gifts with conditions

Why is it that if someone gives me a present, there are strings attached? Not the “I bought you dinner so you owe me” kind of thing - other things that don’t make sense.

My coworker bought me a hair clip because she knows “how I like to put things in my hair.” That was nice of her.
The next day:
Oh, you didn’t wear your clip?
No, the pink & purple sparkly heart didn’t match the tan & red plaid pants I’m wearing.
I just thought you would wear it, is all.
(Sorry, guilt trips don’t work on me. Just ask my mom.)

Because I didn’t wear it the very first day means that I’ll never ever wear it? And this coming from the same coworker for whom I made a lovely pair of earrings as a bday present, and she has never once worn them. She assures me for no reason that she wears them all the time, just not to work (where I would see them).* Yet I’m expected to wear this weird clip as soon as I get it, and to work, where everyone can see?

I did wear it today because it happened to match my outfit. However, it is really big and too heavy for my fine fine hair. Coworker hasn’t noticed it, and I’m not going to make a point of showing it, because then she’ll expect it of me. I probably won’t wear it too often because of the trick it does of not staying in my hair.

But if anyone asks, I wear it all the time. Just not at work where anyone could see it to prove it.




* She also once bought me a Chinatown knockoff of a Hello Kitty piggy bank because it “looked like me.” Then she put a dollar in the bank to start my “wedding fund.” (?)I used the dollar to buy Doritos.