Is it weird to give away unused gift cards in a parking lot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't have a friend you can hand it off to, not as a gift but as a "hey do you want this"?

I would assume a stranger handing me a $100 gift card was scamming me in some way. But I have been happy to take gift cards from friends who won't use them (e.g., vegetarians who ended up with a card to a seafood place) even if it wouldn't cover a whole meal.

It’s a loaded gift, in a way, because it’s nearly $100 a person to eat here, and it feels like it becomes a burden more than a gift. I don’t want a friend or anyone I care about to feel the way I’m feeling about it right now, if that makes sense.

I mean this gently - the way you are feeling is not normal.
Plenty of people would use a gift card to cover half of a fancy meal.

Speak for yourself, seriously. In this economy, in the month of December, I don’t know many people who would pay $100 for one dinner of a cuisine they don’t enjoy, just because their spouse’s $100 plate was paid for. Are you serious right now? I get OPs predicament.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d give it away on your neighborhood buy nothing page. I agree I’d be creeped out if someone gave me a gift card in the parking lot, it feels like a scam. Even if it’s well intentioned. I’d be looking over my shoulder waiting for them to come back and ask for “just 20 dollars back from the gift card if you don’t mind?”

I should have mentioned that I won it at our neighborhood Christmas party!

"Hi neighbor who I often see in person, I won this at the party but I've gone a year without using it and I'm afraid it'll go to waste. Would you take it off my hands?"

Yeah, just offer it to a neighbor in real life to not offend the original giver.

Or explain the situation to the admin of your Buy Nothing group and maybe the admin will let you post anonymously or post it for you.

I accidentally wasted two restaurant gift cards and still feel guilt about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can also just throw it out. That hurts no one.
You seem to feel this card is a burden you wouldn't place on your friends so why do you want to do that to a stranger?

Hence the handoff to a hungry patron in the parking lot!

[Anonymous]

This is weird, I remember this exact thread from last year, think it was the same gift card amount and Italian restaurant.

[Anonymous]

OP, why don’t you just name the restaurant? I bet someone on here would happily take it off your hands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't have a friend you can hand it off to, not as a gift but as a "hey do you want this"?

I would assume a stranger handing me a $100 gift card was scamming me in some way. But I have been happy to take gift cards from friends who won't use them (e.g., vegetarians who ended up with a card to a seafood place) even if it wouldn't cover a whole meal.

It’s a loaded gift, in a way, because it’s nearly $100 a person to eat here, and it feels like it becomes a burden more than a gift. I don’t want a friend or anyone I care about to feel the way I’m feeling about it right now, if that makes sense.

I mean this gently - the way you are feeling is not normal.
Plenty of people would use a gift card to cover half of a fancy meal.

Speak for yourself, seriously. In this economy, in the month of December, I don’t know many people who would pay $100 for one dinner of a cuisine they don’t enjoy, just because their spouse’s $100 plate was paid for. Are you serious right now? I get OPs predicament.

Then the friend (or whoever) is free to say no. Or to take it and decide not to use it, which is the same as OP leaving it in a drawer but she'll feel better about it.

A gift card is not a chain around your neck. It is, at worst, a waste of someone else's money.

But OP wanting to waste her own time to stand outside a restaurant and buttonhole people entering the restaurant is nuts and will not have the result she wants.

[Anonymous]

What about going in there someday and asking at the hostess stand if they would pick a couple? They might not (tell you yes and not use it) but you'll feel better about this situation and anyone would appreciate 100 off dinner

[Anonymous]

Leave it surreptitiously on a counter at a coffee shop, fast food spot, etc. Just release it and let someone else pick it up.

[Anonymous]

donate to a school raffle or give to your band / choir teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is weird, I remember this exact thread from last year, think it was the same gift card amount and Italian restaurant.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1246101.page

Perhaps OP cleans once a year, whether or not it's necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is weird, I remember this exact thread from last year, think it was the same gift card amount and Italian restaurant.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1246101.page

Perhaps OP cleans once a year, whether or not it's necessary.

Lol, last year it was two $50 cards. Sneaky!

[Anonymous]

Sell it on a marketplace or to a coworker at discount.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is weird, I remember this exact thread from last year, think it was the same gift card amount and Italian restaurant.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1246101.page

Perhaps OP cleans once a year, whether or not it's necessary.

Lol, last year it was two $50 cards. Sneaky!

You wonder if OP now has $200 cards.

[Anonymous]

Post it on your neighborhood listserve. I guarantee someone will take it off your hands within the first hour of you posting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is weird, I remember this exact thread from last year, think it was the same gift card amount and Italian restaurant.

I remember the gift card in the parking lot scenario too but not the other details. I even thought this was an old, bumped thread.