Internet Slams Boss Who Left Worker 'Mortified' Over Terrible Secret Santa Present

Christmas is supposed to be a time for giving.

However, one disgruntled worker has been left feeling a little short-changed after giving their boss a thoughtful Secret Santa gift, only to receive arguably the most thoughtless present possible in return.

According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans plan to spend more money on Christmas gifts than they did in the past 20 years—with an average outlay of $886.

It would appear that things are a little different across the pond though, if a story shared to the popular Mumsnet forum is to be believed.

In a post that has racked up over 29,000 views, a woman from the U.K. revealed how she was left "mortified" after exchanging gifts with her boss during the annual Secret Santa.

Things got off to a pretty bad start when he "forgot" her present on "the actual day of Secret Santa" in a move that essentially destroyed the "secret" element of the whole thing.

With a £20 ($26) limit set on gifts purchased, the woman felt confident her gift would nevertheless go down well with her manager, even though they ended up exchanging them a day later.

"I got him an aftershave he likes," she wrote. "And a small box of chocolates. Just Cadbury's, he loves chocolate."

Thoughtful, practical and pretty much spot on when it comes to a workplace Secret Santa, she must have been hoping for something similar in return.

What she got instead though was a coffee mug "with a pack of pens in and some sticky notes."

It wasn't so much that he had bought her a bad gift—there was a suspicion he may not have bought anything at all with the haul of items unlikely to have come anywhere near to costing him £20 ($26).

Angry at the lack of thought or care that went into the present, the woman took to Mumsnet in the hope of finding some validation that she was, indeed, right to feel unhappy.

She didn't have to go far to find it, with users happily piling in like kids in a snowball fight to slam the boss for what is an indefensibly bad bit of Christmas gifting. "I would be pissed off," Turtletaub commented. "Sorry you got such a crappy gift."

Atlaspine agreed: "Totally crappy gift. But that's what secret Santa is - waste of time and money." 123rd said the mistake was to set such a high spending limit. "I'd rather a small budget for secret Santa," they said. "Then you are less likely to be disappointed or waste a lot of your own money."

Sparklybanana, meanwhile, offered up a contentious viewpoint on the matter. "Men are always rubbish at this," she wrote. "Gifting must be on the x chromosome."

Other users like Waspsarearseholes, suggested she exact a little revenge. "I'd leave it behind somewhere he will find it," they said. "He's clearly just raided the supply cupboard in work and put together whatever he could find without spending a penny...How can anyone honestly expect someone to be pleased with that?"

In a follow-up post, the woman said that while her boss is a "nice man" he is "very black and white" and "always thinks he's right" which puts her off challenging him on the matter.

Even so, GreenCat44 felt the incident was symptomatic of a malaise that has crept into Secret Santa gifting of late. "People shouldn't join in secret santa if they're not gonna put in any effort," they said. "I got a tartan tablecloth last year that I'm sure someone just wanted rid of. I'm still annoyed."

With statistics compiled by Finder in 2019 showing an estimated $15.2 billion is spent on unwanted presents annually in the U.S. alone, it might be time for a rethink.

Christmas has proven a rich source for controversy online this year. One couple went viral after detailing how they purchased deliberately annoying gifts for their nieces and nephews just to annoy their relatives. Another woman also sparked debate after deciding not to cook or clean for her in-laws over the holidays.