We all have to do our part to prevent human trafficking. Sometimes its just a misunderstanding, everyone has a laugh. Sometimes we save a life.

Everyone involved was okay, we'll take that win.

That's a great story, and like the others I've seen, well done!

How could you have known? Definitely did the right thing. Great story!

This is not a FU. You did the right thing.

I've worked in offices where every week until the holiday party, or every day of the week building up to the holiday party, small secret Santa gifts are left anonymously (candy, coffee, ornament, etc.). You may ask. Then, on the holiday party itself, the "larger" gift is given.

Don't be afraid to ask Celine too. May throw her off that idea that you drew her name. :)

They did get Celine...

I don’t know if anyone has said this yet: don’t just randomly leave it on her desk! Maybe your team will have a little Christmas party or something, but usually you’ll all get together at some point before Christmas and exchange the gifts together and show each other what you got. That’s how I know it.

Yes I was coming to say this. Something like be a good boy and maybe Santa will get it for you or let's wait for the after Christmas sale. I know not everyone thinks fast on their feet, but insisting he not get it only made him want it more.

Getting someone you want is absolutely the best. I got my admin assistant one year when I knew she was struggling a bit. I also knew exactly what she wanted for Christmas - new bread pans. She was a great baker, but had recently found out she was gluten intolerant and her old loaf pans were wearing out. I found a 2 loaf, 2 sheet, Bundt package and then 5lbs of almond flour. It was a little over the limit, but not a crazy amount. And she was SOOO happy. The first thing she made with them was a loaf of banana bread for me. So so good.

Kids are dumb.

Erm….this dude was also looking through bumble.

He saw your updated profile.

Nothing is happening here except crappy shallow dating and keeping all options open without actually talking.

Talk to people the way you write. Excessively.

Most secret Santa exchanges have a price limit. When everyone is together, I would ask if there is a price limit or anything specific you should know when participating. Also, ask when you will be exchanging gifts and how they normally do it. Some places leave them completely anonymously, other places put them somewhere and designate a time to hand them out while everyone watches each person open them. The person usually finds out who got them their gift when the time comes to exchange gifts, but you won’t let anyone know until then.

At my workplace, our limit is $25-30. We can spend a little more if we want, but it’s not expected to get anything nice or fancy.

Consider getting her a cute coffee mug or cup, the Santa socks are an awesome idea too if she likes that kinda stuff. If you have an inside joke or a fun thing you bond over, get her a little something related to that. Unless stated otherwise, you usually want to spend between $25-$50 on the gift, and get them a couple small things.

It’s pretty fun and nice since you have a small team that you’re close with. Have fun and good luck! Let us know here if you have any other questions.

Probably wrap it still so she has something to open then give when agreed.

Might want to put it in a box first so it's not obvious.

>between angry voice "you dont need it and wont get it" and "you ruined your christmas present" there should have been a more subtle middleway

I think you missed part of the post? Cause she’d already had to tell him twice before the two you mentioned, brushing it off as “You already have one, your coat is fine, you don’t need a new one.”

People are gonna bring this up every year now at his company

You're a teenager who obviously is struggling with something. Maybe participate in therapy for once.

I already did assume the best of the OP: I assumed that they simply do not grasp how unproductive and, frankly, stupid their choices are, rather than that they are making them out of pure carelessness or outright malice. They made it clear that they would prefer to simply blow off therapy and instead self-medicate using unprescribed drugs, underage, which will stunt their neurological and psychological development and simultaneously present a significantly higher risk of psychological addiction. It's a stupid decision and I am not ashamed to treat it as such.

As to the other circumstances, we are simply not going to agree, unless the OP provides more information. That's fine.

I saw some of the socks in a shop and they actually look wearable, like woollen thick winter socks. I'll take a picture and send it when I can.

But I like the idea. I'll probably opt for it.

But when do I give the gift? Do I leave it on her desk or its on the day we agreed to make the little Christmas gathering?

I'm a bit late, but as far as how expensive the gift goes I would recommend asking your manager.

​

Usually when people do secret santa, a rule is set in place of such as for example, "$20 max" so there's no situations where someone is spending like $100 and others are spending $10.

​

Don't get too caught up on the price though, if you see some things that are nice and you think your co-worker Celine would like. You mentioned she likes coffee and cooking, maybe something like some cooking utensils such as a spatula for example or some good quality coffee if you know how she makes her coffee.

​

Also general recommendation, whatever you do buy keep the receipt with it. Worst case scenario, if you buy her something that she doesn't need she can always return/refund it and get something she might need more. Most people care about the thought that goes into the gifts, so as long as you show you put some thought into it even if it's not kept don't feel bad!

Absolutely. I love it too.

I spoke to some other friends from different countries about it and although they don't celebrate Christmas, they do the exact same game minus everything Christmasy on NYE.

Where I'm from, we never play these kind of games. NYE is an opportunity for us to get together and celebrate eating some expensive cake or whatever, I don't think I've ever received a Christmas/NYE gift ever so like the Muslim guy in your story, I also think I'm getting my first Christmas gift 😂

But do you know what would be really mind-blowing to me? The chemistry between Celine and I is incredible. Me giving her a gift feels the most natural. I genuinely like her as a human being and can't wait to show it through a gift.

But my other colleague I had some friction with in the past (it was s misunderstanding about something) and even though we've come a long way since then, I could feel she still feels shitty about what happened and has been acting very politely around me. I have the feeling she's my secret Santa and if it's the case, I don't think this could've turned any better 😁

Sounds like 20-30 range if you want a good gift, but 10-20 if you want a funny gift/christmas.

What you should do is get the santa socks, then put a Milka chocolate bar in it.

Then when she gets it say something like "turns out you can just leave the bar as the gift, you just need to put it in a christmas stocking first."

Christmas stocking wiki if you haven't heard them before.

You’re doing cash advances on a credit card to put money into savings? Isn’t the transaction fee on cash advances insane? Like 19% + prime? If so, not only is it a bit sketchy, it’s a road map to financial ruin.

I would ask if there's a maximum value to spend on the gift but I would limit around 25-35 dollars

It was discussed, but the problem with my team is that sometimes they say everything and nothing, so I don't feel like I got a real answer. They said something of value but not too expensive. They said even something cheap should work and I was like come on I can't leave Milka chocolate bar on Stacey's desk and call that a gift.

I had some concerned looks.

I told them I'm kidding, Stacey was definitely not the person I picked.

I think they hate me more now lol

I remember doing Secret Santa with a class with very mixed backgrounds. We had a pretty low cash limit, so I thought I'd buy a pretty tin, write a nice card, and baked a huge variety of cookies that I decorated and crammed in there, as many as could possibly fit.

It was rather obvious I spent hours upon hours in the kitchen, but I assumed that some ungrateful bastard who only ever bought discount cookies and gifted someone else a single cigarette would get them. But I organised the game, it took a lot of effort to get these lazy bums even slightly organised, and despite ensuring me that they'd all bring their gifts and me reminding them a thousand times, a few showed up without them anyways.

Well, the ungrateful bastard I picked out of the hat dropped out unofficially the day before, but since they'd done that the year before too, I was prepared. Since I knew who they'd picked, I had a backup card that I wrote, had a backup tin that matched the personality of their gift recipient better (and wasn't as christmas-y) and I whipped that backup present into shape so their recipient would be my recipient instead. I was organising this and I would NOT let anyone be giftless if I could help it.

The recipient I got instead was this very nice Muslim guy, and when he opened his package, and saw the dozens of tiny cookies, and the card, where I'd described each kind so he wouldn't go in blind and maybe eat something he hates, and where I wished him a nice winter break and some rest while he's off school, he suddenly got very quiet.

We didn't write our names on there, but people knew my handwriting and I assumed I'd fucked up.

Someone told me later he went outside to catch himself a little, because that was the first Christmas present he ever received, and he loved it so much. And he later thanked me, very sincerely, for all the effort and told me that he really liked the gift, and that it was his first Christmas present and it meant a lot to him.

That made all of the awful effort of people assuring me they're totally in for Secret Santa and then doing fuck all 100% worth it.

Also, I got a surprisingly nice gift from a guy I didn't expect it from at all. I still use those candle holders today.

I love this tradition a lot and will defend it to the end.