'I was done with Secret Santa at work': Rude coworker threw a tantrum about his Secret Santa gift, employee gets even the next year

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Aug 22, 2023 8:00 AM EDT

There are certain team-bonding work traditions that should be disbanded and one of them is most certainly Secret Santa. First of all, there's the money factor. Even if the fixed price everyone should spend is decided to be $10, I don't want to spend two cents on anyone at work and I'm pretty sure they'd say the same about me. There is absolutely no ill will or bitterness here; in fact, to me, it feels like a healthy mutual understanding.

Now, the next reason why Workplace Secret Santa should be abolished immediately is that not everyone is close to one another and this process is not going to make you closer. How are you going to get something meaningful or memorable for under $10 for someone you barely know, who barely knows you, and who you don't really have much of a desire to know outside of a casual professional existence? It's a waste of time and energy. Finally, everyone waits till the last minute and so the gifts are especially meaningless. Why? Because we have lives, we have groceries to buy, we have real friends to think about. No one has time for this, except for the managers who think they can pat themselves on the back for fostering a false sense of community.

Clearly, I have a lot of feelings on this matter, and so does this employee, who shared their story via Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit. Keep scrolling below to see how they got even with a tantrum-throwing coworker who was ungrateful about their Secret Santa gift last year. For more stories like this, feel free to take a look at this post about a night shift worker who was forced to come into work despite their illness.