Well, that's sure depressing....

[iMpathetic]

Argh. Well, yesterday, I bought my mother a brand-new Dell Inspiron 531 desktop. This was, by the way, a little hard to do, on the budget of a 14 year old. Anyway, I installed a GeForce 6200LE so she didn't have to share memory with Vista, and scrounged up some 2.1 Altec Lansing speakers. I also stuck a PCI wireless card in it, as well.

After cleaning all the bloatware off of it, I shut it down, packed it up, and re-sealed the box. It was brought over to her house engulfed in gift wrap.

The reason why I got her the Inspiron is because she's going to start running a business from home, and I recalled her telling me she might want a desktop to put in her new office, which is in the addition to our house which is almost finished.

So, come this morning, my sister and I presented it to her. She said she didn't want it (very nicely, however), and instructed me to sell it and put the money towards a car.

Now, I don't even want a car. Crud.

*confused rant over*

Oh, BTW, I didn't start this thread to weasel sympathy out of you people.... I just wanted to see what y'all think.

Oh well.

 

[mkrishnan]

Sounds like you made a noble effort. Sometimes the best intentioned gifts aren't the right thing in the larger perspective. Respect your mother's wishes. Not necessarily the buying a car part, but the sending the computer back part.... I'm sure your sentiment was greatly appreciated.

 

[Hawkeye411]

Sounds like she doesn't want you to spend all your hard-earned-money on her. Although I would appreciate the thought, I wouldn't want my kids to spend a bunch of money on me. "Little" things are appreciated just as much.

Cheers.

 

[arkitect]

I guess she was trying to tell you she wanted a Mac.

 

[iMpathetic]

Now my sister's spelling out "you are mean" on her bed with socks. This is ridiculous. I don't want Mom to see it, but my sister's just doing it for me. This is worse than a soap opera....

Sheesh.

 

[Abstract]

"Sorry son, I don't want a Dell; however........ "


Wait, did she give you a reason? If she didn't, then she probably didn't want you to spend all your money on her. Instead, she'll brag to all her friends that you bought her a computer for her with all your money. To her, that's good enough. It's your thought that makes it a great gift.

If she just didn't want it, then your sister is right. Tell her to spell out "Mean" with your mum's pantyhose.

 

[iJohnHenry]

Sounds like she doesn't want you to spend all your hard-earned-money on her. Although I would appreciate the thought, I wouldn't want my kids to spend a bunch of money on me. "Little" things are appreciated just as much.

Cheers.

My view also.

Tell her you can't take it back because you altered it just for her purposes.

It is quite a gift from a 14-year-old. I will admit that.

 

[iMpathetic]

"Sorry son, I don't want a Dell; however........ "

Wait, did she give you a reason? If she didn't, then she probably didn't want you to spend all your money on her. Instead, she'll brag to all her friends that you bought her a computer for her with all your money. To her, that's good enough. It's your thought that makes it a great gift.

If she just didn't want it, then your sister is right. Tell her to spell out "Mean" with your mum's pantyhose.

First of all, she despises all things apple with the fury of ten thousand suns.

Her reason (which is a really good one, and I had forgotten) is that she wants to hook up her Vostro to a dock and a monitor instead of having a desktop.

My sister is mad because she had the idea of making a card for her in Paint and then setting it as the desktop background... in other words, she went to all that effort and it was for nothing.

She's 10 tough, that's probably how I would have felt then.

 

[ErikCLDR]

It's the thought that counts. I am sure she really appreciates the gift but I think she'd rather see you using your own money for your own enjoyment.

My mom is the same way. She asks very little. A card for her birthday is good enough.

 

[iJohnHenry]

"But, but, I want you to think of me every time you use it .... " followed by

.

 

[iMpathetic]

I guess I just wanted to do this because I finally have the opportunity to actually give her something useful. Now that I do so much business on CL, I have some money to spare.

It's just that she's a single mom and can't really look into things like this herself... she's too busy. I don't think we're poor at all, but I thought i could help.

Live and learn, I guess.

iJohnHenry, what the hell?

 

[arkitect]

iJohnHenry, what the hell?

Don't mind him… his sense humour is, shall we say, a bit maladroit, sometimes.

 

[iJohnHenry]

I happen to enjoy my own humour.

Can't a 14-year-old fake tears to achieve the desired result??

 

[Gray-Wolf]

You made the attempt, which is enough. She will always see it as that, that you care. She may be right in what she needs, and realizes a desktop, while a nice though, is impractical. Be grateful she told you, rather than except something and then not use it. That would hurt your feelings more.