VA: Fuck the Cheerleader; Buy a Gift Card, Save the World
Dec 11th, 2007
(10 votes, average: 3 out of 5)
Loading ...Today, I started and finished my Christmas shopping. It took me all of 10 minutes. I simply drove to the nearest bank and purchased a brand new, shiny stack of […]
Original post: Fuck the Cheerleader; Buy a Gift Card, Save the World
Better idea:
Don’t buy a gift card. Give cash instead.
5 stars just for the title…
sending cash through the mail is a horrible, horrible idea. you can’t insure it and you can’t prove it was in there when one of the thousands of temporary postal workers being hired on for the holidays decides $10.50 an hour would be so much better with a few extra $10s, $20s, and $50s they can find by opening a few cards and blaming it on the conveyor belts…
you can at least insure a gift card (depending on who issued it) if you have the serial number and receipt. :-)
I’m disappointed! I was sure VA would entirely blow off the holiday, give no one presents, and tell them to suck it up and stop whining for more stuff they don’t need!
She’s turning into a softie.
Actually V buys Visa giftcards…see my evidence:
http://www.violentacres.com/archives/66/my-bank-teaches-me-a-little-something-about-customer-service
Just as good as cash and far less dangerous to carry around/send through the mail.
WTF?! Is V stalking me? Does she follow me around to other forums and copy&pastes my opinions?!
Scary.
But anyways, the difference in our thoughts are, I concider gift cards and bought gifts the same. You were too lazy to care and bought love instead when these commercials, radio jingles and billboards told you to.
Build a birdhouse. Take a picture and make the frame yourself. Knit some socks. Do anything, but do it yourself. I value a semi-witty card written behind a beer coaster with a ball-point pen in a bar when you had the funny joke in your head and thought about me more than “this holiday season’s must-buy-gift”.
I hate birthday parties all the same. When people ask me when’s my birthday, I don’t want to answer. If they know when it is, and are asking what I want for birthday, I ask them to thank my mom. She had more to do with my birth than I did. I was merely there.
No-one does that, for it would involve emotions.
No-one makes anything either. Self-made gifts have no value. They don’t add up to the pile. The one who has most at the end is the winner.
No, we care about that person one time a year when it is custom to do so. And every one we know another time of the year. Again, when it is custom to do so. I don’t mind gift of any kind if the person puts some thought in it. Even if it is bought gift, it’s fine, if it’s in any other time except this time of the year or my birthday. If a person saw something, or had an idea and built it, but as long as the person thought about me on that moment when (s)he saw that thing/had that idea.
I want your brains and your heart. Not your wallet.
Shopping and spending money the way I want is a very personal and damn nigh religious/height of ecstacy experience for me.
Grandma, give me a shiny Visa gift card instead of that ugly fucking turkey-shit green velour track suit or gnome garden stake anyday and witness the glee.
Fucking the cheerleader is a thoughtless act and evidence of your poor character.
But seriously - great post!
Totally agreed, and I feel the same about Valentine’s Day, too. Gifts on Valentine’s Day are meaningless. Treating your partner with love and respect the REST of the year? Now THAT means something!
“Treating your partner with love and respect the REST of the year?”
Catholic church had an idea in around 500-1000 AD… Church has been very good at burning documents, so we’re not sure when it actually started and my memory is bad. Around that time, when Church changed from mass absolution to private confession booths. And in 1500’s it was already widely spread custom and openly marketed. This is one of the things that made Martin Luther write some note and nail it to some door… (Y’all might’ve heard about it.) Anyways, the idea:
You can buy absolution! Just pay some money and your sins are forgiven.
Isn’t Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Birthday, etc. a bit the same?
Ok, I agree with V. Many times the gift and the affections the gift represents become confused. This is because greed overcomes compassion. Sometimes a gift represents little or no affection at all. It merely satisfies a point of ettiquette. In those instances it is more of a bill to pay than a gift.
I feel grateful if and whenever anyone at all, gives me any gift. I don’t care if it was giftcard or hand-made-Faberge-quality egg. Someone, an actual live, beathing, person gave me something! At moments like those, I will grant them the benefit of the doubt (no matter how remote) that they are genuinelly concerned whether I am alive or not. I will give them a genuine thank you.
How much, I say “oooh and Ahhh” depends on the quality of the presentation and expectations of the presenter. Not the quality of the actual gift. When I can see in that look of “Does he really like it!?” in the eyes and facial expressions of the giver, I will make over the gift more. I relish in the moment that they really want to please me and make me happy.
Its the moment… not the gift.
From the Ravings of the Psychomancer
My mother-in-law starts hounding me about what I want for Christmas in September.
This year was no exception.
And once again, I found myself at a complete and utter loss as to what to tell her.
She’s on a fixed income that barely covers her bills. Despite that, every year she wants to buy us things “so we’ll have something to open”. My hubby and I don’t have a lot of luxuries, but our bills are paid and we eat every week. That’s all we NEED. And we’re absurdly happy with it.
Last year, I told her I wanted a roasting pan. She was terribly upset that I didn’t want anything frivolous, but I was adamant. Two days after Christmas, I brought her a roast chicken with baby potatoes and baby carrots - roasted in my new roasting pan.
Gift cards are WONDERFUL presents - particularly ones that aren’t tied to whatever Corporate Consumer Overlord of the month is popular. I don’t need another knick-knack or another sweater - I need my family to be healthy and happy and safe this Christmas. Anything else is just bonus - but a bonus that I can use if the car breaks down, or the hot water heater dies? I’ll take that over chocolate any day.