In May, 2014 I did something that will haunt me for the rest of my life. I completely disregarded ‘Andrea’s First Law of Gifting’, which states gift satisfaction is inversely proportional to the size of occasion. On a rainy Monday, with no particular significance, I literally unleashed my magnum opus and defined the pinnacle of my gifting career.
When my dog-crazy husband came home from work, I surprised him with an 8-week old puppy decked out with a little pink bow. It was a scene you’d expect after Justin Bieber jumps out of a tweenager’s birthday cake shortly after his meteoric rise to superstardom. There was gasping, there was squealing. One of them cried, one of them peed. I’m still not sure which was which, the details were lost in a haze of euphoria.
What was clear though, was that a gifting transaction of that magnitude could never be topped in our household. The following Christmas, I looked over at my husband as we were getting ready to exchange presents. He was relaxed in the chair, the dog on his lap, playfully pulling the drawstring in his hoodie. Then I handed over a stocking stuffer. In slow motion he sat upright, his lips pulled back into a half moon shape, it was delight and dystopia all at once, like watching someone else peel the plastic off your brand new iPhone. It was the first obvious manifestation of Resting Gift Face.
Since that day, I started noticing RGF everywhere and legions of gifters have identified the dreaded phenomenon in their own social circles. Gifty is working with data elves to eradicate RGF from our every day lives. We’re inviting members of the public (you!) to submit a little information about a lucky gift recipient in the UK for our expert analysis. Together, we can put an end to Resting Gift Face.
