An employee has been left extremely disappointed after it was revealed that her Christmas bonus this year was not going to be cash but a "hospital potato".
A woman named Amanda shared a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), revealing that the holiday bonus she received from her job came in the form of a vegetable - and as if that wasn't depressing enough, she would also have to pay tax for it too.
"My work is doing a potato bar as our Christmas bonus. I’m literally getting a hospital potato as a bonus," she penned in her post. "They also said it has a $15 value so it will be taxed on our next check. Does anyone need an assistant so I can just quit right now?"
Check out Amanda's tweets below:Following on from her first tweet - which garnered more than 2.7 million views - Amanda declared that the bleak gift provoked her "Charlie Brown villain origin story," and added: "People telling me to start a fight or a riot, girl I need my job," next to a laughing emoji.
The bamboozled employee then admitted that the potato bar was an improvement from last year's gift, which was a 30-minute video conference call with the company’s leadership.
"It was a Webex because the year before they had to be in the same room with us and they're too good and not doing that again," she penned.
She then seemed to lean into the present, asking her followers whether she should take advantage of the potato bar. "Idk, you guys, do I show up with Tupperware and just get my $$$$ worth in sour cream?" she wrote.
Upon seeing her tweets, many users rushed to the comment section to share their shocked reactions at the measly potato bonus.
One person reacted: "So potatoes are now currency. I filled my gas tank yesterday, it cost me 2 Idaho bakers & a red skin."
Another chimed in: "This is the kind of s**t that makes me believe that we live in a simulation. what the f*** do you mean you’re taxing her POTATO."
A third user quipped: "Nurses are all miserable right now but at least my husband’s hospital didn’t give him a baked potato for his bonus and charge him taxes on it like a frigging Dickens villain."
A fourth simply said: "This is dystopian hell."
Other users provided recommendations for Amanda, such as quitting and finding a better workplace or making a complaint with the company’s human resources office.
"Nope. If it's me, I'm writing a letter to them and opting out officially. Tell them I do not wish to receive the recognition nor have it affect taxes unless it is the form of pay (cash equivalent)," someone shared.
"Send a letter to HR respectively declining the invite and eat your turkey sandwich in tax-free peace," a second user said, while another added: "Just find a place where they truly appreciate your hustle..."
Nevertheless, Amanda seemed to enjoy her strange gift as she posted a picture of her loaded baked potato with her followers.
"The moment you’ve all been waiting for, my $15 taxed potato," she wrote alongside the photo.
She did, however, reveal that the staff was allowed one potato only and that the caterers were dishing up the toppings for them so they didn't go "overboard". Merry Christmas indeed...
