… If I may jump straight to the point. Ha.

A gift receipt, as defined by the oh-so-reliable Google, is “a receipt that omits the price paid for the object, which is a courtesy to those who want to give a gift, enabling the recipient to return it without him or her knowing how much was paid.” (Insert additional ‘Ha!’ here, sprinkled with a pinch of BULLSHIT!)

As you can tell, my Christmas shopping is underway and a topic has been brought to my attention. While in the process of purchasing a gift for a future “gift recipient”, I suddenly thought, “Hey, I should get a gift receipt!” So I did, and didn’t give much thought to it in the minutes after. But coming home after two hours of shopping and half of my check list of gifts done, I thought to myself, ‘Damn, I’m good! I got half my check list done in two hours!’ But I also realized how pointless it is to ask for a gift receipt in the first place. I know there’s a better word to describe my feelings towards this piece of paper, but my brain doesn’t work so well when trying to put down an inanimate object. Plus, it’s like, really late.

But seriously, here’s the situation:

Someone has just given you a gift and - OH! What’s this? A gift receipt at the bottom of the bag? How convenient! Because as much as you love dressing up, you don’t think Barbie appeals to your generation anymore. Darn. And so you head to the store, priceless receipt and gift in hand, with the intention of getting a different gift of your choosing, but at the same price.

But wait! Isn’t the point of giving a gift receipt so that the recipient isn’t made aware of how much was spent on the gift in the first place? So if they were to return the gift, they could get something else with the money you spent on the original? But how will they know how much they can spend on the new gift? How will they know if they’re under budget and may possibly get something more? What if they’re over budget and have to pay the difference on their own gift? All these questions and concerns and - BAM! The employee at the store gives you a gift card. “Your remaining balance is $13.04. Can I help you with anything else today?”

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