Christmas bonus
Mon, 15 Jan 2024
Opinion, Lifestyle
===============

Recently, I got a fairly sizable Christmas bonus from the
restaurant where I work part time. This bonus came in the form of
a so-called "universal gift card".  This "universal" gift card
was in fact not universal in any meaningful sense of the word. I
know if the existence of actual universal gift cards which are
just prepaid VISA or MasterCards which you can use at any store
or even online. This gift card on the other hand is simply one
which can be used in roughly 6000 stores throughout the country.
They are not usable online, nor in other countries. To make long
story short: they are not universal in the slightest.

Given then, the small selectional stores, combined with the
fairly high value of the card, I started thinking about what to
spend this it on. At first my mind went to clothing. The card is
usable in H&M and many other clothing stores, though I quickly
realized that most of my clothing is still quite adequate and I
do not need to buy anything new, though I could potentially use
another formal outfit. Secondly my mind went to home decoration.
There are quite a few places on the 6000 "universal" list where I
can buy candles, plants, picture-frames or any such items. Though
my apartment is already adequately decorated. The card is also
usable in various consumer electronic stores where I could buy
things like wireless headsets, wireless earphones, or an android
TV box for my living room. Once again, I realized that I would
not I bought these things under any other circumstance and
getting a gift card like this.

On the one hand that is rather nice. Getting this gift card
allowed me to treat myself in ways I wouldn't usually. In this
regard the card is much the same as most other gifts I received
this season. My family gave me a set of books, which I would
usually not have bought, at the very least not in physical copy.
On the other hand, I feel like this card is encouraging needless
consumerism in much the same way as gift-giving holidays tend to
do. Historically, whenever Christmas, Valentines, or my birthday
came around, I set about the monumental task of coming up with a
gift for myself. In recent years I have stopped doing this under
the morale ``if I have to think long and hard about what I want,
then those are not things I need''. I am lucky in the fact that
my partner agrees with me on this matter, and as-such, we don't
give each other gifts at all, unromantic as that may seem to
people. The wider family is however not yet on board, making the
build-up to many holidays a question of what would be nice gifts
which are also things we already would buy regardless (socks and
underwear are frequent items).

Going back to the Christmas bonus then: If I had just received
value of the card as an addition to my paycheck I would have
spent the money in the more utilitarian manner. Though I don't
think that would have felt very much like a gift. For the same
reason, I do not just want to sell the card for someone else and
save up the money earned or invest it; I am really rather at a
loss for what to to.

As a quick aside, I completely understand why my employer decided
to give the Christmas bonus this way. There’s always the slight
apprehension of people to give money. And furthermore I assume
that this method has many tax benefits as opposed to increasing
the paycheck for December.

While looking over all the eligible stores, I noticed that the
gift card is also usable at select supermarkets. Using the card
in this manner I can just use it to reduce my monthly expenses
while staying roughly equally utilitarian. The supermarkets are
of course the most expensive ones in town, rather than those I
typically go to. And besides, I think it would be rather more fun
to spend this gift on a singular big purchase which lasts some
time, rather than a few weeks of ever temporary groceries.

Currently, the approach that I feel most strong towards is using
the card itself for groceries while setting aside the value of
the card in actual money for a purchase of my choosing at a
store of my choosing in a country of my choosing. This would
basically translate the gift card into an actual universal one by
using it on something I would already spend money on. At that
point, many more appealing options open up to me, including using
the money to go out for dinner, take a vacation, or donate to
charity.

I am open to suggestions though. I am particularly curious how
others reconcile the notion that gifts must be ``something nice''
in contrast to a usual pattern of frugal-, utilitarian- spending.
This goes for cards like these, but also for generic gifts such
as those given for Christmas and birthdays. All thoughts are
welcome: <blog@wester.digital>