A pen!!

[maybetomorrow22]

I have just returned from leaving drinks for my leaving do from my work( I have left for a new job) and have been presented with a pen.

A pen... .

After nearly 7 years service, I get a pen.

AIBU to be slightly ungrateful for a pen??

I feel your pain OP, I'm still smarting from a terrible present I got yesterday from someone in my team who I thought I was close to (apparently not) and had spent a lot of money on myself.

I was 'presented' with a -bunch of flowers- bouquet on my retirement after 300 years servitude. I was bloody good at my job too.

sorry - should have said 30 years.

some day it felt like 300 years! But I loved that job.

Went off on maternity a few years back and got...

A card made by my boss.

The making of said card took 2 hours, leaving me to do all the, y'know, work.

I'd been there 4 years.

So yes, a pen can be a mark of utter disrespect and can't-be-arsedness!

Aaargh!

For me-Mont Blanc fountain pen, then woo hoo! Otherwise... naff!

Thru too many years of working IME- appears to be little relationship between person's 'value' /thought /length of service and gift given. Seems depends on who poor bugger is tasked with collection/buying the gift.... Their creativity /thought /knowledge of gift receiver .. Altho fucking parrots - !

I got a pen after leaving my job of six years, it wasn't just any old pen, it was decorated in hot pink Swarovski crystals - it is the most hideous thing I have ever seen and so far away from what I would consider me I was speechless when I opened it

Sigh, there are so many things I don't understand.

I've always thought a good pen was a thing to treasure. Something you use everyday and if it has a bit of quality, brings pleasure every time. I bought a Mont Blanc pen for a boss who had gone above and beyond to support me. I didn't realise it was such a terrible present

What would you have preferred OP?

After over 10 years service my dad was given a...
Tie pin. With the company name on. They'd made him redundant. He had got a new job thank goodness, but a tie pin? As if you're going to go wandering about with the logo of the company that kicked you out on your tie...

A nice pen is a very traditional leaving gift. Like a watch.

It does sound like they wanted an easy way to spend a specific amount of money. Pens can be expensive while still looking quite ordinary.

Running around at 5pm at the last minute doesn't mean it hadn't been thought about before that point. I have bought lots of gifts at the last minute.

I was given a very expensive pen as a prize when I was a child (writing competition so it was apt). It was a crap writer and I lost it.