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Rory: I like making people happy, but I'm not sure those two things are synonymous. Sometimes you can just do a nice thing for someone or pay a compliment, and that's enough. It doesn't have to be a physical thing, although I suppose a compliment or an action could also be a kind of gift.
Maria: Do you prefer to give or receive gifts?
Rory: Um, doesn't everyone prefer getting gifts? My philosophical approach to this kind of thing aside, it's nice to be given gifts, not just because it's nice to have things. Usually some things are useless, for example, but it shows the person is thinking of you and cares about you, which is really cool, I think.
Maria: How often do you buy gifts for other people?
Rory: Um, probably not as often as I should. Like, usually, every birthday for the people close to me, which is fairly regularly if we think about my family, for example. But I probably should buy gifts more often for them.
Maria: Do you enjoy looking for gifts for people.
Rory: If I know that they'll love it, then, yes. I remember one time I bought my friend a book I overheard him talking about. He lost his original copy, so I paid for a replacement. And then he did the same for me a year later. And that was quite cool. But normally I usually just ask people directly, what would you like?
Maria: What do you usually give other people as gifts?
Rory: It's usually something useful. So if we talk about my family, for example, my dad gets stuff for gardening. Actually, I just bought a pair of secateurs... And my brother gets protein powder or the like. And I think the only thing outside of that is - my mom gets her favorite perfume, which isn't useful, but it is nice and it does make her happy. So in that sense, it's quite useful.
Maria: Do you give expensive gifts?
Rory: Well, I always think the Coco Chanel perfume that my mom gets is quite expensive. Apart from that, I don't think so. I think I paid for plane tickets for someone once. That was quite expensive. But this is not something that I do very often.
Maria: Do you take a gift when you visit someone in their home.
Rory: Usually I'll bring a bottle of wine, although recently a box of Pringles is becoming my bog standard party gift to bring. I should probably shell out more actually for gifts to bring to parties.
Maria: What kind of gifts do you like to receive?
Rory: Oh, books, all the literature in the world would be a great start if anyone is thinking about getting me a present, just because I love reading. Other than that, clothes are always appreciated. I think... In my opinion, you can never have enough long sleeved shirts and skinny jeans.
Maria: What gifts did you get when you were a child?
Rory: Well, I used to get more books and fewer clothes for sure, although that equation seems to have reversed over time. And obviously when I was younger, I'd get, like, random toys. I had a lot of figurines of plastic dinosaurs and warships, for example.
Maria: When did you last receive a gift?
Rory: I honestly can't remember. I think it must have been my birthday and there was a plethora of things, although frankly, I think the best gift was having all of my friends around me. I've not seen my family in months, so it was nice to have that kind of emotional support there. So like I say, a gift doesn't have to be physical. It can be something... What's the word? Metaphysical.
Maria: What kinds of gifts are popular in your country?
Rory: Well, alcohol seems to be the done thing these days. Although, I suppose with the rise of things like Amazon, people have a lot of gifts that are tailor made for them now. But most of the gifts that I see people giving are alcohol based.
Maria: What's the best present you have ever received?
Rory: I think... Oh, someone special, once surprised me when I got off my plane! I wasn't expecting them to meet me. That was really nice. Sorry... Again, for me, like, physical things don't mean nearly as much as things like that. I think that's quite special.
Maria: Have you ever received a gift which you didn't like?
Rory: Um, well, OK, I'll preface this by saying I really hope this isn't taken the wrong way because I do appreciate it, but I got a really nice bottle of whiskey from my new workplace on my birthday a month ago. But the problem with it was that I don't actually drink whiskey. I prefer to drink bourbon. So that wasn't something that I particularly liked. But I should say that I really appreciated it because it was extremely nice and expensive and they bought it for me and they were thinking of me. So I did like it. And maybe one day I'll work up the courage to drink it.
Maria: Rory, why do people buy gifts?
Rory: It's like a... I suppose, a visual and physical representation of how much they value the person. It's like a nice way of saying I care about you have a thing to help you do things. That's a that's a major oversimplification, but that is what it means I think.
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