People Pissed Off About Not Getting What They Wanted For Christmas #FML

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Apparently somewhere between last time I checked and right now, many parents became responsible for providing iPhones, iPads, Mac Laptops and CARS to their children for Christmas. And parents who fail to complete these tasks are evil monsterbitches, according to tweets retweeted by comedian Jon Hendren yesterday featuring children disappointed by their bounties. You can read some of these captured tweets here. OMG YOU GUYS THE WORLD.

There’s of course the part of me that wants to finger-wag the hell out of this unit, but I mean, it’s just weird. It surprised me. I didn’t know people were like this  — and yo, I get that these kids are disappointed about their gifts, it happens. But dude, that shit is PRIVATE. By tweeting it, you’re approving it for public consumption, and generally things we say in public are things we think will be well-received, which means you actually think it’s totally normal to hate your Mom for getting you the wrong color iPod.

Laneia and I have been sitting here trying to figure out what the equivalent of this would be when we were growing up. I was forbidden to play or even think about video games, and having a television in my room was completely out of the question, but I think Nintendos and Segas were big-ticket items, which ran about $100-$200. There were BMX Bikes, I think, or boom boxes? I came across this Esquire feature on Top Christmas Gifts of the Year and it appears Hungry Hungry Hippos was all the rage. Granted, I’m a Jew, so we stuck to “something small every day,” which’s also more fun. I mean I love getting lots of little gifts for people, it’s like you can please all their parts.

Anyhow, if reading those tweets make you confused about the world, we suggest Photos of Kids Opening Christmas Presents in the 80’s, which is really cute!

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Riese

Riese is the 40-year-old Co-Founder and CEO of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in California. Her work has appeared in nine books including "The Bigger the Better The Tighter The Sweater: 21 Funny Women on Beauty, Body Image & Other Hazards Of Being Female," magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3020 articles for us.

128 Comments

  2. Normally only the obscenely wealthy spark my “kill the the rich and burn their bodies to heat our homes” class rage, but these entitled children are almost that level of awful.

    I do feel kind of bad for the kid who got a state map while her brother got an iPhone, though.

    Reply to This Comment

    • I’m with you on that one. I had a history of that in my own family (it ended when I turned 20.)

      Right now I’d so like to tell each of the entitled ones something. I would happily give back every present I’ve ever received and forgo every one in the future to have one thing right now – my family back. I’ve lost two thirds of mine; the price of my transition (and I recognize that even this is far less than many others pay.)

      Reply to This Comment

  3. I don’t have any of the iphone products. my bro’s 2nd gen itouch is the full extent of it. I haven’t got anything the past three Christmases or for the past few birthdays and though that makes me sad.. it does not warrant such a reaction. these kids make me sad about my generation, they’re such spoiled entitled little brats. In serious, serious need of a reality check.

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  6. My ma gave me a gift wrapped bottle of vitamins, I still think she’s the best.

    (She also hugged me and said its because she can’t look after me when I’m sick so I have to just not get sick in the first place).

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  7. I don’t think people really think about the “social approval” factor (or the “out there forever” factor) when posting. I know I put a bunch of stupid stuff I wouldn’t say out loud on my livejournal back in the day…

    (I got a little thing of bath salt for Hanukkah and was pleased and also surprised–my family usually doesn’t exchange gifts as a formal thing except for birthdays and Purim, and that last one is usually baked goods. Obviously I’ve been doing things wrong and should demand an automobile from my parents at every possible occasion.)

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  8. Wow… just…. wooooooow.

    I was sitting here, day dreaming about the food I’m going to buy with the Trader Joe’s giftcard I was given (I’m getting 2 boxes of that microwave mac n’ cheese). Then I come here, see all these selfish fucking bastards and my hopes for humanity are just dashed.

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  10. Ah, I’ve seen this already via the lovely place that is imgur.
    http://imgur.com/gallery/5krlg

    My entire family is quite keen on Apple products (sometimes I think Chinese people have a serious Apple problem), and not gonna lie, I do get quite a bit of fun out of my iPod Touch.

    For the past couple of years, my mum has asked me at different times, “Why don’t you get an iPhone?”/”Do you want an iPhone?” and I always refused, “I have a phone and an iPod already, what’s the point?”
    But I think the biggest reason was that I didn’t want to be associated with this kind of people.

    Also, I’m very happy with the huge amount of socks I got this year, I never seem to have enough of them!

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  11. I don’t know whether to have extreme sympathy for all these kids’ mothers (because it’s always the woman in charge of X-Mas, therefore always the woman to blame when it is less than impossibly perfect), or none at all, for rearing such miserable fucks.

    I do remember one year sometime in my early teens when my parents got my sister the wrong sort of stereo. This triggered in her such a vortex of self-loathing that we were all sucked into a week-long spiral of mortification and despair. She is still bitter 15 years later, with 100% earnestness.

    This is the best thing that happened to me this X-Mas:

    After showing my parents a slideshow of a Lego recreation of my late-night car crash with a badger, I asked my mother whether she thought I was weird for continually wanting to engage in such silly things.

    She said to me: “that’s just who you are,” and demanded I play with Lego more.

    I am 29 years old.

    Suck on that, iPhucks.

    Reply to This Comment

  15. Sad to say, I was one of those little shits. My parents bought me a drum kit just because I asked. They bought me a dog as a good luck present for my exams. I have every single apple product ever released. And then I moved to Australia by myself and was like ‘ohhhhh shit’. Those kids don’t know it yet, but they fucked.

    Reply to This Comment

      • I agree, some maybe aren’t that bad with a little context. Like ‘is everybody getting a car or an iphone this christmas?!’. It could mean they’re complaining that no one gets simple presents like a map of Maryland anymore.

        Or maybe I just really want that to be true.

        Reply to This Comment

  17. The tweets of these kids’ve made me speechless for 5 minutes! You won’t find the Apple devices in my room. I am always careful with my money. I did wait one year for a Samsung TV! My 2 years-old HP notebook was a gift from my father and I surely will work it for a long time. These spoiled brats are rather sheltered from ‘real life’ and I am afraid they can’t survive on their own.

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  19. this reminds me of the episode of “my super sweet sixteen” where the party cost like 100,000 dollars because EVERY PARTY ON THAT SHOW costs 100,000 dollars and the girl had the audacity to cry at dinner for 1.5 hours about how her parents didn’t get her a car, and they caved and i never forgave them.

    Reply to This Comment

  20. People are so ungrateful, and often overlook at how fortunate we really are. I am too old to ask my parents anything for christmas… but all I wanted was for my parents to get back together after they split last March, when my dad left us. I stop talking to my dad because of this, but secretly hoped he came back home. Out of nowhere, as if visited by the ghost of christmas past, my dad paid my tuition for the spring in full, I was short a few hundreds and I thought I was not going to be able to register.

    Life give us what we need, and rarely what we want.

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  21. The only things I got for Christmas were holiday socks, tiny gloves, chocolates, apple pie germ killer gel and cash. I was only bummed about not having enough cash for the cymbals I wanted. I gave most of the stuff I got to my sister who got nothing. I’d be going out of damn mind if I got a car as a gift but I probably have to return it since they cost a lot to keep. When I turned 21 this year I only got $20 and weights from my mom, she was the only person to remember my birthday. A lot of people are just snobby assholes about things. Too bad you can’t put a punch to the face in a box, I’d give that gift to a lot of people.

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  22. uuuuggggggg.

    the other thing is that theses aren’t really “kids,” right? they are like teens and older.

    in other news, my mom got me an “ionizing himalyan salt crystal table lamp” for x-mas and i LOVE it.

    Reply to This Comment

  23. Things like this only cement my feelings that we are raising a nation full of spoiled entitled children. MTV aired a marathon of Sweet Sixteen the other day and I wanted to punch all those parents in the face. Not the children, the parents for creating these little monsters in the first place. I think my favorite temper tantrum from that show has to be the female rapper(who just got signed to a contract and hadn’t even released a single yet) that lost her shit because her mother and/or the venue she was having the party at didn’t want to pay 2 million dollars in permits just so she build a huge skateboard ramp instead their building. I was LOLing at that shit.

    Reply to This Comment

  24. My family is fairly well off, and I am a teenager in high school. I didn’t get a car, ipad, iphone, or whatever, even though I’m very fortunate that my family can afford it. That doesn’t matter to me. I know that we’re saving for college for my brother and sister and I, and that our business is taking a hit from the recession. I got some books I asked for, a pair of awesome snowboots, and a set of my three favorite movies on DVD. Christmas was great.
    I love my family, no matter what I get for Christmas. I know that these kids are disappointed, but really. If you want something expensive and it’s not in your family’s budget, babysit and save up the money. Appreciate your family for what they do for you and the money they spend on you on a daily basis, like clothes and food and necessities.

    Reply to This Comment

    • I agree. Despite the fact I did get $300 on black friday that counted towards my Xmas gifts, I honestly was more excited about these PJs and a scarf my mom got me. I didn’t think they were waiting in line all day for a tv for me I thought it was for my Grandma and if I knew I would’ve told them I don’t need a tv that much lol

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  25. I got a bottle of whisky, some pyjamas and slippers.
    It was seriously awesome. We all got a bottle of alcohol, pjs and slippers n all got to spend the night drinking in our new comfy pyjamas. Its not the materialistic shit that means anything.

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  27. So I was thinking that “camero/ipad” kid haaaddd to be trolling so I looked him up and the context behind it was that Christmas sucked for him because in the military and hasn’t spent Christmas with his family for the past 3 years.

    So yeah, context, people, context.

    Reply to This Comment

  28. My MIL got us an iPad for Christmas (totally a surprise, not at all asked for) and I still feel kind of guilty about it and like we shouldn’t be keeping it.

    I do remember one Christmas when I was a teenager, I’d asked for a specific pair of boots and my parents did get me boots but not the ones I’d asked for. I’m not proud of it now but I will admit I acted like a spoiled brat and cried about it. And then after I got over it I ended up liking the boots they chose. Sometimes I think teenagers are just overly dramatic for the sake of being overly dramatic.

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  31. I will never understand the absurd appeal of the iphone or the ipad.. I just need to make calls with my free 5 year old phone and the ipad will forever be an enigma to me.. But, to be fair, I AM returning the UGG boots I received this year haha.

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  35. The saddest part to me is that these parents truly think that they’re providing for their children and ensuring their happiness by buying them anything and everything they ask for. But in the end these kids aren’t learning how to take care of themselves and be happy without all the devices and crap. They are in for a rude awakening if they ever get out into the “real world” and have to survive on their own. they’re completely ill-equipped.

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  36. I feel bad for the one that got the map of Maryland. That shit frequently happens in my family. My brother gets a trip to England for a birthday; I get a package of Glad containers. My 5 siblings get iPod Touches for Christmas; I get a card. My little sister gets a car for Christmas; I get socks. This year one brother got a laptop, one got a big flatscreen TV, idk what the others got but damn. It’s not that I really want any of the stuff they get (I already buy it all for myself) but it hurts when people play favorites.

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  37. And here I was, feeling happy I’m still alive after a scare in the summer and that my depression was sufficiently in check that I made it to a christmas eve party with friends and then on to my parents.
    Where I celebrated christmas with all of us for the first time in 7 years secretly hoping, together with my mother, that my soon to be born nephew would make an early entrance in the family. He didn’t but made his presence known by making life hard enough for my sister in law though.

    Reply to This Comment

  38. I must be the lamest teen. I have an ipod touch 4th gen that I bought with left over money after paying for school + books. I am going to pay for my iPhone in February so my mom doesn’t have to and she said she’ll pay for my phone bill (which I am uber thankful for!). I also don’t care to drive. I got a TV from black friday along with a new sony cybershot camera. I was satisfied. I also got some cool flannels, PJs, and a scarf. Yeah my mom loves me and I love her too :D

    Reply to This Comment

  40. Dearest Queers,
    Don’t judge a book by its cover. There, I said it.

    I am deeply saddened by entitlement and people that are blinded by their own entitlement and privilege. However, one of these so called, “iPhucks,” “greedy assholes,” “little shits,” is my twin sister. Look her up above—> @JuliaJeanius. I can’t justify or defend any other person who tweeted about not getting a Mac product or a car or their own private island off the coast of Guam, but I can tell you that my sister is hilarious and it was a joke. Little did she know she would wake up Twitter famous, Tumblr famous and the scorn of many YouTube videos. Which, is of course exactly what she has wanted out of life since she got a Twitter.

    Why do I feel the need to defend my sister? Because she’s not a greedy, entitled, ignorant consumer that is not worried about anything but herself. AND BECAUSE WE SPENT 7 FREAKIN MONTHS INSIDE A WOMB TOGETHER.

    But, I guess what I want to say is that these people are totally unaware of how much they sound like rich prisses, and we should illustrate to them in a respectful manner that their priorities are wayyy off-base.

    And if you like what you see in her picture above, that’s what I look like, cept I have short hair like the Beibs.

    Peace my fellow Lezziees and Queer dears.

    Reply to This Comment

  42. I don’t think this is just an “our generation” thing. Presumably, greed and thoughtlessness have existed since the dawn of humanity, but there are plenty of good people out there too. Don’t let a handful of idiotic comments get you down.

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  43. I got Christmas cards from friends and family that love me, some awesome homemade clam chowda (a rarity in Texas), homemade dark chocolate/creme de menthe brownies, some primo smoke and terrific company on Christmas.

    iphone? I don’t need no stinkin’ iphone.

    Reply to This Comment

  47. My mom used her airline miles so I could fly across the country to meet my military girlfriend’s family and spend some of the holiday with her. I was so happy, it was the best gift I’ve ever received. :D

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  48. So like everyone else who feels entitled to share their opinion on this thread, I got socks for hannukah and don’t own an ipad or a smartphone. And I think kids who wanted shiny appliances and didn’t get one at all should probably suck it up. BUT to be fair, I wouldn’t want to be in the position of that kid whose parents bought him a kindle when he’d asked for an ipad. That’s an legitimately awkward situation! Kindles are expensive, so it’s not like you can put it in a drawer and not use it and ask for an iPad again next year without being a big jerk. But if you’re not into reading or if you like paper-and-ink books, what are you supposed to do with it? I think if I were in that situation I’d wish my parents had just bought me brownies or something and been like “sorry no gadget this year”

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  51. I told my mum not to get me anything because I can’t afford to send them anything due to just buying very expensive plane ticket back home to see them (this can be my xmas gift I think, yes).
    But she still put $$$ in my acc and sent me a care package with lollies (candy) from back home, and also some good old fashioned home baking.

    PLUS tampons. Because NZ tampons are better than UK tampons and this is a fact.

    Was pretty hilarious getting the package with that customs declaration at work.

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  53. Although I reserve judgement for people I actually know, this post has reminded me that I should be more vocal about my gratitude. I had asked for a new battery for my car; and opened a box with a ‘C’ battery and a Hot Wheels on Christmas Eve. (My stepdad helped me put the real battery in my car earlier tonight.) So I called my mom and told her again that I really appreciated the thought that went into my gift :) She told me that she loved me, which means more than any gift ever could.

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  54. I saw a couple people on my twitter feed doing jokey whining about not getting “a second ipad” or other such things, i figured someone had started a joke whining thing about not getting awesomer gifts. i’m going to keep that degree of awareness, and not worry about these people.

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  55. For Christmas my mother gave me a gift voucher to a DVD store and some hand made bookmarks. I was really touched that she took the time to go searching through tumblrs to find Warehouse 13-Myka/HG pictures for the bookmarks.
    If I went on twitter bitching about not getting an iPad or a car she’d disown me for being to damn selfish to consider family.
    And I’d probably do the same to my (fictional) kid.
    I really hope at some point those kids realise what horrible, entitle brats they are, and feel appropriately ashamed.

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  58. I don’t think greed is the problem here. Its lack of respect.
    I get that these kids are probably spoilt beyond words and I can accept that, as I cant say that I havent seen it all before, but where is the respect for the gift giver?
    I would never say that I hate anyone, let alone my parents, and eventhough I swear up a storm I wouldn’t call my dad a c*#t.
    Don’t get me wrong, we arent the Brady bunch (they are pretty big ‘phobes)and sometimes I want to slam my head into a wall when I talk to them, but in saying that, they did bring me into the world and kept me alive until I was able to do it myself.
    So I appreciate and respect them for this. :)

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  59. Reading these was kind of like deja vu for me. On Christmas the only thing I heard about from one of my teenage cousins was that he and his siblings got iPad 2s from a friend of the family and his dads decided that was waaaay to generous and returned them. He thought it was quite literally the worst thing that could ever happen and that he somehow deserved a $600 present just because. He was also under that mistaken belief that his dads did it just because they were trying to ruin Christmas!

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  60. I haven’t read any of the comments yet but I just want to say that yes it’s gross to see such bratty kids and there is definitely an element of spoiled disgustingness, of course, but I also think a huge thing is that kids don’t have the mental capacity to use social media appropriately/properly.

    That sounds condescending but I just mean that Riese, you think people put things on social media sites because they think they’re appropriate for public consumption, but I really very much do not think that is always the case. Sounds like common sense, but c’mon, who has that? (I am sort of being tongue-in-cheek but sort of not.) Many of my 20-something peers seem to be clueless when it comes to what’s “appropriate” to tweet/Facebook/blog/etc, and I’m constantly reading TMI statuses and tweets. I am FB friends with a few of my old campers who are now in the 10-17 age range (holy fuck that makes me feel old) and I’m honestly horrified by a lot of what they post. You said you were looking for an example from when you were little, but I honestly don’t think the issue is the gifts (though maybe I’m naive/too hopeful for humanity) but rather the fact that we have this bizarre outlet to share all our intimidate thoughts, even the ones that make us look like assholes. And of course kids are the most susceptible because they literally do not have the brain development yet to understand why they sound like spoiled shits.

    Is this coherent? It’s an idea I think about a lot (social media and how it’s affected our ability to perceive ourselves and others in a negative way) but I’m not sure I’m making sense at all. Anyway, my birthday falls on Chanukah most years so for birthday/Chanukah this year I got a yummy birthday dinner with my amazing girlfriend, and she wore pink suspenders and a pink bowtie to surprise me (pink is my favorite color.) That’s not really relevant, but I’m having trouble with relevancy today and also who doesn’t want to hear about my girlfriend’s cute pink suspenders? Okay I’ll stop…

    PS: My younger brother currently has the iPhone (from our parents) and I do not. I’m not gonna lie you guys, it is hard! Not THAT hard, but like, a teensy bit hard…ugh please don’t think I suck as much as you think all the kids above suck, I wouldn’t tweet about the iPhone thing, I only share in a safe space like AS…

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    • …”you think people put things on social media sites because they think they’re appropriate for public consumption, but I really very much do not think that is always the case.”

      I think people don’t understand that 1) the Internet is bigger than their social circle and 2) the Internet doesn’t care about context. Also, the Internet can’t always read the tone intended with text.

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  61. Do… do the kids who wanted white iPhones realize you can put coloured cases on iPhones? YOUR PHONE CAN BE ANY COLOUR YOU WANT IT TO BE. THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS.

    Also, apologising profusely for my generation.

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  62. I don’t even know why AS is giving these spoiled twats any Internet space. I mean, I don’t think this is really all that representative of people in general and it just fuels a sad and negative view of the world and a reason to sit back and sneer about first world problems. I prefer to regulate assholes like this to the bottom of the dung heap and forget about them like I would empty cat food cans and spent banana peels.

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  65. i got snowshoeing poles for xmas and almost died of happiness. :p all these kids do make me mad, but at the same time, really sad for them. one day reality is gonna hit and then they won’t be prepared for life. I left my moms house @ 18 with literally only the clothes on my back and a police officer at my side to protect me. i spent the next 2 yrs pretty much eating ramen while i supported myself with my apt and 40 hr a week job. i did it on my own with no help, and have been supporting myself since i was 18. while it sux and is hard at times, everything i own i worked for. nothing was given to me. it does make you realize need vs. want but when you look @ what you do have accomplished and provided for yourself, like a place to live and food, things like an iphone or ipad seem so silly…

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  66. My (bio) mom gave me her old doc martens and the Mabinogion, and I got socks and money for books and my other (adoptive) mom even got me pants from the boy’s section, which is kind of a big step for her. It was the best Christmas ever (except for being effectively banished from one side of the family).

    Then my other Aunt gave me “Scripture tea”. Which really is kind of a bad gift, because I can’t serve the tea to most of my friends without offending people. But at least I didn’t complain about it where she could overhear.

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