Sometimes things happen and we need to ask our colleagues at work to cover for us or maybe change shifts or some other thing that really helps us. And after that, sometimes we may think that just saying ‘thank you’ may be not enough, thus giving some small gift should show that person that we really appreciate it, right?

A ‘thank you’ gift is really considerate and nice, but sometimes it can do a little bit more damage than show appreciation. One Reddit user shared her recent ‘Thank You’ gift from the CFO of her company for her hard work that actually made her question the reasoning behind this specific gift. 

More info: Reddit

Sometimes intentions can be good when giving a ‘thank you’ gift, but end up causing quite a bit of awkwardness if the gift chosen is rather ‘questionable’

Image credits: Mizuno K (not the actual photo)

This woman shares that she has been doing the workload of 2 people for a while now, but for a few weeks, she has also been covering for 2 more colleagues 

Image credits: Antoni Shkraba (not the actual photo)

She added that last month she had to do monthly procedures that she ‘worked her guts out’ to do, which left her quite overwhelmed

Image credits: tiffanyfern

Now, the company’s CFO to whom she reports lives in a different state and for a few weeks had been making a big deal that she was organizing a nice ‘thank you’ gift for the worker

Image credits: u/tiffanyfern

Well, when she finally received the gift, she saw that there were 2 packs of Peppa Pig lollies, which left her confused as to how she should take it

Recently, one Reddit user posted her story online asking for community members’ opinions on how she should take her ‘thank you’ gift that she received from her CFO (chief financial officer) that turned out to be 2 packs of Peppa Pig lollies. The post received quite a lot of attention with 6.5K upvotes and 400 comments.

The original poster (OP) shared a little bit of backstory stating that for quite a few weeks she has been doing the workload of 4 people. Last month, she had to do end of month procedures all by herself and on a strict timeline. Needless to say, she was overwhelmed and worked her guts out. 

Now, her company’s CFO for a few weeks had been telling everyone that she had organized a nice gift for OP for her hard work. Well, the gift finally arrived and it turned out to be 2 packets of Peppa Pig lollies – OP emphasized that she has never laughed so hard and been offended at the same time.

Community members in the comments were joking about this gift, stating that CFO was probably packing lunch for her kids and decided to give gummies to OP. “At that point, I’d rather have just been told good job. The gift was more insulting,” one user wrote. “There better be a real and better surprise coming because this is not it!” another added.

Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)

“In life you have two families, one at home and one at work; after all, in most cases, you can end up spending more time with your work family then your real one,” shared Farhan Raja, who is the founder of one of the world’s leading career and interview coaching specialists and a career coach with tailored seminars for Google and Amazon interviews, with Bored Panda. “Hence, just as it’s important to be appreciated at home, the same applies to the workplace.”

Farhan added that a person who feels appreciated at work will bring a level of dedication and loyalty that money can’t buy. “From a work perspective, this organically translates to greater productivity and increased morale,” he emphasized.

Now, speaking about methods of showing appreciation in the workplace, Farhan pointed out that the first way to appreciate staff in the work environment is to actively listen to them. “This means that once a week, spend 20 mins to 30 mins over a coffee with each individual team member.” He noted that this will not only help leaders to get to know them better but also to understand how they feel, whether it be positive or negative.”

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Additionally, if staff have been working exceptionally hard, due to a tight deadline or understaffing, always give them the recognition for their additional work. He shared that this can be done in a team meeting or providing a gift as a gesture of their efforts. 

“Now, if you’re doing the weekly coffee chats with each team member, you would’ve gotten to know this person a lot better so you’ll be able to give them something inexpensive (or at no cost at all) that is meaningful to them. “For example, if they’re a big reader, give them a book on a topic that they’re passionate about or enroll them on a training course which they really wanted to do as part of their professional development. Do this, and watch their eyes light up!”

Finally, as we can see, giving gifts may lead to quite a pitfall. Farhan noted that firstly, you have to create a culture to correctly perceive and receive the gifts. “You have to listen to staff and show compassion as well as empathy towards them. Then, occasional gifts and tokens of appreciation will simply add to the already positive work environment and be effective.”

However, the career coach pointed out that if the culture isn’t great and you try to change it by lavishing gifts, those actions could worsen the morale of the team. “You could be seen as showing favoritism to one staff over another or simply, your actions are viewed with cynicism, since this gift has come out of the blue. “Creating unwanted suspicion around your motivation even though it’s well intentioned.”

So, guys, what do you think about this situation? What would you do in OP’s place? Share your thoughts below!

Redditors laughed at this situation and suggested how to deal with it

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