When one thinks of Valentine’s Day, the things that come to mind are flowers, teddy bears and boxes of chocolate as gifts, and some may go so far as to get expensive gifts such as heart-shaped jewelry with pink diamonds for significant others.
However, what happens when someone receives an unconventional or unwanted gift, and how does it feel to get what may be a terrible gift? University of Memphis students shared what they thought a weird and bad gift for Valentine’s Day would look like. Freshman Allison Gray said she considers anything generally unwanted and known to be unwanted by the giving party to be a bad gift.
“I think anything that a person doesn’t want can be classified as a terrible gift,” Gray said. “To get something that someone actively tells you they don’t want shows a lack of paying attention and thought of the person.”
Gray was not the only student to have this sentiment, as sophomore theater major Byron Thomas said getting someone a gift they did not want was disrespectful.
“To me, it’s a bit disrespectful,” Thomas said. “Especially if I told you in advance I did not want said item.”
When it comes to receiving bad gifts, the reactions varied among people. Students throughout campus shared some of their worst gift experiences. Junior accounting major Mariah Shelford said she broke up with her now ex-boyfriend after receiving a teddy bear with a massive tear in it last year.
“I was beyond furious when my ex gave me a teddy bear with a giant slit in the foot last year,” Shelford said. “It was so bad, the leg was almost completely drained of cotton, and the slit was pretty bad. I broke up with him that night.”
Freshman Carson Clarke said he received an open bag of M&Ms from his girlfriend two years ago. In spite of what seems to be an underwhelming gift, he said he was not too upset, only because he came up with the exact same idea, giving her another opened bag of candy her on the same day.
“Yeah, my girl got instant karma on me for giving her an open bag of candy a few years back,” Clarke said. “We exchanged candy at the same time and were shocked to realize we both opened the candy before giving it to each other. It was kind of funny, actually.”
Senior Abigail Cooke said she received a frying pan for Valentine’s Day one year from her now ex-boyfriend to get her to “learn how to cook”.
"My ex-boyfriend gave me this expensive frying pan a couple of years ago,” Cooke said. “He did it as a joke to say I couldn’t cook very well. I rebutted that he wasn’t good enough for my good cooking and dumped him right after.”
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, there will be no shortage of candy, flowers and jewelry exchanging between loved ones this holiday. However, one should keep their eyes out for the wacky and weird gifts as well, because they will be on display too!
