The Gifters

The holidays are finally over. This year I managed to collect a lot of loot. Well, more than I had imagined especially since I didn’t visit my family this year, nor did I send much their way because finances were tight. But it wasn’t only my family who showered me with gifts. An unexpected number of unexpected packages were sent to me by men living in the UK and Europe who I met on udate.com over the last couple of years.

These gifts have prompted me to contemplate this phenomenon of men who send stuff to women who they barely know. A couple of these men did come to NYC and I met them and we hung out. But a few of them are men who I only ever met through cyberspace. I’ve been receiving gifts from these guys on and off over the last couple of years. I do not keep in touch regularly with any of them, and there are a couple with whom I have no contact.
The types of things that get sent fall within the same categories: books, DVD’s, rugby/football jerseys, sex toys, and lingerie.
It just baffles my mind why a Glaswegian living in Amsterdam with whom I’ve had no contact for 9 months would decide, out of the blue, to send me 3 books from Amazon.com. Or why a Geordie with whom I haven’t spoken in over a year would send me another football jersey. Or why a total wanker from Halifax with whom I plainly cut off all contact insists on sending me attachments for my Wahl vibrator every 3 months.
I suppose it’s a lame attempt to have a reason for contacting me. The usual barrage of e-mails and phone calls follow the succession of UPS stickers left on the front door of my building. (Which I find annoying as hell, anyway. I live in a walk-up building with no doorman so whenever anyone sends me something unexpectedly I always end up having to haul my arse over to the UPS building to pick up the stuff.) I don’t want anything from these guys, so the way I deal with the whole situation is to just ignore them. And the more I ignore them, the more they send stuff.
It’s an amazing phenomenon.
Maybe I’d feel differently, grateful even, if they’d actually send me something good. I’d like to see something come in a box from Tiffany’s. I love jewellery. Any kind. Or how about something from Prada? A nice handbag perhaps. I just may answer those e-mails and make my requests…Somehow I have a feeling that will be a great way to get the gifts to stop all together.