This is a picture of a rare useful expensive-looking corporate gift. See below.

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Irritants:

1. Invitations to LinkedIn and email reminders that they’re about to expire

2. The phrase “I could care less” intended to mean “I couldn’t care less.”

3. Useless Expensive-Looking Corporate Gifts

I don’t meant to be ungrateful (really) but when corporations or event/conference organizers give gifts to speakers or participants, it would be nice if they didn’t just show they spent money, but gave you something useful. Over the years I’ve received multiple sterling silver luggage tags that cost more than my luggage, sterling business card holders, sterling money clips that cost more than my money, and so on. Most of them are Tiffany’s. They look expensive but they’re designed for people to the manor born, who have butlers and polishers downstairs ready to remove the black oxide that forms on silver within a few days. Who on earth uses money clips or business card holders anymore? And you can’t give them away because they’re so obviously corporate.

That said, the one fabulous gift I did get via Tiffany’s was a sterling silver keyring (see picture, which is actually a fake I found on the internet — the real Tiffany’s one is a little thicker). When I lost it actually spent my own money to buy another one. Now, searching for a picture, I found out you can buy fakes that are 1/5 the price.

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Meanwhile, I feel obliged to brag that the bottom of the market I called on Fri Oct 10th still holds. Hope I’m right.