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Dec. 27, 2005 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:32
December 27, 2005, Tuesday, Hour #3
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Shared with the audience some Iraq information in the last hour.
I've got a new dispatch just in.
You know that USO tour that a bunch of entertainers are doing for American soldiers in Iraq.
Somehow Al Franken got to be part of that.
I don't know how he was even invited.
Certainly isn't on any kind of celebrity status.
Anyway, Al Franken was along on this thing.
He is demanding that the tour be extended.
Al Franken says we need to be doing some shows for Zarkawi and Al Qaeda.
Not fair that I'm only doing these for the Americans.
Alright.
How many of you think I'm making that up?
What percentage of you think that this story is true?
And what percent of you think that that story is false?
In fact, it is false.
I am making it up.
I am lying about Al Franken, but you kind of thought that it might actually be true, didn't you?
On a more relevant note, Monday Night Football, at least, the version of it on ABC television coming to an end last night after 36 years.
The uh beginning of Monday Night Football, of course, revolutionized the National Football League.
Used to be that almost all the games were played on Sunday afternoon and be shared by two of the broadcast networks.
Monday Night Football brought the NFL to prime, and it really became a change in the American culture.
One of those events that was larger than life, and ABC had its last Monday Night Football broadcast every night.
Monday Night Football is going to continue, it just won't be on ABC.
The uh big game is now apparently going to be the Sunday night game.
That's going to be shown on NBC.
NBC is back into football for the first time in a long time.
John Madden's going to be going over to NBC to be doing that game.
The Monday night game is going to be moved over to ESPN.
So it will be available on cable, but the Monday night game will no longer be on free over the air broadcast television.
I guess Al Michaels is going to be doing that with uh I think Joe Thizeman, right?
Believe so.
Do you like Joe Thizman?
I I really don't, but I probably wouldn't be the proper appropriate form to criticize Joe Thysman.
Probably not.
In any event, they brought back everybody for the Monday night uh final broadcast last night.
I managed not to watch it.
I I've watched almost every Monday night football game since the very beginning, and I did not watch the game last night for pure nerd reasons.
I'm here in New York to do the program.
I went to bed early so I could get my rest so I could do a good job on the program today.
I was in bed while they were celebrating the end of uh or marking the end.
Monday night football.
They even brought Don Meredith back, and he's a reckless.
I don't think he's been on television in two decades.
Don Meredith was back at the beginning of the uh at the beginning of the broadcast.
Everybody thinks that the broadcast team for Monday Night Football from the very beginning was Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, and Don Meredith.
In fact, Keith Jackson did it the first year and Gifford came around in the second year.
But the real the reality is is that Monday Night Football became what it was because of Howard Gosell.
He was larger than life.
And I think there are a lot more people in the media broadcasting that were influenced by Howard Cosell than will ever admit it.
How are and I don't think I've ever modeled myself after him, but what I learned from Howard Cosell was that you actually could find an audience by shooting off your mouth and stating your opinions, particularly if you could do so with a little bit of style.
He made that whole thing.
As goofy as he was and as over the top as he was, and is apparently difficult to work with as he was, he really made Monday Night Football, and I'm not sure.
We'll never know it.
I'm not sure that it would have become the same deal that it had been had uh had Coisell not been part of it.
The team they have right now is very, very good.
I like Al Michaels a lot, and John Madden is outstanding, but Monday Night Football was what it was because of that team with Cosell and his over-the-top edginess offset by Meredith and his oh shucks, who cares?
Uh they're a great team.
Monday Night Football now done on uh ABC for all time.
Here's a story for you.
A new study suggests that baby boomers are more reluctant to embrace direct deposit than their parents.
An attitude that could force the government to continue to pay paying millions to mail out checks.
The government spends 83 cents when it sends out a social security check or any other government check directly to the recipient.
It costs only seven cents, eight cents for the government to deposit the check directly in the bank.
Who doesn't want direct deposit?
HR tells me he doesn't want direct deposit.
Why would you why would anyone not want direct deposit?
You like you like getting your check.
Do you like then having go to the bank and deposit that check?
Why would anyone not want a process that does that thing for you?
It's a control thing.
I think the people who don't like direct deposit are just lonely people who like going to the bank because every bank now trains its tellers to recognize you.
These are lonely social mis.
This I'm told that HR does it to get away from home.
Is that it?
Is that it?
Or do you have so many different accounts that you need to move these funds here and those funds there?
Okay.
I'm they don't do direct deposit into the uh into offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands.
Is that it?
I don't know why everyone wouldn't want to do it.
Costs us an extra 75 cents for everybody that this is going to become a very big deal, but with the baby boomers aging, Medicare checks, all those Social Security checks, there's going to be a lot more of them.
And on top of how much money the baby boomers are going to get, we now apparently all want our checks because we're paranoid of the banks or whatever.
What is the reason for it then?
I don't know.
A bunch of divorced dads trying to hide their alimony, high hide their income for alimony purposes.
I have no idea what the reason for that would be.
All right, I'm now going to get into a topic.
That one wasn't even in, in which I expect a significant number of people to turn on me.
Which is why I'm saving it for now.
But I'm right about this.
Let's start with this.
There's a news peg to it.
An organization called America's Research Group has found that the number of people who return Christmas presents after the Christmas holiday has dropped dramatically.
Ten years ago, 38% of American consumers surveyed said they had an unwanted gift to return after Christmas.
Five years ago the number had dropped to 33%.
This year, the survey indicates only 14% of Americans want to return Christmas presents.
The major reason for this, according to this group, that they believe at least, is the increase in the giving of gift cards.
That's now a real real big thing.
Used to be considered a cheesy thing to do.
Go down and get a gift certificate, get a gift card.
It was the lazy person's way of giving a Christmas gift.
Well, it's caught on.
There isn't a stigma anymore, and that is believed to be one of the reasons for it.
Whatever.
Here is my position on this.
I believe it is rude, obnoxious, thoughtless, uncaring, selfish, and jerk-like to return a Christmas present.
If somebody gives you a Christmas present, you should not return it with only one exception.
My exception is this.
If they give you something that doesn't fit, you can return it.
But only then to get the exact same item in a better size.
If they don't have the exact same item in a better size, then you get the closest thing that you can to it.
Other than that, if someone gives you a gift, you should not return it.
You should wear it.
You should use it.
You should keep it.
No, you can't change the color.
I can just tell that you're a returner.
Just the way that you're raising these objections, you're a returner.
Because you think that the process of gift giving is all about receiving.
I should be able to get what I want.
That's Not the point of it.
The point of giving a gift at Christmas or for a birthday or for some other occasion is that the individual who did the buying was trying to show his or her thoughtfulness toward you.
And when you go and take that item and return it, you are responding to that thoughtful gesture with total thoughtlessness.
I will not return a Christmas gift.
If I get a gift that I despise or I have no use for, I will not return it.
And I'll take it a step further.
If it is an item of clothing, even if you do not like it, you should have to wear it when you are in the presence of the individual who has given it.
To not do so is a selfish act.
Now I have raised this topic on my own program in Milwaukee, and I have gotten people who agree with me on this, but a whole lot of people who don't appreciate the host of a program calling them selfish and self-centered and egomaniacal and thoughtless and rude and uncaring for returning gifts.
We're going to try it out here on Rush's program.
1-800-282-2882 is the telephone number.
I believe it is wrong to return Christmas presents.
I believe that the person who buys Christmas presents, whether they will admit it or not, tries very hard to buy something that they think the person that they're giving the gift to will appreciate.
And it's especially bad if you do it.
If you return a gift from your mother or your father or from your spouse.
These are people who love you.
They went out and they picked out something for you.
For you to return it means that you are saying to them that I do not like what you got me, and I am entitled to what I like.
It is typical of the self-centered generation of Americans that we have right now that we are not happy with something nice that someone has done for us unless we feel as though we can get something out of it.
Do you agree?
Or you are are you an ins an insensitive boar who disagrees and thinks you have every right to get whatever it is that you doggone well, please?
We will find out.
My name is Mark Belling, and I'm sitting in for the time being, at least for Rush Limbaugh.
I'm Mark Belling in for Rush Limbaugh.
You go into a department store today, you see those long lines at the service counter.
Those are the jerks.
Those are the insensitive among us.
In fact, you can say so.
You walk past the service going, you see the people online, you are an insensitive jerk.
Poor guy standing there, probably wants to fill out a credit card application and gets going.
No, it's just the wrong thing to do.
Let's start in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Karina, Karina, you're on EIB with Mark Belling.
Hey Mark, how's it going?
I'm great.
And I'm right about this too.
No, no, no.
I have an issue with your Christmas present return policy.
Now, here's the here's the deal.
If I have a toaster sitting on my counter, and I get another toaster for a Christmas gift, and maybe another lovely toaster from someone else as a Christmas gift.
Who's ever gotten three toasters the same Christmas?
Are you telling me that I should out of appreciation put those three toasters on my countertop and use those three toasters?
Well, you know what you're trying to say.
You ask a question that's a ridiculous hypothetical.
Who has such goofy friends that you would that they would keep giving you toasters?
Have you ever gotten if you ever gotten three toasters the same Christmas?
It's possible.
It may be possible, but it doesn't happen.
It does happen.
Well, if you've got stupid friends.
Well, I don't know.
Weddings is different.
I'm not talking about weddings.
I'm talking I'm being the spokesperson for those people who do have stupid friends.
It happens.
Then I think that you should just be stuck with it.
Okay.
Then you then you should be stuck with it.
Let's suppose you're one of the people that gives the toasters.
Did to the toaster, and I already have it.
I don't need a toast, a new toaster.
I still have my old 1947 Remington model.
Are you going to tell me you want me to return your toaster?
I am.
You are you don't believe that.
Or else the alternative is I go out and buy four more toasters and use one every different day of the week.
That'll solve it.
I think that most people who return something don't do it because they have it already and they have it covered.
It's because they want something else.
And that's the attitude that I'm drawing attention to.
I think that is rude.
I think it's self-centered.
When someone gives you a gift, it is an it is an act in which they are saying that they care about you.
Usually that person giving the gift has put some thought into what the gift is.
To turn around and reject it is a rude thing to do.
And it's one of the problems that I think we have had with the Christmas season and the gift giving season is that people now look upon it.
We've got such a welfare mentality in this country.
We act as though Christmas is the time in which we get to get all of these things.
And if we don't get the things that we want, we are going to use them like it's cash.
And the gifts are saying you go to the ATM machine, you turn in the gift that you don't want for the thing that you do want.
And I think that that misses the entire point.
I will not do it.
I won't return something.
The only caveat is if somebody gets me the wrong size, what would I wear?
Like a medium thin trim size.
If I get the wrong size, I will uh I'll return it for the purposes of size.
Other than that, there's no excuse that I find acceptable.
Thanks for the call, Karina.
All right, try to convert somebody else.
Daniel in San Jose, California, you're on Rush Limbaugh's program with Mark Belling.
Hi, yeah.
I've been over here in your conversation here.
Um I don't agree.
And the reason is is because uh I think that the people that give gifts want to bless the people that they're giving them to.
And if it's you know, if you end up giving someone a gift that, you know, isn't hitting the mark.
Uh I think people that give gifts want people to return it and get something.
No, they don't.
No, they don't.
I do.
You're saying that because you're somebody who returns gifts, and you're rationalizing the fact that you do it.
I give gifts, I don't want them returned.
If somebody returns one of my gifts, I'm gonna be mad.
I'm gonna think, why should I bother going out and getting them anything?
I'll just give them cash next year if they're not going to be happy with what they get.
And I'm telling, even if you are not happy, you should not only not return it, you have to pretend that you like it.
Well, I think if you're gonna give gifts and you know, just to get like a warm fuzzy that you you did something nice, whether or not you you know the person really appreciated it.
I don't know, I just don't find that very meaningful.
Well, but what's meaningful about returning the gift just so you can get something that you want?
Well, I would rat much rather have a person appreciate that they were actually blessed by something than Oh blessed.
Come on.
You give the gift because either you feel like you have to or because you care about the person.
But the the price uh everything that you're saying with regard to giving gifts is all based on your own attempts to rationalize the fact that you return.
Did you return anything this year?
No, I haven't.
Are you planning to?
Um maybe something that's the wrong size.
Okay, well, this like I said, size is fine.
So you haven't done it yourself.
Why aren't you going to return anything?
Um Admit it, you find it rude.
You don't want to do it because it's like I got I did get gift cards actually.
Gift cards were more than Well, that is one of the things that's cutting into this whole thing.
I don't have any problem with gift cards.
It's not exactly the the sexiest present to give, and you're not going to create a lot of warm feelings over it, but it doesn't have this problem.
And I suspect if you've got somebody that is real picky and is the kind of person that would return something, yeah, just give them a gift card rather than put up with the rejection that they're otherwise gonna dole out at you to Waterloo and Kathy, Kathy, you're on EIB.
Hi.
It's not that I don't appreciate the gift.
I really appreciate it.
I would gladly return it and give him the money.
I just I would rather do that than have him see it sitting in a dusty box month after month, week after week, and month after month.
It's been almost a year now, and the this thing that he's gotten me, it's just I can't use it.
Who's who's here?
Who's he, your husband?
Yeah.
So he got so gladly give him the money.
It's not a matter of the money.
Okay, I would gladly give him the tell me what the gift is.
It's uh it doesn't work very well.
It's I got it out of the box three times trying to get it towards uh little black and white TV, and it's got an AM FM radio on it and a flashlight on it, and none of the signals come in on the TV.
The radio barely works at all.
And I I just wish it worked.
Well, uh okay.
It it probably works at least a little bit.
By the way, could you turn it on and listen to me?
Yeah.
Well, then here's what you and you got this a year ago and you haven't used it.
No.
Well, I've tried to use it.
Is he at work right now or is he at home?
Yeah, he's at work.
He's at work.
What I want you should be listening.
What I want you to do is get in your car, drive down to work with the stupid flashlight radio that he gave you, walk into his work while this discussion is going on, and thank him for the long the long overdue thank you that he has coming for that gift that he gave you.
It wouldn't make his year.
Oh my God, even though I'll never use it.
Well, first of all, I think you ought to try to use it.
But yes, otherwise, even if you're not going to use it, yes, you should keep it because the point of getting a gift is not to get something that you like.
The point of receiving a gift is to receive something that someone gave you because they appreciate you as a person.
Like I said, try that and you'll uh you'll earn the undying devotion of your husband.
I'm Mark Belling in for Rush.
Mark Belling's sitting in for rush.
Believe it or not, I did do an hour and forty minutes on today's program talking about the Patriot Act, President Bush's domestic spying initiative.
I've gotten that out of my system.
No, I'm talking about I really care.
No, I obviously care about those other issues.
There is a point that I am trying to make here.
I believe that American society, and it started with Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, has become one in which we feel as though we are entitled to everything.
You know, there was once a time that people who qualified for welfare or qualified for unemployment compensation would not file for it.
They would not accept it.
They had pride.
Well, those days are long gone.
Now people believe the government owes them this, that, and the other thing.
You have all sorts of people who believe that the world is shafting them on the basis of their skin color, their ethnicity, or some other grievance.
And we become a society that just presumes that we have a right to all of these things.
How soon after Hurricane Katrina were some people demanding to know where the government was with their benefits?
Where was the government to fix everything and to give them things?
Look at the number of economic development initiatives in this country that don't seem to occur unless someone unless the government gives them some money.
That's how we become as a society.
We feel as though when a gift is given to us, that we are entitled to a good gift, a gift that we like.
And it's a sick attitude.
And I have credibility on this issue.
I have never returned a Christmas present.
I believe I may have returned something for the purpose of size once or twice, and I got the exact same thing in another size.
I have not done it, and I hold myself to that standard.
Few years ago, uh, girlfriend at the time, I'm a huge fan of Carly Simon, which is not something that any conservative talk show host wants to admit because she's a lefty.
I love Carly Simon.
Well, this girlfriend should have known that, and she got mixed up.
For Christmas, I get a boxed set of about 800 CDs by Carol King.
Okay, she mixed up Carol King and Carly Simon.
Did I?
Yes, I did kind of tell.
Well, you know, it's Carly Simon.
Did I return the Carol King box set for a Carly Simon box set?
No.
Do I ever play those Carol King CDs?
Well, no, but I try to stick one in when she was around.
That's what you do.
It's what I consider a thoughtful person does.
That is what you should do.
Ontario, California and John.
John, you're on Rush's program with Mark Belling.
At some point, somebody's going to agree with me on this.
I totally agree with you.
There we go.
We got a movement started.
I don't return gifts.
Um, when I was little, we used to buy presents for my parents, and now looking back, I realize, boy, they did a lot by holding on to those gifts because you know we bought some really ugly things for them.
Well, you didn't know any better.
If you had bought something for your parents and they didn't use them, you'd probably be a little hurt if they ran back to cash it in for the six dollars that you spent or whatever, you would have had your feelings hurt.
Now you can say, Well, yes, your kids, there is no difference.
The emotion is still the same, and the act of obnoxiousness committed by the return is still the same thing.
I agree.
Um, when I got married, my wife's family is kind of the exact opposite.
They give things and with every item they give you get a little gift gift return receipt so you can take it back.
They tell you what store they got it at.
You sometimes they even just give cash and everybody's trading twenty dollar bills and you're going, Well, what's the deal with that?
I mean, I think there's a time to give cash, especially if the person really could use the money.
But you're right.
If you give somebody thirty dollars and they give you thirty dollars, what really is the point of the whole thing?
I used to do that gift receipt thing because I try to be thoughtful when I and I want people to like the gift that I get, and I've stopped doing it.
Unless it's a high tech piece of equipment or something that you need for a warranty or something of that nature, I won't even give the receipt.
I'm not gonna make it easy for them.
And to return it.
What why should I do that?
Why should I make it easy for them to insult me?
I agree.
If I buy clothes, I always I if I know the person, I'm pretty sure I know the right size.
Well, I mean, you can you can screw that up, but that's the one scenario where I think it's okay to do it because you're still using essentially the same item, you're just getting something that would fit you better.
All right, I've got a movement started, not everybody hates me.
Thank you, John.
To uh uh Jimmy in Pinehurst, North Carolina, you're on Russia's program with Mark Belling.
Yes.
Is it Jim or Jimmy?
I I I think you're uh right, uh half the point, and the other half I I gotta take issue uh with you.
Uh with regard to where I think you're right, uh I think gift giving is from the heart.
And you're one of the first ones I've you know heard that yeah, you know, hammers that point home Because we live in an insensitive society.
I I am above all of that.
Yeah, well, okay.
And uh and I agree with that.
The gift giving should be from the heart.
You take it.
Well, where's the butt?
There's a butt coming.
What's your butt?
There is a butt.
There is the other half is I think we need to uh recognize that sometimes we're gonna miss the mark.
We don't we don't get the the the perfect thing.
Uh and um and and while it might be appreciated, uh we I don't think we should be uh expecting a person to basically uh be phony, be dishonest and say, Oh, well, I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna use that poster and uh plug that thing in.
Uh no, if it's not the right thing, it's it's a gift.
And if because it was a gift, they should be able to do whatever they want.
They still appreciated the thought and everything, but it didn't hit the mark, and that's the way it goes.
So I So what do you want people to say?
Oh, I don't like this.
Well no, I don't think it's because I've seen people do that.
I've seen people do this.
You'll see th they'll be receive the gift and they'll look at it and they'll start turning up their nose at the law frightened.
Oh, well, I think it depends on the relationship.
No, it doesn't.
No, it doesn't.
Wait a minute.
I can remember one time back when I was uh a young adult, and I gave my brother the infamous lava light.
And um and I a gift that was dumb but at the time we didn't know it.
Yeah, okay.
That and it's she at you know, and uh but I gave him a lava light and he you know I'm not saying he has to put the turn the lava light on for the rest of his life.
He should smile and thank and I you know, he doesn't have to go, I've always wanted a lava light.
He should fake it at least a little bit and thank you.
You didn't try to do it, you didn't try to get a dumb gift, did you?
Excuse me?
You didn't try to get a dumb gift.
You actually thought the lava light was a lava lamp was a good gift, right?
No, I probably should have, but no, I did not.
It wasn't a good thing.
So why can't he?
How hard would it have been for him to simply go along with it and act as though he liked it?
Oh, well, I'm sure they did go along with it, but I could, you know, I knew it wasn't uh, oh my God, you know, jump, you know, this is the most wonderful thing I've ever gotten.
Uh it it wasn't, but there are other times when I did buy a gift from the heart, as that one was, and it hit the mark, and that's my whole point.
Well, you try to hit it, but if you don't, the person who receives it shouldn't insult you by letting it on.
Now, in my case, I pride myself on getting good gifts.
It's not that hard of a thing to do unless you're giving to somebody who's just incredibly picky and is never going to be happy.
And those are the ones who return the gifts anyhow.
They know what they want and they're not going to appreciate anything you get.
Well then why even get them anything?
Why get 'em anything if they just want to go out and buy their own stuff.
If they're gonna perceive that that's what Christmas or birthdays or other occasions are for, and I'm telling you, this is not the we have not always had this attitude in this country.
This is a result, like every other bad trend that we have of liberalism.
You get this entitlement mentality in which people believe that their own self-satisfaction and their own feelings are more important than anything else.
We're a society that's obsessed with feelings.
Rush talks about that all the time.
That feelings are so important.
I have a right to be happy.
I have a right to get what I want.
I, I, I, I, I, I, I. Well, in the end, if you're eternally seeking that kind of happiness, you're never going to be happy rather than bask in the simple pleasure of somebody going out and giving you a gift because they appreciate you and they thought this was something that you like.
And it's not that hard to pretend that you like it even if you don't.
Thank you for the call.
I'm Mark Belling, standing up for all that is good and fair and decent and honest, sitting in for Rush on E. Rush hasn't called or anything, has he?
Who's this idiot talking about returning Christmas presents on my program?
We haven't gotten that yet.
Indulge me, this is goof off week.
I'm actually trying to raise an issue here that I think has serious overtones to it.
Well, this is kind of funny.
I don't think you should return Christmas presents.
I think it's obnoxious to do so.
Now, fortunately, I don't have to confront this.
I usually get great Christmas presents, and I got great Christmas presents again.
You like the sweater?
This is a Christmas present from my family.
In fact, I kind of put the word out that I need sweaters.
I got five of them.
They're all great.
I like them.
Everything I got, I wanted.
But if I didn't like it, I would say that I did like it.
Now I suppose you can say, well, how do they know, therefore, that you really do like it since you've already admitted that you'd lie about it.
Well, I don't know.
The challenge though is to try to get a good gift.
I suppose you can make an exception.
When somebody who feels as though they have to give you a gift gives you something and you know they spent 15 seconds of thought, and it's really dumb.
But if the person made any sort of effort to do the right thing by you, you should accept that gift for what it's worth and not try to convert it into something else.
Salt Lake City and Dan.
Dan, you're on Rush's program with Mark Belling.
Yes, uh, Mark, uh, appreciate your comments.
I don't really agree with you a hundred percent on everything.
Uh I don't think that you see the other side of the coin either.
And the other side of the coin is people who give you gifts, and then for the next thirty years, every time they come by your place, they're asking you words I gave you.
I might have a little of that in me.
I might I might have a little of that in me.
I but I'm I mean, I'm not expecting that kind of thing.
But yes, the fact that someone says that means that they do care about whether or not you like their gift.
Well, I think that uh I personally think that uh, you know, to have that fault is worse than just going ahead and being honest and returning what they gave you instead of storing it in your garage.
Why 20 years?
Why?
Why is that why is that not a fault?
Why is showing appreciation for what you got not the right thing to do?
Well, I just I I think that it's you don't have an answer for that because you just want to rationalize that you see the receiving of the gift as a way for you to get something that you want.
That for you, that's what it's all about, right?
No, it's not.
I haven't returned one gift this year.
Well, good.
And I I'm gl's the last time you did.
Well, I can't even think of it.
See, well, then you should be on the you should be on my side on this.
Is it because every gift you got was cra was great?
Well, no, it's just uh you either only have you only have one of two options.
Either you can store it in your garage for the next how many years, or if it's a gift that you don't like, you're not gonna use, you have to give it the goodwill.
You can't sell it at a garage sale.
Well, I mean, after a certain period of time, that's fine.
I'm just talking about essentially when you give the gift, that the person should show some gratitude for it rather than you know, rather than than to give it back.
And I really don't mean to be insulting people who disagree with me on this, although I kind of do.
I'm just trying to get you to think about this whole mentality that we've adopted in this country, in which everything everybody perceives that everything is about them.
And it's it's got dire implications for our future as the baby womb ages, and we start discussing whether or not we can afford to have social security at the levels that we're accustomed to or Medicare or all of these other government programs in which essentially things are being given to us.
We've got to rethink this whole attitude that we have.
Now the Christmas gift thing probably touches home touches close to home for a lot of people and if so good.
Thank you for the call to Columbia, Missouri and Heather.
Heather it's your turn on EIB.
Hi.
Hi.
Um I don't agree totally with what she said.
I mean if somebody gives me I mean and I've had this happen.
Somebody gave me hand lotions for Christmas.
And they were scented and I can't use things like that because they break my skin out.
Right, I I understand that.
Okay, you've got an allergy.
That's a unique type of situation.
But what are you gonna do?
Return that lotion?
No, it's still sitting in my house.
Okay, well that I mean that's fine.
I'm not expecting the you to use it if you're gonna get ill from it.
But I think that when you receive it you should smile and thank them for doing it and maybe a couple of months later if they're th they might do that by the way I'm allergic to fragrances.
But you but don't let them on it let it on at the time but obviously this is not a hard and fast rule.
I'm talking about somebody who's given a plasma TV and decides instead that they want to have a DVD player or something like that.
I just think that that that's obnoxious.
I would just like to be able to have friends that could give me a DVD player or a TV or whatever it is if it's if it's a little dollar ninety nine cent trinket you ought to you you ought to let on that you like it.
Well I can you certainly shouldn't you certainly shouldn't return it.
Well I let people think you know okay I like it and stuff and in fact that you know I've gotten sweaters like I said earlier that I got sweaters that wash me out.
I mean I'm very I've got pale skin.
Have you returned them?
Well no actually didn't know where you got them from because they didn't give you but because they didn't give you a receipt.
You made the person happier by letting them think that you appreciated the gift.
And isn't that what it's really all about it was my own father so yeah I had to keep it well see why did you have to because you knew it would hurt his feelings otherwise that's my point entirely here.
And I think there are some people who just don't care whether or not they're gonna hurt your feelings because they are so determined to get what they want to get then save up money and buy your own stuff and don't give gifts to anyone else either and just buy things for yourself and not even take part in the process if that's how you view it.
Thank you Heather to uh Birmingham and Jim Jim you're on Russia's program with Mark Belling.
Hi Mark how you doing today's Rush called yet by the way just want to make sure that we're not going to get any objections to this topic.
Go ahead Jim Just real quick for you I got a quick story.
I got a family member uh just show how the extremes can this can go we were uh uh she was in high school she would get her Christmas gifts and uh the the day after Christmas on the twenty sixth she'd uh get to her boyfriend or whatever uh gather up everything she got take it over to the store and return it for what she wanted.
Well, this digressed eventually into she wanted to give her list to everybody.
Now everybody in the family wants to list from you what you want for Christmas.
Now to the point where she didn't even get the stuff that she had on her list.
Now she goes out and buys the gifts herself, comes in and says, this is what you're giving me for Christmas, and by the way, you owe me $30.
This person wouldn't be your wife by any chance, would it?
No, no, my wife, no, no.
My wife, she's just the opposite.
She wants to put a lot of time in.
effort and thought into everybody's gifts and it just drives her crazy.
Well yeah and if she gives something then that they don't like and usually if they don't like it the problem is on their end that they don't have the good taste that the gift giver gave you do feel lousy about it because nobody wants to give something that isn't a pr that isn't appreciated.
Now I'm an extremist in this regard I mean if some if someone does that to me I will question how much of a friend they are if they're that insensitive and that rude about it.
But I'm an extremist thanks for the call.
Um I have a promise now to make to the audience.
When we return I won't be talking about this subject.
I'm Mark Belling sitting in for Raj.
I'm Mark Belling by the way I will be back tomorrow sitting in for Rush unless the powers that be here about the last 40 minutes of the program in which case I might not be uh might not be back.
I said I was going to drop the topic, but I've decided that I can't actually do it.
I'll give you a little bit of slack here.
There are certain circumstances in which it's okay to return the gift that you do not like.
If somebody gives you that stupid autobiography that Clinton wrote, that's perfectly fine.
Or if you get tickets to go see an outdoor soccer match, of course you can always return that.
Maybe Minnesota Vikings team picture.
Other than that, you gotta keep it and you gotta enjoy it.
See you tomorrow.
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