Is it just my ungratefulness or does everybody find it excruciatingly frustrating to receive expensive and useless things when there's a long list of basic necessities that they, well, need?
1 They don't know what you like.
2 They were in a hurry, and couldn't find what you like.
3 They think plaid cartegan sweaters are always in fashion.
4 They're under the mistaken impression that you're difficult to buy for.
5 They saw something similar in your place and assumed you liked whatever it is. (A classic case of compounding misfortune perpetuated by a sense of obligation to display other useless gifts you've been given).
6 They have trailer park taste.
1 Keep a running list of things you want or need. Think of the things you would buy yourself if you found a twenty, fifty or a hundred dollar bill on the ground. Every once in a while you luck out and get asked what you'd like. Be prepared, and be specific. There's no such thing as too specific — size, store and even stock numbers help reduce guesswork.
2 Become unabashedly obsessed with a particular store (i.e., Williams Sonoma, Ikea, etc.), then endear yourself to someone on the sales staff so you can discretely exchange gifts without a receipt.
After you graduate from this simple three-step program, you'll discover you can always get what you want. In fact, you just might find that you get a lot of it. Be sure, however, to let me know when you have too much Burgundy wine.