Blog Number 115

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I was asked a few weeks ago if I wanted to join the Secret Santa drawing at work.  The rules were pretty simple.  You draw a name from a hat and sometime between December 4th and December 14th you presented the person whose name you drew with 3 gifts that were to total no more than $25.  Around lunchtime on the 14th, there would be a meeting where you revealed your identity to the person you bought presents for.  Easy, peasy.

The person's name that I drew was a lady I had only met once in person and really in my 6 years of employment had not had a chance to interact with on more than a few occasions.  So I had to hope for the best and trust this person would get my sense of humor or worse case scenario, that they would not be offended by it.  I tried to avoid buying the "easy" gifts like candy.  I wanted to buy stuff that even if they were not enjoyed, they would be remembered.  So I bought the following...

1. 2007 Calendar featuring nature pictures containing only Owls
2. A pair of Christmas CDs performed by Barry Manilow and Willie Nelson
3. A used copy of Tolstoy's, "War And Peace"

Can't you feel the Spirit of Christmas?  Anyway, I have delivered these gifts over the last few days to this person's cube.  I had high hopes that I would make a new friend or at least have something to say when I see her in the office.

This was all crushed today.  I actually needed her help on an issue that had to be settled before year end so I headed over to her cubicle.  I noticed that my CDs were laying there against her cube wall but I did not see the calendar or book.  After I finished getting the answers I needed from her I talked to the guy who sat in the cube next to her on another matter.  There was the Owl Calendar!  Her Secret Santa was not even revealed yet and she had already given away my gift!  I felt (and still feel) a little betrayed.

I semi-sulked back to my desk.  My Secret Santa (the person who had drawn my name) had taken the easy way out with the first 2 gifts.  For the first gift I had received a foot tall plastic cylinder containing mini Reece's Peanut Butter Cups (this screamed of "end of the grocery aisle on sale for $1").  For the second gift I had received a small stuffed animal that was holding and even smaller glass jar that also contained candy (this screamed of "this is what I got last year from my Secret Santa").  Given we had a $25 limit, I had really high hopes for my 3rd gift.  I figured there was like $20 left in the budget.  Sitting on my desk when I got back was my 3rd gift.  3 Hershey's Kisses, a small candy cane and a pencil with a fancy eraser.  I am guessing my Secret Santa spent $5 on me and about 5 minutes of thought.  The whole experience (both giving and getting) has really sucked.

Next year I am going to tell people I am Jewish.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon