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Thought you might like this article located here: https://right-thoughts.us/index.php/weblog/comments/gift_cards_are_not_gifts_my_ass_they_arent/ Gift cards are not gifts…my ass they aren’t I kinda wanna punch this chick. Holidays have rapidly devolved into what amounts to an exchange of cash. A gift card says nothing about the personality of the recipient—but it says lots about the giver. Gift cards are incredibly popular. They’re also an oxymoron. Think about it. Would a lover, in the flush of romance, lean close to the object of his affection and present . . . a gift card? Would proud grandparents present the latest addition to the family with . . . a gift card? Would your best and closest friend, the one you’ve known for years, who’s stuck with you through the roller-coaster ride of life, walk into your hospital room and give you . . . a gift card? (If the answer to any of those questions is yes, by the way, you need to start hanging with a better class of people.) That immediately made me think of a four-letter word that rhymes with “bunt.” Fuck you, you judgmental bitch.  I happen to like getting cash or gift cards.  No one knows what I want better than me.  I enjoy shopping as much as anyone without a vagina can, and I enjoy it all the more if it’s not my money I’m shopping with.  I also enjoy one or two surprises, like a book someone thinks I might like or a piece of kitchen gear.  For example, the best gift my mother-in-law got me ever was a saucepan with a strainer lid on it.  Heavy cast bottom, non-stick, I frigging use it for everything.  It;s not what I asked for, but she saw it and thought “He’ll be able to use that” and she was right.  However, my favorite gift that the in-laws ever got us was cash to help us buy our Series 3 TiVo.  I think that for my birthday this past year, I didn’t even pretend I wanted a gift.  Cash please.  I know what to spend it on. I assume Liz Pulliam Weston (Jesus, could that name be more pretentious?  I suppose if she went by Elizabeth Pulliam Weston it would be more pretentious) would be horrified at cash.  Surely that is far more gauche than even the lowly gift card? This year I asked Donna to get me one specific thing.  If she ONLY buys this one thing, I will be happy as a clam.  Are clams happy?  Hard to tell.  I certainly will be happy, and if I didn’t have Amazon to which I could point her, I would simply tell her that I was going to go buy it myself and she could stick her name on a card.  I’m sure Ms. Manners would be aghast at such thoughtlessness.  Not only is my rude wife not spending hours and weeks agonizing over a gift, here I am depriving her of the act of potentially getting me something I don’t give two figs about! I may be wandering off the point a bit.  Gift cards rock, is what I am trying to say.  I know better than anyone else what I want. Some people, apparently, would be delighted with that prospect. While researching party themes for my daughter’s upcoming celebration, I stumbled across a posting by a woman who proudly included the horrifying words “monetary gifts would be much appreciated” on her 3-year-old child’s invitations. She went on to explain that “I wanted money as gifts for my daughter’s savings and for us to buy bigger toys, like a big kitchen and a Barbie Jeep that she wanted, instead of guests giving her small toys.” It’s official. Shame is dead. Yeah, fuck those parents!  How DARE they assume they know what their child wants!  How DARE they not want their home littered with useless shit the kid won’t care about a day later!  How DARE they teach a child about saving for a larger want!  THOSE SHAMELESS BASTARDS!  They must be shunned.  Shunned I tell you! I say you give a person what they want or need, not what you want them to have.  That says a lot about a person, in my ever-so-humble opinion.  Liz Pulliam Weston seems like the kind of person that gives you what she think you ought to have, not something you want or need. Screw her.  If gift cards make your gift recipients happy, then do it.  Don’t ever listen to some pretentious old (in thought if not in years) biddy trying to make herself relevant by butting in to your holiday. (I tried to continue this post, as I am quite sure I would have more to say to this busybody pretentious cow, but the site refuses to load page 2 of the article.  Here’s a tip for all you commercial sites out there; STOP PAGINATING EVERYTHING JUST TO RAISE PAGEVIEWS.  Unless of course your site actually frigging works. Maybe someone needs to send a few gift cards to the webmaster at MSN.) *UPDATE* Page 2 finally loaded.  More of same. If you find yourself purchasing gift cards, maybe the solution is to buy less and think more. Maybe the real solution is you stop trying to make everyone feel inferior and just shut your face before someone kicks you in it, Jackie Chan style.  HIYAAAAAA!  Bitch.