I heard my colleague cuss the present I’d bought her for Secret Santa – the concept’s toxic, I can’t believe I spent £20
IMAGINE that you’d splashed out money on your work’s secret santa – and then you heard the person you were buying a gift for moaning about the present you’d already bought.
That became a reality for one woman who has recalled the annoying experience as she described the Christmas gift-giving tradition as “toxic” following someone “cussing out” her present.
TikTok user Shola West explained that she had joined in on an office secret santa – but almost came to regret it.
“Tell me why secret santa can be toxic sometimes,” Shola, who can be found at @allthingsmediasis, began.
She continued: “I remember in one of my jobs, I was new. I think I joined somewhere around the end of the year so secret santa was coming up.
“This was a tradition that my team did, [and I thought], ‘cool, I’m happy to take part, I don’t mind.’”
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Shola then explained how she’d picked out a name of somebody that she didn’t know very well.
Faced with the dilemma of what to buy them, she thought long and hard and then decided to ask her manager for inspiration, as the pair of them were best friends.
She explained: “I told my manager that I had her and said, ‘please help me out, I don’t know what to get this girl – what do you think?’”
The manager then suggested buying her a nail set as she loved having them done.
Shola continued: “I thought, ‘that’s cool, that’s easy, that’s within the budget set. I’m happy to do that.’
“I went out of my way to get a really nice gel nail acrylic set with a few different paints.”
Shola thought that would be done and dusted until the gift exchange – but then she overheard a conversation.
She revealed: “I heard the girl who I’m buying her secret santa gift say to other people on the table, ‘Oh, I really hope I get a good present for Secret Santa this year.
“Last year all I got was some rubbish nail varnish!’
“I’m sitting there thinking, ‘one – she sounds entitled – relax, it’s literally secret santa, like the budget is £20 so what do you expect?
“Two, obviously I’m new and I’ve already bought her this gift and I’m not going to go out of my way to return it.
“And three, did my manager try to set me up? What the hell?”
Shola went on to say to her 25k followers that she decided to keep quiet and not tell anyone on her team what had happened.
She continued: “When we gave the gifts, the great thing about it was that nobody knows whose gift is whose.
“She basically pretended to like it and everybody else when they opened their gifts said ‘thank you to whoever bought this,’ really showing appreciation.
“When it came to my gift, like I said to you, she brushed over it and said, ‘oh, ok, nice.’ She didn’t show appreciation.”
Shola concluded that she wasn’t the sort of person she’d want to be friends with, as she concluded: “What I got her wasn’t just some cheap Primark nail paint.
“If I wanted to, I could have, and if she got that she still should have been grateful, because it’s secret santa at the end of the day.
“But I went to Boots and got you a very nice gel nail set.”
She ended the video with a word of warning for others, as she said: “It taught me that secret santa can definitely be toxic and people just need to be mindful – especially nowadays in this cost of living crisis – people can only afford what they can afford.
“So if you get a pack of socks, just be grateful and appreciative.
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“Secret santa is more about the fun in work and the secretiveness versus the actual present.”
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