Employee Slams Company Christmas Dinner Where He Had to Pay for His Own Drinks

A TikToker named JC Camarillo (@jccamarillo) is going viral on the platform after discussing the employee gift they received from their job for the holidays, which prompted other folks on the platform to share some of their own Christmas bonuses, or lack thereof. While there were people who seemed to make out fairly well, others appeared to have received proverbial lumps of coal in their corporate gift stockings.

JC begins his video by speaking directly into the camera and as he waxes on about the disappointing Christmas presents given to him by his employer, he holds up the candle and recycled bag in question up into the lens.

"What did your job give you for Christmas this year? Mine gave me a candle. Oh, a candle and this recycled bag that had tape from another gift oh with this recycled tissue paper that was all crushed and oh yeah a dinner where we were not allowed to order alcoholic beverages because otherwise we would have to pay for them out of pocket."

He continued with the terrible Christmas gift: "Oh but the owner did bring boxes of wine from his house so he didn't have to buy them there and we could just drink that but I don't really drink wine. But what did your job give you for Christmas?"

The generosity that JC and his coworkers were on the receiving end of seemed starkly different from the gifts that one TikTok user said they gave their employees: "I’m an employer, we gave a $1000 bonus to each employee, a weeks paid vacation over Xmas week, about $300 worth of gifts and a steak dinner w/ spouses," they wrote.

Someone else penned: "family owned business here. We took everyone out, including their spouses to a Japanese hibachi dinner with unlimited food and drinks and $1000 cash bonus," while another business owner wrote: "I’m a small business and I gave them each $500 cash bonuses."

Different commenters seemed to have different outlooks and expectations on what they should receive as a holiday bonus, however, like this person who said: "nothing, but I'm ok with that because I have a job to go back to. I'm not greedy."

There was one employee who seemed to make out pretty well during the Yuletide season: "$7,500 bonus, steak dinner, and I won a MacBook Air from a raffle," they wrote.

However, there were throngs of other people who didn't seem so happy with what they ended up with.

"I Got NOTHING!"

"my job gave me Anxiety!"

"Stress that’s all they gave me"

"I got ulcers, no lunch break, no acknowledgement at all. Literally."

"Mine gave me unlimited time off (laid me off)"

It doesn't take a rocket scientist or any specialized kind of business strategy coursework to understand or appreciate that the concept of sharing a company's wealth during the holidays can ultimately help to foster a sense of gratitude and loyalty among one's employees.

Of course, there are plenty of outlets that have written about just how conducive holiday perks can be to making a worker feel wanted and appreciated, like HiPeople, which listed a number of benefits of forking over Christmas bonuses.

According to the publication, companies can expect the following from giving their workers a little extra something something at the end of the year:

• Recognition and appreciation
• Boosting employee morale
• Retention and loyalty
• Competitive advantage
• Fostering a positive company culture

In some instances, not giving anything to a worker could be better than attempting to foist a half-hearted sorry excuse for a gift, like some of the Redditors who replied to this r/antiwork piece seem to think.

The person who penned the piece wrote that their business gave out "flimsy" backpacks that didn't even have a dedicated sleeve to place laptops in, which they thought was a bizarre omission especially since all of the workers were remote employees.

One user who responded to their post wrote that their company gave workers the "opportunity to purchase $50 tickets to the company holiday party," not exactly the best of gifts.

Another wrote: "My mom’s boss gave everyone a pen (a really crappy, normal pen) with their names printed on normal white printer paper that was scotch taped down the side of the pen.

This sounds made up even to me as I type it, but it’s still in our junk drawer"

Have you ever received holiday gifts that probably would've been better had they never been gifted in the first place and ended up just leaving you with a bad taste in your mouth?