My best friend in 8th grade gave me a champagne bottle filled with fancy bubble bath for my birthday. It was pretty, it even looked expensive, and I know she meant well, but I was totally irritated at getting it. I never took baths at the time, and I knew I would never use it. What fun is a gift that I'd never use? I tried to be polite and thanked her for it, but she must have sensed I didn't like it too well because a few days later she came to me and said that if I didn't like it, I could give it back and she would give me something else instead. I felt bad, but I said "Ok", and the next time I saw her she had another gift, this time a pretty porcelain pearlescent cat with a ribbon bow around its neck. Still relatively useless I suppose, but I love cats, I thought it was cute, it was pretty, and I proudly displayed it on my dresser for many years afterward.
Only a few years ago my best friend (a different person) got me the first season set for a show I liked ok, but not near enough to have ever considered getting the season set. On top of that, I had my heart set on another show's season set, one which I knew she
knew I wanted. It just didn't make sense to me that she'd get me what she did, and not what she should have known I wanted. I thanked her, politely put it with my DVD collection, but truthfully, I haven't even taken it out of the cellophane yet.
Now at looking back, I think she got it for me because
she loved that show so much, and wanted to spread the hype. We naturally want the people we care about to have as much in common with us as possible, and like and dislike the same things we do. I must admit I'm guilty of trying to do the same thing at times with things I'm interested in, but yeah, it just doesn't work very well.
