pendell

Current Hyperfixation: Wizard of Oz

  • He/Him

I use outdated technology just for fun, listen to crappy music, and watch a lot of horror movies. Expect posts about These Things. I talk a lot.

Check tags like Star Trek Archive and Media Piracy to find things I share for others.



murkrow
@murkrow

i think its some New Kind of Bullshit that gift cards can just. expire. like someone paid twenty five dollars to give you all (up to twenty five dollars) access to a nearby ice cream parlor but the money just stops existing if you dont use it in time. ??? Where did it go did the calendar spend it


pendell
@pendell

I feel like the notion that's it's "weird" to just give someone cold hard cash on a significant day or that it shows laziness in some manner must be a piece of propaganda from gift card companies to pressure people into exchanging currency for fake, limited currency you can only spend in one place that expires. It simply isn't better and we all know that, don't we?


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in reply to @murkrow's post:

in reply to @pendell's post:

I think the concept is "if I gave cash they'd spend the money on groceries or whatever and forget there was anything special about it, but if it's limited to be used on fun things only, then they will have to use it for recreation and it will feel more like a gift."

I'm not defending this reasoning, because you can just say "use this cash for something fun," and trust that if they can they will, and if they really need it for necessities then it's best that they have the option. But I think that's why people do it.

What's especially interesting is that I don't know anybody who both dislikes receiving cash as a gift and thinks that a gift card is a good gift. Specifically, if "it's the thought that counts," then the thought behind even a physical gift card is "let me do the literal absolute minimum (walk into a store and stand on line, putting no attention into the trip) that still looks like I tried to please the recipient."

I wonder how the shift to digital codes changes the perception, honestly, because at least cash comes with the implied contract that the gifter needs to take affirmative steps to meet with the recipient, which is the entire point of the gift-giving exercise in most non-dysfunctional cases.