News Worst Office Birthday Gift Ever.
- Thread starter auntiehill
- Start date
^ Just a friendly reminder, for copyright reasons we shouldn't be quoting the entirety of an article. The general rule of thumb is to only quote a paragraph or two, and then people can use the link to read the rest.
Are office birthday gifts generally a thing? I don't think I've ever got a birthday gift from my co-workers. (Come to think of it, I don't usually get any from family either, lol.) Not only that, but it sounds like an expensive birthday gift. Sounds like they went all-out for it; too bad they didn't try to confirm if it would be something he would actually *enjoy* first.
(It also seems a little odd that they're reporting this now, when it happened over a year ago?
)
Glad to hear he wasn't seriously injured.
What bad gifts have the denizens of Misc received? Hopefully nothing as potentially life-threatening as this...
Are office birthday gifts generally a thing? I don't think I've ever got a birthday gift from my co-workers. (Come to think of it, I don't usually get any from family either, lol.) Not only that, but it sounds like an expensive birthday gift. Sounds like they went all-out for it; too bad they didn't try to confirm if it would be something he would actually *enjoy* first.
(It also seems a little odd that they're reporting this now, when it happened over a year ago?
)Glad to hear he wasn't seriously injured.
What bad gifts have the denizens of Misc received? Hopefully nothing as potentially life-threatening as this...
Oops! Meant to quote it. Will fix right away.
I have received many craptastic gifts in my day but I can't say they've been so bad I had to eject from a flying jet.
I have received many craptastic gifts in my day but I can't say they've been so bad I had to eject from a flying jet.
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Seriously, if you think so highly of somebody you get them something really special and relatively expensive, maybe check beforehand if it's something that person actually likes. Otherwise, just opt for mug or something. Plus, the guy's 64, that alone should have told his co-workers a flight in a fighter jet was not a good idea.
As for shitty presents, well, my father was shit with presents. For better understanding, my parents divorced when I was four, so my mother couldn't talk my father out of these bad ideas.
For a couple of years when I was a teenager, my father's present was that we'd go see a movie together. Yes, that's right. Something other fathers and sons just do together any old week, my dad gave me that as a birthday present. Several times. And the first time, he even suggested some Italian arthouse film. I was thirteen, and he wanted to take me to see an Italian arthouse film. For my birthday.
Then, when I was in my early twenties, his Christmas present to my brothers and me was that we'd go hiking in nearby mountains that summer. Now, my father loves hiking. Me, not so much. Gotta add, I weighed 130 kilos at the time, and that wasn't all muscles. Walking around the woods I could have taken, but hiking in the mountains, that out of shape, and in the heat of the summer, and, oh yeah, my father didn't pay attention to whether I could keep up, my brothers had to talk him into taking a break.
As for shitty presents, well, my father was shit with presents. For better understanding, my parents divorced when I was four, so my mother couldn't talk my father out of these bad ideas.
For a couple of years when I was a teenager, my father's present was that we'd go see a movie together. Yes, that's right. Something other fathers and sons just do together any old week, my dad gave me that as a birthday present. Several times. And the first time, he even suggested some Italian arthouse film. I was thirteen, and he wanted to take me to see an Italian arthouse film. For my birthday.
Then, when I was in my early twenties, his Christmas present to my brothers and me was that we'd go hiking in nearby mountains that summer. Now, my father loves hiking. Me, not so much. Gotta add, I weighed 130 kilos at the time, and that wasn't all muscles. Walking around the woods I could have taken, but hiking in the mountains, that out of shape, and in the heat of the summer, and, oh yeah, my father didn't pay attention to whether I could keep up, my brothers had to talk him into taking a break.
depends on the office. At mine, we give a present when a colleague turns 50 and when they get pensioned off. But we ask his friends, family and co-workers first what he or she would like to have.
I got a huge Hemerocallis from my colleagues for my 50est
Last year it had almost 100 flowers.The only horrible b-day present I can recall was from my mom: a red and blue chequered Jeans in the then (late 70s) modern carrot shape. A horrid garment and my mom thought it was ever so chic
One thing that sets off alarm bells for me is the fact that his helmet wasn't properly secured. If we're to believe those flying are professionals, I'm surprised they never checked him out to make sure he was good to go, because that sounds like a serious lapse in judgement, and that doesn't even take into account the fact that they may not have checked him out medically, which I think is something that needs to be done when taking people out in the air, especially with high-speed aircraft.
Me, too! That poor man could've died of a heart attack, and they should have told him exactly where the ejector bar was so he would never touch it. It's amazing the man wasn't killed. A military jet isn't something you put a civilian in, without warning or safety instructions, and without even asking if they're OK with It.
Yep, they'd be going over it with him, making sure he knows what's involved, not to mention if he's OK with all of it, along with signing something signifying you agree with all this. But the article makes me feel like they did none of that, and if something were to have gone terribly wrong, and he's incredibly lucky it worked out for him, they could have been in a heap of trouble. The article states that he was feeling stressed upon realizing what was going on, and had never expressed any interest and maybe he had a really good reason, as he maybe had an underlying medical reason for never having done so. Had they checked him out, they likely would have found out and he could have been prevented from going up. Heck, unless I'm wrong, anyone who chooses to go skydiving has to sign something and indicate that they have no underlying medical issues. And they'd certainly be checked and double-checked to make sure they were properly geared up.
