Hard-Working Employee Rewarded With A 'Dinner For Two' By Her Company Receives A Box Of Mac-N-Cheese & Juice Boxes
Nothing says "thanks for all your hard work!" like store-bought mac-n-cheese and juice.
Cast Of Thousands / dcwcreations / Hayran1 / Shutterstock / CanvaPro After a woman went above and beyond at her job, her boss thanked her for all her hard work with an employee appreciation gift consisting of a “dinner for two.” Surely, the woman (and almost all of us) would assume she would be given a gift certificate to two guests at a nice restaurant. However, what she actually received was rather baffling.
The woman’s ‘dinner for two’ was a Kraft macaroni and cheese box and two juice boxes.
Taking to the r/mildlyinfuriating subreddit, a man shared a photo of the odd employee appreciation gift that his wife received from her company manager. “Wife won ‘dinner for two’ at her workplace as a reward for submitting safety occurrence reports,” the man wrote. “This is what ‘dinner for two’ turned out to be.”
The photo depicts a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese, two pouches of iced tea, and a Nature Valley granola bar for them to split.
Photo: Reddit
If your jaw dropped upon seeing the photo of what the “dinner for two” entailed, you’re not the only one.
Redditors flocked to the comments section to express their utter disbelief over the ‘appreciation gift.’
“How insulting!” one user commented. “Surprised they didn't just slap her across the face. Would have made the same impression and cost nothing, instead of next to nothing.” And the hits keep coming. “Whoever's on that committee should be fired and given severance of two weeks of macaroni and cheese,” another user wrote.
Other users encouraged the man’s wife to quit her job, while others suggested that she expose the company she works for, and the managers, online.
“Your wife should post this, excitedly, to LinkedIn. Tag her CEO and the company and as many higher-ups as she can there…Go well beyond sarcasm into full facetiousness,” one user recommended. “I guarantee there will be a gift card for a steakhouse on her desk next morning.” One even suggested, “I would film that, take some good social media pictures of you two 'enjoying' the workplace provided dinner for two... name and shame, [expletive] would go viral.”
While the gift may be laughable, it highlights how common these sad appreciation gifts really are.
The "dinner for two" isn't exactly a new concept and employees have been sharing these sad attempts from employers for quite some time. For example, on Employee Appreciation Day, the CEO of one company gifted his workers with framed photos of himself. Another employee shared the head-scratching emergency lantern gifted by her boss as a token of appreciation — a gift he had been “bragging” about for months because it was so "expensive."
There are many corporate gifts that your employees deserve more than a box of macaroni and cheese and juice boxes that they could easily buy themselves at grocery stores. These gifts don’t necessarily have to be over the top! Some of the best employee appreciation gifts (that are all below $50) include gourmet popcorn buckets, event tickets, plant cubes, and comfortable slippers. But really, employees just want to be recognized for all of the hard work they do. After all, there would be no business without them! A study from 2021 actually found that 53 percent of employees would just like regular public recognition from their managers for a job well done rather than a sad gift they will never use.
There is so much more you can provide for employees other than macaroni and cheese and juice boxes that will make them feel valued, appreciated and motivated — and really it all just starts with honest praise.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.