Post office and online stores have ruined act of giving a gift

THERE’S been a great deal of discussion among friends and family recently on the subject of gift giving (or in that horrible, modern, monstrous word, “gifting”. Yuk!). It was all very well – and not difficult – to send presents to friends and family far away when, a) postage was not expensive and b) the postal service was reliable.

I have tried to post parcels to family members overseas on several occasions recently and the postage has usually cost more than the value of the gift inside, and then they have either never been delivered or they have arrived months later when the reason for sending the gift has long passed.

I know many people have taken to sending gift vouchers on the internet, but that does seem like a bit of a cop-out. It’s almost rude. “Here’s some money. Go buy yourself something.”

It skips the real spirit of gift giving – the choosing of a present that you think will suit the recipient and reflect your relationships with them, the selection of appropriate wrapping paper, ribbon and gift card all added to the intimacy of gift giving.

I have tried in recent months to send gifts by e-mail, using one of the many online stores, but always ended up angry and frustrated.

The e-store starts by demanding my “username”, and then promptly rejects whatever name I offer.

When the robot shop eventually agrees on a name, it demands a password and, again, rejects any password I may select.

Once or twice I have actually reached the stage when I have selected a gift, written the name and address of the recipient and penned a loving greeting, then tried to enter my credit card number, only to be informed that it is an “invalid number”. Invalid? What do you mean? It works everywhere else.

At that stage I slam the lid of the computer down and stomp off in a temper to soothe my nerves with a glass of anaesthetic something.

I’ll just send an e-mail saying: “Happy birthday. Have a nice year”, and be done with it.

As far as local recipients are concerned, a friend remarked before Christmas that he wanted no gifts that could not be eaten or drunk. “I have everything I need,” he said, “and I don’t want to clutter my home with stuff I don’t want but have to keep in order not to hurt the feelings of the person who gave it to me.”

Very wise, I think. Most of us find gift buying and giving a very traumatic activity.

Far better to settle for a box of chocolates (I know only one person among all my acquaintances who doesn’t like chocolates) or a bottle of wine.

There are also some rather attractive electronic cards you can send, and they don’t require complicated user names or passwords. It’s the thought that counts. Consider yourself thought of.

Last Laugh

Two Johannesburg kugels were tanning on Muizenberg beach recently when the one turned to the other, raised her designer sunglasses and said: “I don’t know what’s supposed to be so wonderful about this Cape air. At least in Joburg you can see what you’re breathing.”