By Tricia Lunt and Paul Gaszak, English Faculty
If you missed PART 1 or PART 2, check them out!
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Once a Reddit gift is received, recipients are expected to return to the Reddit Gifts site and post pictures of what they received and leave a little note. Now, let’s find out how the process concluded.
Trish’s Gift to Monika
My Reddit gift made it to Poland in record time! The recipient, Monika, seemed pleased with the gift and posted a great photo of the entire contents of the package i sent with the heading “Awesomeness from Chicago.” The heading was exactly what I was going for, so I’m glad that’s how she interpreted the gift. She did a great job of being specific in her thanks, which made my deliberation in selecting the items seem appreciated! We exchanged emails, and I would say the gift I gave did what I had hoped: shared some uniquely wonderful Chicago things with a person far away! Arbitrary Day success!
Paul’s Gift to Warren
Warren, my giftee in Arizona, received his gifts and seemed very happy with them, particularly with the mosaic shark from the Shedd Aquarium. He posted two pictures of the shark on his desk and had nothing but positive things to say!
Trish’s Gift from Elsa
The Threadless Book Lover T-shirt.
I received my Arbitrary Day gift on June 26, just one day after the celebration! The gift I received was a Threadless t-shirt, the “book lover” in green. I love Threadless tees, and the company’s philosophy, so it’s definitely a good gift. The giver explained in the note that she thought I’d like the shirt because I love books. I do; it’s true! Nice work, Elsa!
Paul’s Gift that Wasn’t: (or The One that Got Away)
Unfortunately, I didn’t receive a gift! The person assigned to me did confirm that a gift was sent, as we all had to. However, the option is also provided to enter tracking information when confirming shipment, which I did when sending my gift to Warren. There was no tracking info for the gift sent to me, which seemed suspicious from the start. I waited a few weeks before giving up hope. Reddit does ask participants to report if they did not receive a gift and there is the opportunity to request to be gifted to again by someone else if enough people volunteer to send additional gifts.
When Trish and I attended the TEDx lectures and heard about Reddit Gifts, my initial reaction to the process was, “There is NO WAY this could possibly work!” because I assumed that what happened to me this Arbitrary Day would happen far too often. Essentially, the entire process works on the honor code, and perhaps I just didn’t believe that massive amounts of people could all be held in check by an honor code. However, when Dan McComas, creator of Reddit Gifts, provided statistics about how successful the process is, I was pleasantly surprised. Statistically, only a small percentage of people get snubbed (and only a small percentage of people are taking advantage of the system).
Trish’s Conclusion
I definitely enjoyed the Reddit Gift experience, particularly because Paul and I got to talk and get excited about the gift-giving and receiving process together. I’d love to get more of my friends involved. Also, it’s fun to know that I connected with two other generous, quirky people in the world. I’m thrilled we decided to participate in Reddit Gifts, and it is definitely something I’ll do again, though I’ll likely decide to join the item-specific exchanges, which will take away the pressure of choosing what to buy. I’m interested in Pens and Stationery Exchange, the Book Exchange 2013 and the Hats and Scarves Exchange (as you may have heard, I love scarves!)
Paul’s Conclusion
I had a lot of fun with my Reddit Gift experience, despite getting snubbed. As Trish noted, I enjoyed talking about it all with her. I liked the fun and challenge of picking a gift. I liked the anticipation of waiting for my gift (even though it never came). There are bound to be some bad apples in any experience, but it seems that most people can be held to the honor code and will do their best to make the experience fun for everyone involved. So, despite not turning out to be a perfect experience, it was one I thoroughly enjoyed and I will definitely sign-up for another Reddit Gift exchange.
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Now it’s YOUR turn. If Reddit Gifts sounds interesting, check it out and join in the gift giving fun at www.redditgifts.com.
The Flâneur's Turtle 