The No-Secret Santa

So yesterday I went to a nearby mall. I usually avoid malls, because the compulsive-shopper in me always finds a great excuse as to why I need that new top & then spend the next few minutes looking for something to go with the newly-bought top. Then I have to also find a restaurant to which I can go wearing the new ensemble. And if God forbid the mall has a bookstore, I can be found sitting inside with 2-3 novels in my lap & one in my hand. Worst part is I am the kind who has zero bargaining skills & loads of sympathy for the shopkeepers. So I actually feel sad if I have just asked the assistant to show me millions of dresses & then bought nothing. And I wonder why I am always broke.

Moving on... so I went to the mall to buy a gift for a person I may have talked to once in my entire duration of stay at work. Have you heard of the Secret Santa thing? Yes, you have. Because I am pretty sure you have also spent the past few days debating on whether you can just wrap up a 2018 diary & pass it off as Santa's gift. 

For the those yet to be initiated into this corporate hell-hole, Secret Santa is the way we adults (I actually smirked when I wrote those 2 words) decide to celebrate Christmas. everyone writes down their names on chits of paper & picks one from the lot. You end up being the Secret Santa of the person whose name's on the chit. Someone else will have your name & you can only pray they like you and gift you something good. Some offices have it as a compulsory task-to-do for everyone.



At my previous workplace I was the one organizing the whole Secret Santa thing. But it was amongst friends-people willing to & interested in giving gifts to each other. People who actually like each other. So that is excusable kind of, to a very small extent. But over time I have realised that this is just a waste of time. I mean, we are what they call 'millennials'. Why do we need any gifts anyway? We dine at the finest restaurants, buy clothes from the costliest brands, go on trips every other month. Doesn't that count as, I dunno..blessings maybe? 

I am not preaching, far from it. I don't want to come off as a hypocrite. I do love giving gifts & receiving it too. But when I went out looking for gifts for a person I don't know much about, I realised this is just futile. I mean I didn't have fun the whole 3 hours I spent in the mall trying to figure out if gifting someone beard oil passes off as too over the top.

I know i am not alone in this struggle. Within those 3 hrs I found many such victims of the HR's well-meaning attempt to spread Christmas cheer. Guys holding shiny, cute looking thingummies & looking lost & girls just going "aww, so cute" over every decorative item, ending up buying nothing for the intended person and something for themselves  (guess I am just talking about myself in that situation).

The entire mall as you can see from the picture above, was lit up with decorations and in spite of your aversion to selfies you'd inevitably find yourself saying cheese before 3D cutout of a Santa Claus(not posting that one here, I look fatter than the Santa). 

The kids were the ones having the most fun because you see, they get the gifts & don't have to worry about the price tags on it. Talk about having the cake & eating it too. 

Well, to be honest not everyone was as grouchy hunting down gifts as i was. I lost quite a few thousand calories going up & down 3 floors looking for something, anything I could call a good gift. So that's a good thing too. I didn't want him to feel sad his Santa was such a lazy bum. Because honestly it's a fact, no matter how old you grow, if your Christmas gift isn't a good one, you feel pathetic and start questioning all the good you've done that year and then turn cynical and selfish and not care for anything any more. We just can't have that now can we?

So in conclusion I should stop being a Grinch now and go spread selfless joy.

But seriously, would beard oil be that bad an idea? 

p.s: I have been updated about the absence of beard on the said person, maybe this will inspire him to grow one. Why couldn't I get a girl, things would be so much easier... damn you unequal gender ratio in corporate world!

Comments

Vrsh said…
Haha... Guess u penned down all of our thots quite aptly. However, i had great fun shopping as Secret Santa. Although beard oil wasn't even on my list :p
Rinaya said…
Lucky you!
It's a guy for me.. shopping for guys you don't know well is a real ordeal!

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