The Guy and I got a gift card to a local steakhouse for Christmas last year from one of our clients. It wasn't awful, we enjoyed the place, and we wouldn't have gone there otherwise. I don't mind them one way or the other. If my MOM gets me a gift card, or if The Guy gets me a gift card, I'll be a little irritated, they know me well enough to get me SOMETHING. Other than that, I'm a ridiculously difficult person to shop for unless you're in my intimate circle, so they don't bother me. And I have three kids. I can use gift cards for goddamn near anything.
I think I've sold about 3 or 4 Christmases/ birthdays worth of iTunes gift cards on eBay. Look, I appreciate the gesture, I know you know I like music, but I don't need to get my music from iTunes. Usually I put the money towards some new music gear I'm looking at, so it goes to basically the same place. I must be a strange person to think that getting cash is awesome.
My mom actually got me a $50 Visa gift card for my birthday today, it was a $5 charge to activate it, that's fucking 10%. This is the woman who keeps $100K in an extremely low interest bearing checking account so she can avoid any fees with any accounts with the bank. I was baffled, I'm hoping someone gave it to her ans she re-gifted it or something otherwise I'm calling the retirement home tomorrow.
I have an aunt who when I was younger REFUSED to give gift cards. Some relatives you want to ask for a gift card cause you dont want them to shop for you and you just want some clothes. So my sisters and I would ask for a giftcard to Gap or American Eagle, and without fair, instead of a useful gift card, we would get, without fail, the stupidest fucking shirt in the store. So you have to return that shot and get store credit when you could have just gotten a shirt in the first place. In terms of humorous usage, my roommate got an Amazon gift card from his very traditional Jewish grandmother which he used in part to buy a large box of condoms he uses to pound out his Catholic girlfriend.
I just redeemed a $50 gift card to Fascinations. Right now I think they are great... My ex's family used to give me Chili's gift cards and sweatshirts every time there was a gifting event. I always wondered at getting the same shit for 5 fucking years...
My brother-in-law gave me a gift card to my favorite Tex Mex place for my birthday last year. Only when I tried to redeem it, the value was zero and the waitress said it was over 2 years old. Thanks bro.