Christmas season is upon us, and as such, hundreds of workplaces are about to participate in a time-honored tradition that stresses out even the most chill employees: Secret Santa.
For anyone who has never had to partake in this ritual, the rules are simple: Each employee grabs a piece of paper with a name written on it from a hat or bowl or whatever, and whoever’s name is written on the piece of paper, that’s who you’re buying a gift for.
I have done this many times in my life, and this will be my third time doing it at this particular job.
I’ll admit that I’m kind of a fan of it, but only in theory. In practice, however, this Secret Santa business causes me unnecessary anxiety because without fail, I always get someone I don’t know very well. It makes buying even a gift card difficult.
Via: Time
This year is no different. The girl whose name I drew is nice, and I like her, but I don’t spend too much time with her outside of work. But time was running out, and I had to buy her a gift. I had some ideas, but all of them required information about her likes and dislikes.
I refuse to get someone a gift they won’t like. Call it people-pleasing, call it crazy, call it stupid, but that’s my way. So I did what anyone would do: I Facebook-stalked her. Unfortunately, all of her preferences were outdated and her photos and timeline gave me no ideas. Back to square one.
But then I had another idea, a truly inspired one if I say so myself.
Via: Daily Interior Design Blog
I decided that I was going to get her a mug filled with coffee or tea, and all I had to do was try to discover which of the two beverages she preferred. So, I texted her under the guise of conducting a poll for an article I was writing (a fake poll for a fake article). I got the answer I needed, and as I was walking to the checkout counter to purchase the teacup and tea, a thought occurred to me.
What if she realized I was her Secret Santa? That would ruin everything!
Yes, this is where I get crazy.
So, I hopped on Facebook and posted the same question to our work page using the same fake article excuse. I was surprised that I got responses from nearly everyone in the group.
And, then, I took it a step further. I posted it as my status to try to see if getting responses was a fluke.
It wasn’t.
I got over 30 responses in the first four hours. The weird thing was I got responses from people that I haven’t spoken to in years. This made me think two things: First, I really need to update my friends list on Facebook, and second, social media has this weird power over our lives. A simple question of coffee or tea can spark a conversation among people who don’t speak on a regular basis.
Via: Port City Web Design
And that is pretty fucking beautiful.
So long story short (not that short, per se), I am slightly neurotic and maybe a little too good at using the internet as an investigative tool.
And to anyone I may have tricked into giving me their beverage preference, I’m sorry. I let Secret Santa get the best of me.
Anyway, happy holidays to you all from your favorite anxiety-ridden people-pleaser. May this season bring you joy and happiness and no stress.
Feature photo courtesy of: Game Collecting Net
