There are a lot of ways employers can reward their workers for outstanding performance, such as providing financial incentives, extra time off, or special perks like a parking spot near the office. These gestures not only show appreciation but can also boost morale and create a more engaged and productive team.

However, sometimes management wants all the benefits without actually investing in achieving them. So, a Reddit user, Vomirrhea, asked everyone else on the platform to share the worst bonuses they have ever received. Turns out, Scrooges can get really creative when they wish to save a penny.

#1

I worked at a big auction house for people with lots of money, doing manual labor. For Christmas we got a coupon for a cup of coffee.. from the coffee shop in the building. We had free coffee. I still have the coupon, it’s a nice reminder of what I walked away from.

Image credits: ohhhhf**kkkk

#2

Ice cream sandwiches.

We didn’t get raises because “it was a tough year” and “your department didn’t increase revenue” (we were R&D).

Our competitors brought an ice cream truck and parked it next door and were giving out free ice cream and applications and you could talk to their HR. They were specifically targeting our R&D team. Most of my coworkers went because it was a fancy ice cream truck they had seen but never bought from because it was expensive.

My director freaked out and told his EA to go get ice cream and told people not to go.

She came back with Value brand ice cream sandwiches. And only like 6 boxes. (There were 120 engineers in our department) I only remember the managers going over and getting them.

About two thirds of my team left within the next six months.

Edit: as my most up voted comment I’m gonna add – don’t stay in that job. I did it for exactly as long as it took to vest and dipped. Best decision I ever made. They don’t need you, go forth and be happy (or at least get paid what you deserve!).

Image credits: BaaBaaTurtle

#3

The biggest piece of cake…

Worked at a company for 9yrs and through some of its toughest times. I often worked unpaid overtime and went above and beyond. These were some of the highlights the boss pointed out while giving a recognition speech about me. He ended it with “most families save the biggest piece of chicken for the bread-winner, so keeping with that tradition, I’m offering you the biggest and first slice of cake”.

After being recognized in such a manner, I waited for about a month for an actual monetary bonus. Upon receiving nothing, I put in my notice citing the speech and lack of actual reward for my efforts.

**Edit:** A lot of you are inquiring. Yes I had a one-on-one shortly after “cake time” with the boss asking about a monetary bonus and was reminded that the cake was my bonus. I followed up 2 weeks later to the same response before being told to drop it. When I gave my resignation he said it was shocked and in disbelief. Shortly after, I was offered 3 additional hours on my next paycheck to stay.

Image credits: theonlybuster

#4

We had 11 workers quit on the spot because they wanted to have a meeting with the COO about their wages and schedules but he shut them down. Office was scrambling to replace them, it was chaos. Later that week they ordered pizza for everyone “to show their appreciation for their workers”. Pizza doesn’t pay my bills.

Image credits: Fill-Chapo

#5

I worked in sales for a major wood products manufacturer. I sold record breaking volume to the tune of 51million for my territory. 2nd place sold 12million. I received $100 bonus. The guy in second place received a Rolex. The CEO made a joke about it at the sales conference. “Sometimes it’s best to come in 2nd place”.

I walked out. Typed my 2 week notice. And started my own company as a direct competitor of my former employer. I’m still in business. They are not.

Image credits: rollcasttotheriffle

#6

A Christmas card with signatures of the management team. It was Walmart … why the hell do they think the associates would want a picture of the management team? We didn’t even want to see the managers when we were working.

Image credits: just-another-gringo

#7

A chocolate box with 5 small chocolates. To thank us for the release of a product that doubled the company’s revenue.

Image credits: ConsciousnessWizard

#8

I worked for a small sales based company. They were pushing hard for the first ‘Million Dollar Month’ and kept saying they would make it worth our while! We assumed a big bonus, a trip, a fancy steakhouse… something!

When we finally hit it… we each got a bobble head of one of the executives.

We decided to trade them- the CEO was worth less than the CFO and HR was worth the least. It became a big running joke until HR sends an email out saying we have to stop.

Image credits: bondsman333

#9

My old retail job gave us all turkey vouchers for Thanksgiving. When we went to redeem them turned out they were actually $5 off if you bought a turkey worth $25 or more.

Image credits: CurvyTigergirl

#10

I released a product that I thought of, worked with multiple engineers to develop, sourced internationally, sold $87M in the first quarter at 68% profit margins and I was quite literally asked “what’s next?”

Not a single thank you, no bonus, nothing. I single handedly saved the company from a margin crisis that would’ve tanked our stock costing shareholders and the executives countless millions of dollars. All I got was a “what’s next?”

Waited 4 months for my 5 year contract with them to expire and told them all in the nicest way possible to go f**k themselves. They scrambled to try and keep my and I explained that I wasn’t appreciated in a way I thought was worthy of the money I had made for the organization and that I was going to find a company that would compensate me according to my value. I did. In the process I went after them every chance I got and made a metric f**k ton of money in the process.

Greed will f**k you over. Corporations still haven’t figured it out.

Image credits: BGOG83

#11

Target, my annual review got me a.. 8 cent raise! Oh and if they increase the minimum wage you don’t keep the ‘bonus’ haha.

Image credits: workscs

#12

Not me, but years ago, I worked in a call center and can win awards from doing most calls in an hour. This one girl wore long skirts only. She won a ticket to wear jeans but with her culture she doesn’t do that. She wore a jeans long skirt and tried turning it and was told it doesn’t work on skirts.

Whe tried explaining to them that she couldn’t wear jeans and that the award given to her was meaningless since she couldn’t use it. They basically told her that was a her problem. So she rebelled by having longer phone conversations.

Image credits: New_Bunch_6806

#13

A poker chip with “APPRECIATION” written on it

Literally a token of appreciation. 🙄.

Image credits: yepthisismyaccount

#14

Not me, but a co-worker. Every Christmas, a corp I used to work for had a Christmas raffle. There were 2-3 decent prizes, the rest was 5-10 dollar garbage. Everyone got a ticket, and we gathered in the big conference room and it started.

I was sitting with my co-worker, and finally his ticket number was called (by the HR head, who tried with obvious fake sincerity to pump up each item like it was gold)

He walks up…and gets a f****n keychain fob that if you whistled, it would beep so you could find your car keys.

He takes it, walks back to my table and says, “I’m a grown man, I’ve never lost my car keys in my life”, tosses the thing on the table, and walks out the door.

He came in the next week, cleared out his area, and walked the f**k out and was never seen again.

It was the final straw for him, lol.

Image credits: Adventurous_Zebra939

#15

A certificate congratulating me on my 20 yr work anniversary.

Literally a piece of paper.

My wife has a better story though. The hospital she works at gave them a 50$ gift card for a chain jewelry store. They then taxed her on it as income and deducted it from her paycheck. She doesn’t buy or wear jewelry.

The gift cost HER money.

And the hospital reported record profits that year due to all the layoffs.

Image credits: hemibearcuda

#16

Plain white coffee mug that says Amazon, except the n fell off so it says amazo.

Image credits: podolot

#17

Management had f****d up and their “solution” was to mandate 90+ hour weeks from everyone for several months. We were told that management will “make it right”. They announce that the president and CEO is coming to personally thank us and give us a “generous” bonus.

The day comes and sure enough, the guy rolls up in his $300k Mercedes, flaps his gobhole for a bit then has his assistant hand out envelopes with our bonus. The generous bonus? A $25 gift card to wal mart.

Image credits: DLS3141

#18

I worked throughout the pandemic, coming into contact with people from all over the globe. I’m not allowed to say specifically what my job was but it was in the public sector

After the pandemic ended, we were each given a sachet of porridge as a bonus, lucky us.

Image credits: Cobzi14

#19

A poinsettia AFTER Christmas was over. They used them to decorate the restaurant and then the ‘bonus’ was they handed them out to employees instead of properly caring or disposing of them.

Image credits: mackinoncougars

#20

Buddy of mine told me if he hits a certain number on his sales, he gets a “jeans pass”. Hes allowed to wear jeans for one day, lmao.

Image credits: FemboyCarpenter

#21

A $50 Amazon gift certificate. How could I feel bad about what was basically cash? I was part of a four person team that booked a $26 million software contract for my company, I wrote half of the proposal as software tech lead, and I cleaned up all of the text in the rest of the proposal. The other three were one level above me in the hierarchy, and one of them bought a Lexus with his bonus.

Image credits: mofa90277

#22

5 scratch-off lottery tickets. No winners.

Image credits: Material_Cucumber630

#23

We got a 9” plushie of our company mascot. They’re the same ones we give out at conferences to everyone.

Image credits: DareWright

#24

$100 Amazon gift card – it was taxable, so I paid like $45 for it, and it got lost in the mail! They claimed they couldn’t replace it.

Image credits: outtahere021

#25

The boss invited us to his home for a catered Olive Garden lunch.

Image credits: AlternativeMessage18

#26

I had to evacuate my house because of a wildfire and lived in a hotel for a month while the smoke damage was dealt with.
My boss wanted to send me a gift “because of what you’re going through.” A candle. The gift was a candle.

Image credits: picklesforbrkfst

#27

Worked for electrical tape manufacturer. Imperfect/garbage rolls were there by the ton. For Christmas we were allowed to take home some red and green tape (defects) while clocking out.

Image credits: Qempo6848

#28

It was when I just out college, on night shift night before thanksgiving. A pack of gum handed by the GM with a verbal thank you. It’s a fortune 50 company btw.

Image credits: Bubbly_Minute5374

#29

Not me but my mom, who was an elementary school teacher: one year they got…keychains.

KEY CHAINS.

The teachers put them in a big envelope and sent them back.

Image credits: saucisse

#30

I wasn’t directly involved (I’m in IT) but we had hired about 100 data entry clerks for a big project that came in. When we completed the project, management brought in a bunch of sheet cakes to celebrate the completion of the project. While people still had blue icing cake in their mouths the manager said “Thank you all for the hard work and finishing ahead of schedule, but now that the contract is finished you are all being let go.” It was like that record player scratch sound went off and everyone froze to look at her. To this day it gives me the w*****s to think about. I don’t know the point of having a cake if you are firing everyone.

Image credits: AnotherUnknownNobody

#31

Not me, but a guy I worked with was central to a major technology implementation. At the end they gave him a $5 gift certificate for Baskin Robins. His exact quote to me was “it would have been better if they gave me nothing because now they told me my worth.” He was still rightfully salty about it years later.

#32

They mailed us a package to show us how much they appreciated us. It included a pen that never worked, a speaker that requires an aux cable and a branded hat from a sponsor…the next day, they announced everyone is being let go.

#33

Telling me my job is at risk of redundancy, bizarrely when apparently last year was the most profitable year ever. F*****s. Hope their next s**t’s a pineapple.

#34

I was the top sales person for a public company- I got a trophy.

#35

I work for a healthcare giant. Record breaking profits.

My raise was .18 cents this year.

They already don’t pay us enough. That’s just insulting. I’d rather have an extra PTO day.

Yes, I should leave, but I work from home and the job let’s me flex my work hours. When you have a child that’s so important to have. Sticking it out a few more years.

#36

They took me out of the role I applied for and was enjoying, put me in another role that required around the clock service to clients and said, there’s no pay bump but this will help you take on more work.

I took vacation for a week, came back, and put in my two weeks during training.

#37

A walnut cake…..

I have a severe allergy to nuts which the whole (small) company knew about.

#38

A BBQ lunch.

There was food every Friday that was delivered towards the end of the day so that it covered both first and second shift (I was on 2nd). We had been absolutely slammed with a huge project and it fell disproportionately to nights for various reasons.

To thank everyone for all of their hard work the management hired a BBQ company to come in and cater lunch which happened when we were not there.

Due to the lunch they canceled that week’s Friday food. So to thank us for all of our hard work they took away our food.

#39

We had a raffle. I won a 2$ steam game code. The code didn’t even work.

#40

>What’s the worst “Bonus” a job has ever given you?

I worked at a smallish company that implemented a program where each employee got $1 a month to send to other employees for a job well done. You could send someone the whole dollar or send 10 people 10 cents each, however you wanted to split it up, etc.

This was laughable in itself but then we found out that when you cashed out your “rewards” it was also taxed so you were really only handing out 70 cents.

I had never seen such a cheap, embarrassingly stupid thing at work before.

(One of the other “perks” at this company was a free dave ramsey finance course).

#41

Work for a super small construction company. 15 people total small.

Won a $1.5m contract singlehandedly. Largest single contract in the company’s 35 year history.

Didn’t get s**t. Bosses both went on 3 vacations that year to various luxury locations around the globe.

Didn’t get s**t.

#42

Way back in the 90’s, the company that I was working for hit $1 million in revenue. They gave us all a gift to celebrate. I got a post-it note dispenser that said “Million Dollar Club”. I think I was making $7.65 an hour.

#43

Tickets to the local university football game. 

We worked at a college bookstore. Nearly all of us except management and the full time lead cashier were students of the university. We could already get in free with our student IDs. The student section was a lot better than these nosebleed end zone seats he was handling out.

Exceeded sales goals by almost 10%, and his “special” reward to us was something we all already got for free.

#44

I worked for an evil empire healthcare that grossly underpays and overworks their employees. But it’s one of the few major hospitals in my area. So a lot of people have to work for them even though they don’t like it. One time they pulled me back to say that they realized they were underpaying me compared to my coworkers with the same years of experience, but they didn’t want me to tell anyone because not all of my coworkers were gonna get this “bonus”. It was a nickel. my bonus was five cents. I told everyone because it was such a joke. It would’ve been so much better if it just showed up on my pay and they didn’t tell me I was going to get this big bonus 🤦‍♀️.

#45

Ok so here’s the problem with mine the bonus wasn’t actually given to me. My work would do drawings for a car as a bonus for good service. Every year we managed to get this bonus opportunity. Well they would always do the drawing extremely early in the morning so they had the rule that regardless of if the person was there they would still get the car, all except one year. My one year my name was drawn for the car and management because they didn’t like me and I wasn’t there decided I wasn’t getting it and they were going to redraw. Now if they had changed the rule ok, but here’s the thing the next year they did the drawing and guess what the person wasn’t there and still got the car. To say I was mad was an understatement. The only reason I knew about it was because a couple of my coworkers said something to me.

#46

My work has these points which we can award each other for going above and beyond and be redeemed for gifts. I spent 2 years racking up 1000points and was the first in my company to reach 1000points. I redeemed all 1000 points thinking I’d get a really great prize and it was a small crocheted cupcake, about 5cm in size.

2 years of hard work and recognition for a <$10 crocheted cupcake. I immediately threw it in the trash as it made me irrationally angry to look at.

#47

Employee Appreciation Day where we all got one cookie and a styrofoam cup of punch. Government job.

#48

A membership to Jelly of the Month Club. It got my family arrested. Don’t ask.

#49

Fired everyone in the department but me. Told me I was getting 10% bonus immediately and then another bonus on top of that. Got an email, .25 cent raise applied. I was cleaning out my office 30 minutes later and handed in the biggest professional “f**k you” resignation letter I’ve ever written. Was told I would never be paid what I expected, blah blah blah. I now work literally 10 hours a week and make double what I did there. They still call asking how to handle things and I laugh every time. I always tell them maybe ask legal or look at the policy. I’m not working there anymore, quit calling lmao.

#50

At my old job before this one, I was promoted. They couldn’t give me a raise because “the economy, you know how it is”, but they sure as hell could saddle me with twice as much work. I was there 3 1/2 years and never received a raise despite exemplary work. So when my coworkers were getting poached by a company we worked with, I threw my hat in the ring and was hired off my initial phone interview. When I handed them my notice, I made sure to say that my decision was based off “the economy, you know how it is”.

Anyway, this coming September I’ll have been with this job 15 years. Get annual raises, quarterly bonuses, a yearly bonus, and company stock. Know your worth and go somewhere where they value your worth.

#51

My 5 year service award was a cheap plastic travel mug with the org logo on it.

It’s the same one we give out for free at events. They put it in a paper bag and filled it up with fancy coloured paper. The bag was worth more than the mug.

There was a clear plastic garbage bin outside the venue where we had the event. I tossed it in that as I left. Everyone leaving the venue would have seen it, including the management. .

#52

Last year I worked in an aged care where we did 3 covid lockdowns and everyone was just exhausted by Christmas and so we where all looking forward to our Christmas party that was planned and then they decided to cancel it “due to COVID”, and then never re organised a Christmas dinner or even gave us anything special for Christmas after. We got absolutely nothing. I then worked Christmas night where usually a workplace would leave food and drinks in the staff room as a thank you for working Christmas but once again we got nothing. I quit soon after because it became clear they didn’t care about their staff at all and only cared about money.

#53

Large, multinational corporation Christmas gift. A rep came around and gave everyone in the company [a thin black wine bag](https://ift.tt/7Drt0lJ), and we all said *”ooh, do we get to choose the wine?”*

Nope. The gift was the bag itself.

#54

Telling us we were all lucky to still have jobs amidst layoffs around the Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday season.

#55

We had a “lottery” of sorts, that in order to be entered, you had to be one of a few things.

1. Have the highest numbers either on the floor, or the forklifts (warehouse work, duh)
I was middle of the pack at best.

2. Highest growth
Again, middle of the pack.

3. Not call out sick at all that month (3 to 5 people were picked at random for this one.)
I hated it there; i took at least one sick day per month, so that was not an option.

I was never going to be in the running for any of these, so I didn’t give a s**t. On top of that, even if i did win one, the reward was a $50 gift card to a series of stores, none of which i shopped at.

I did the maths; i could have worked for an extra 6 minutes a day and come away with the same reward. And I wouldn’t have to work my a*s off to do so.

#56

Got told ti take my xmas bonus out of the register, then they took it out of my check that week.

#57

I received a voucher for £20 off a £100 shop at Waitroses. I was working at a popular coffee chain for minimum wage.

#58

A $50 gift certificate to Hermes, the upscale fashion chain. The cheapest thing in their catalog was a $75 *keychain*. So it was literally a gift of the privilege of paying $25 for a *keychain* I didn’t want.

#59

A TV in the break room. After every single one of us within the company had listed raises as the biggest thing that we wanted from management, they decided to try & placate us with a TV.

#60

$5.00 Dairy Queen gift card for working 5 years at davita dialysis. signed by the ceo LOL.

#61

$100 pre tax and it was given to me unironically as if it were a genuine thank you for my efforts. I used it to fill my car with gas and get a sandwich 🥲.

#62

A profit sharing check for $1.73.

#63

I worked for one of the highest performing departments in one of the biggest companies in the world. My Christmas “bonus” one year was a packet of Swiss Miss and a candy cane.

#64

The pie chart breakdown of what the company is actually giving me, not just salary. Was told that reflected better benefits than other counties in my area, so that was the bonus.

#65

A Dunkin’ gift card. That hadn’t been set up, $0. Our boss had talked up bonuses, it was highly reminiscent of Michael Scott’s big surprise. Clearly she’d run by the grocery store on the way in and, I think, just shoplifted the cards. None of them had anything. For months after that, we’d be headed out for a smoke and coffee break (which had become long and often since the giftcard kerfuffle) and ask her is she wanted anything from dunkin. She’d just look mad and say “uh no thanks”.

#66

A picture of an ornament with a hole punched out of it so you can hang it from your tree. It had the company logo on it.

#67

When hired, I was told a Christmas bonus of 2%-7% of my salary was common, which meant $1600 to $5600. Two years in a row, I and everyone else got $100. The first year it was a $100 bill, and the second year it was a check for $93 because they weren’t even classy enough to gross it up so the check amount was $100.

#68

Manager came in all excited and passed out ice cream bars as our yearly bonus. A year later we were all pulled into a board room and given substantial raises by a VP who had our manager sitting there apologizing that he basically had been screwing over staff to pad his own pockets to receive these massive bonuses himself.

#69

A 10% off voucher to their own products, i argued with the boss about it for hours and when i told my team I apologised profusely.

#70

A ring. After so many years of accident free, they give you a ring and every year after they “install” a diamond chip. I don’t even wear work branded clothes, much less jewelry branded with my work logo!! I wish these companies would just start adding the cost of all the c**p they think employees would want to the frickin paychecks! In my ten years here I have yet to see anyone wear that d**n ring!!

#71

My first job in IT I was the solo guy for a whole bunch of different offices. I ran around like an idiot all the time trying to get everything done. When raise and bonus time came around I got a letter thanking me for all my work and congratulating me on my 0% raise and 0% bonus.

I went and talked to the HR lady who sent it out, I know she just did a mail merge, but that’s one quick way of pissing off a bunch of people.

#72

During early covid shut downs (think April 2020) I was given a $40 Texas Roadhouse gift card. I asked for the cash equivalent because the closest one was 45 mins away and I didn’t ever go out to eat. I was called ungrateful by HR.

#73

“The greatest gift you can have is knowing that you’re making a difference.” At an all staff with no food other than stale pretzels and expired chips and overripe mini oranges.

#74

A bronze medallion with the company logo, with a letter explaining that the company was in a “rebuilding year”. CEO didn’t get a bonus, but still got ‘stock options’ worth millions of course.

#75

A hat with the company name in neon green. Wore it to work the next day and was told it was too distracting and unprofessional to wear at work.

#76

A buddy of mine saved a company millions of dollars. Millions. For his work, he got a certificate and a pat on the back.

#77

An old employer used to give out turkeys for thanksgiving. Then realized it was a lot of work to have someone go out and get turkeys.

So they gave us cash instead. Estimated the value of a turkey to be $10. So for Thanksgiving we would get a $10 bonus. That would be taxed at a crazy rate. So we got enough for a snickers and a bottle of water at the company cafeteria,.

#78

Chocolate bars with the company logo on it and then one of the owners was expressing how cool it was and “it wasn’t cheap” to have that mold made. Mind you they are a multi million dollar company with a surplus of cash.

#79

I worked for a company that pissed off a minor celebrity. This celebrity then convinced his followers to call and b***h us out. I recieved over 1000 phone calls the first 2 days of people calling me a c**t, telling me I should die, wishing harm to my family, etc.

…. My company as a way to say thank you, gave all us representatives an extra 15 minute break to use whenever we wished.

#80

I got a new job and after 3 months they gave me a Caribbean cruise for two. It was worth about $4K, 20 years ago.

Seven years later I was their best salesman. I had a large territory and worked 60 hours a week sometimes. They gave me a bonus of $1,600.00 that year. I was gone with a month.

#81

Our company had renewed a contract and gave bonues to the folks who had stayed on board.

I received a honey baked ham certificate when my team lead received a $8,000 bonus.

Rumors ran around about who got what fast and seems that all but 4 got ham stamps. The 4 who received acutual money where not shy about waying it around.

#82

A ballpoint pen with the company logo printed on it, was our Christmas bonus.

Fortunately for everyone involved in that interaction my pen had just ran out and I needed a new one.

#83

I work for a transportation company and we got window washer fluid for a gift.

#84

One time, my employer made a big deal about giving me a 10 cent raise. Not percent, cent.

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