

movie theater GIF by James Curran Giphy

Sharing Isn't Always Caring...

"Not me but a friend."

"All staff at the hospital received a kitchen scrubby for Christmas."

"Not even themed."

"Just random browns, greens, pinks, and yellows."

"Seems like the boss bought dollar store multi-packs and opened them to give everyone one piece."- smeowth

Happy New Year, Indeed...

"An email that only upper management would be getting the end-of-year bonus (sent to the entire company by accident instead of just upper management)."

"Then laid off two weeks into the new year."

"Found out from a friend in the company a little while later that the board of directors held a vote."

"They keep their car allowances at the expense of a wave of layoffs, or lose their car allowances, and 10-15 people get to keep their jobs."

"Pretty sure it was unanimous."

"No matter how many times a company says you’re family, just remember that it’s the type of family that would gladly cut your throat to make sure the fat cats get to eat."- strike-when-ready

Free Advertising?

"A long sleeve denim shirt with the company logo in the front above one of the front pockets."

"In Florida."

"Plus we couldn’t wear denim at work so the only time we’d be able to wear the company shirt is on our own time (not happening) or when we’d have dress down day (again not happening)."

"When a coworker inquired where we could wear this since we can’t wear it to work they listed places (like a BBQ joint, the movies, etc.) and said we should be grateful since most places don’t give their employees gifts."

"It was a call center."

"Could’ve given a blanket (since it was cold in the center), travel mug, anything except a shirt we can’t wear."- jennabellie

sean hayes jack GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

When In Doubt, Say "Thank You".

"Boss gave me a mug, I quipped 'a mug from a mug'.”

"HR took the mug off me, made me apologize, then gave me the mug back."- Active-Strawberry-37

Read The Fine Print...

"The first company I worked for out of college gave everyone a 'free turkey' around the holidays."

"It wasn’t really a free turkey, it was a $25 gift certificate to a grocery store that was inconvenient for 75% of the people working there."

"And $25 didn’t cover a turkey, of course."

"Turns out, the company owners had a stake in the store."- truthcopy

Could Have Been Useful...

"Not me but a coworker at last year's raffle got a Nintendo DS cleaning kit."

"For a normal Nintendo DS, not even a 3DS."

"They aren't being made anymore."- Adventurous_Yak_9234

nintendo GIF Giphy

Talk About Hamming it Up...

"Questionable Christmas Ham, circa 2017-ish."

"In general, Christmas Ham + canned goods and assorted sweets were commonly given by Philippine corporate to employees in December, sort of to boost the Noche Buena feast on the eve of Christmas."

"The ham in question did not look very appetizing (think giant block of pale Spam)."

"One of my co-workers tried offering a bite to her dog; the dog refused."

"It might be earlier than 2017."

"I must have been so horrified with the questionable ham, I blocked out the exact year."- tacwombat

Didn't Quite Measure Up...

"A Snap-On Tape measure."

"Sounds great but it's all metal and heavy AF, doesn't have metric measurements, has a small tang, is less than 25 ft, and doesn't have markings for the case length on it."

"Easily the worst tape measure I own and I found out it was almost $50. I wasn't complaining though until I found out its absurd cost."

"There's quite a few littered around work as no one uses them."- Drogdar

It's always nice to feel appreciated.

Which is also why it's nice when you receive a gift that makes you feel appreciated.

After all, if it is indeed the thought that counts, a tiny bit of thought should go into every gift...