‘What’s the last thing someone gave you that you had to pretend to be grateful for?’ – 21 people who were forced to put in an Oscar-worthy performance

Being given a gift is a lovely thing, unless it turns out to be a gift you really don’t want. Then it’s just incredibly awkward, especially when you aren’t able to subtly ask if they kept the receipt.

They’ve been bemoaning this struggle on the AskUK subreddit after user MisterWednesday6 posted this:

What’s the last thing someone gave you that you had to pretend to be grateful for? For me, it was a bag of half mouldy apples given to me today by a lady in the craft group I go to. ‘They came from the tree in my garden, they’ll be fine once you cut all the bad bits out…’

What else could they have done but accept the pile of mangy fruit? Luckily there were plenty of people to commiserate and offer up examples of their own…

1.

‘My husband thought he bought me Chanel perfume for my birthday, but he actually bought me a £70 bottle of shower gel. He was so sad about it, so I kept telling him how great my showers were for the next three months.’
–anxious_dwarf

2.

‘I won a copy of a book for a writing competition for a local magazine, but I’m blind and the book was in print. Had to go be all cheerful and smile onstage whilst everyone in the audience was very clearly aware the book was useless to me.’
–retrolental_morose

3.

‘It was our silver wedding anniversary earlier this week and my husband presented me with a crystal block, engraved with how many years, hours, minutes and seconds we’ve been married for. It’s like he doesn’t know me at all. And now I’m going to have to give this monstrosity house room until one of us dies.’
–CraftyCat65

4.

‘A women’s Lynx set, they know I can’t use it, but every year I’m gifted one. Because ‘maybe you aren’t allergic to it anymore’.’
–wopsywoo

5.

‘My mum gave me a hair tie with a Moomin on it. She says she thought it was a bracelet. I have never watched nor shown an interest in Moomins in my entire life. I also have a buzz cut.’
–mollymoo19

6.

‘A wilted sunflower given by my nephew. It’s half dead but he’s so proud of it.’
–Vampirero

7.

‘A load of shit from Temu from someone last Christmas. They were trying to be thoughtful but it’s just trash, and the very reason I don’t use Temu.’
–pingusaysnoot

8.

‘My stepdad got me a clay skull ornament because he knows I like skulls. Except I’ve never once in my whole life said I like skulls or shown any interest at all in them.’
–EitherChannel4874

9.

‘Cucumbers and half rotten tomatoes from my in-laws with the exact same reasoning as your apples.’
–over-it2989

10.

‘A bag of secondhand pyjamas for my daughter that were only good for rags. I think she just couldn’t be bothered to do anything else with them. They were threadbare and stained.’
–Hot-Cat-2451

11.

‘A book on the History of Medieval Britain when I was 9. From a random elderly relative.’
–Dizzy_Association315