I bought my sister a fancy coffee machine for her birthday and it was a total flop

I was at her place in Austin last month for the party, and she opened the box looking confused. She said, 'I don't even drink coffee, I'm a tea person.' I felt so bad because I spent over $300 on it. I ended up returning it and we went shopping together for a nice teapot instead. Has anyone else had a gift idea backfire because you got the person's hobby totally wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_william29d ago

Feel like I could win a gold medal in bad gift giving sometimes. I once bought my buddy a whole set of fancy grilling tools because he mentioned "smoking a brisket" one time, turns out he was just quoting a TV show. Totally get what @lucask11 is saying about mixing up a one-off thing for a real hobby. At least your sister was cool about it and you guys turned it into a shopping trip, that's a solid save. My friend just looked at the tongs like I had three heads.

lucask1129d ago

Oh man, that reminds me of a story I read online where someone bought their friend a super expensive fishing rod for his birthday. Turns out the guy only went fishing that one time years ago as a joke and actually hated it. The giver just assumed it was a new hobby! It's so easy to mix up a one-time thing with a real passion. At least you could return the coffee maker and fix it with the teapot trip. That sounds like a nice way to save the day.

joseph93219d ago

My wife and I keep a shared note on our phones for gift ideas. We just add stuff when the other person mentions it in passing, like a specific book or a kitchen gadget. It saves us from having to guess and buy the wrong thing later.