Okay, these two have personal stories behind them:
#2
Vouchers to see a movie. Now, this would be a nice gift, depending on who gave it. In my case, it was the one birthday gift my dad gave me each year from age 13 to 17. And not go see a movie with friends, or a girl for a date, no, to see a movie with him. Yep, other dads might take their kids to the movies just on occasion, to spend time with them, or to celebrate. No, my dad took me to a movie as
the birthday gift. As in the one and only birthday gift I got from him each year. In the 90s, when movie tickets were still dirt cheap. Not to mention that the first year he did this, he tried giving a suggestion, to go see an Italian political drama. Because what 13 year old scifi fan doesn't want to see an Italian political drama on the big screen.
But if you think that's bad, get this:
#3
One Christmas, when I was about sixteen, my dad gave my brothers and me the gift of taking us on an afternoon hike in the Vosges mountains, where he had had a farm house as a holiday home since my early childhood, so it's not like this was an expensive trip he was taking us on. Quite the opposite, actually, since he took us there several times a year anyway. But now, he was to take us on a hike. As his Christmas present. It gets worse. Because not only was this present basically something he was usually doing with us just to spend time with us, it was especially mismatched for me, as back then I didn't care for the outdoors, and I loathed physical exercise. And when we actually went hiking, turns out it wasn't so much about spending time with us at all, as my dad just sped away leaving me and even some of my fitter brothers in his wake. He had also chosen a route that was quite steep, making it even harder for horribly out-of-shape me. Resulting in my brothers doing an impromptu intervention about my father's selfish- and carelessness towards me.
So, yeah, my dad was horrible with gifts. So much so that at some point, my brothers and I just told him not to bother anymore.
