A quick tip on how to value your friends and employees.
The unspoken meaning.
A friend of mine who’s going back from a beach vacation asked me if I want any local gift from the island. I said that she shouldn’t worry about it because it might just be a burden for her. She asked me again.
“Are you sure you don’t want a keychain?”
I replied.
“Do you know the unspoken meaning of giving keychains?”
“It’s like saying: I remembered you but you’re not that special to me so here’s a keychain.”
Now that you’ve read this. Don’t give one or don’t share this on your facebook wall.
Remembering is clearly different from making someone feel special. That classmate of yours from grade school remembers you, that person you owe money to remembers you but that doesn’t make you feel special does it?
Adding specific names to those keychains doesn’t make them more valuable you know. At the end of the day, the person you’re going to give it to knows that there are a lot of people who are going to receive the same gift and the names are just there for you to actually make the crap distribution easier.
One might argue that it’s better than not giving anything at all but if we think about it, giving gifts is an opportunity. Opportunity to make someone knows that you actually listen to them when they tell you stories and that you actually notice their fascinations and interests in life.
Same goes to your employees. It’s easier to give a general gift to everyone but nothing says “we appreciate your work and we want you to know that you’re really valuable to this company.” like a hand-picked, well-thought-of gift that almost has your employee’s name on it.
Asking them for a gift they want to receive might work but again you’ll just miss the opportunity (and stop being lazy). Surprises are way better, you’re not setting any expectations and you’re giving the person the euphoria of a nostalgic childhood Christmas emotion.
“You want some cashews instead? They told me that it’s the popular local product from here.”
I am grateful but no thank you.
I thanked her for giving me the idea for this article though.
Thanks for reading!
UPDATE: We’re trying to change internship in the Philippines, here’s how we are doing it.
If you use Uber, you might like this article I’ve written. Cheers!
