Her Friend Group Did A Gift Exchange, But One Friend Got Kicked Out For An Absurd Reason that Betrayed Everyone’s Trust

White elephant exchanges are a fun way to limit how many gifts you buy for a holiday.

But some things can suck the fun right out of it.

Watch the person in this story cancel a “friend” who exploited her.

AITA for calling someone out of their white-elephant gift, that was significantly under the spending criteria?

A social group that I’m a part of held a white-elephant gift exchange last night.

Participation was by absolutely no means mandatory or even expected.

The event was divided up between two pricing tiers; under $25 – $50 and $75 – $100.

The majority of members went with the less expensive tier for obvious reasons, and there’s absolutely no stigma within our circle for doing so.

You’d think that would simplify the exchange, but no…

I was picked to go 3rd and I selected a gift that was wrapped quite beautifully, thinking that was a good sign.

But I was disappointed to discover the gift was a hot chocolate set that certainly wouldn’t have met the criteria of the lower range, let alone the one we were participating in.

I could tell the others in the group felt roughly the same just by the looks on their face, and my focus was directed to one woman (Jen) who was looking away, clearly embarrassed.

As you might imagine, no one took my gift.

I know it’s petty not to be happy with what you’re given, but let’s be honest here in saying that Jen was throwing in the sort of thing you’d find on clearance at Walmart knowing full well she’d walk away with something pricey in turn.

In this case, Jen wound up with brand new Keurig.

I discreetly pulled our social group’s leader aside and mentioned my concern to her.

She expressed she wasn’t happy with this herself and that she’d even tried to tell Jen not to participate with the more expensive tier because it was well known that Jen wasn’t doing great financially.

But Jen had sworn up and down that it wouldn’t be an issue.

We didn’t want to disrupt events, so I was asked to put on a kind face and to avoid talking about the gift for the remainder of the evening, which I accepted as people were trying to have fun.

And Jen is not backing down.

This morning I received a long winded text chain from Jen, expressing how frustrated she was that I’d demeaned her by complaining about her gift.

She went on and on about how nice it must be that I can simply throw my money away while others, like her, are struggling, and that her income shouldn’t mean she can’t have nice things.

Instead of fighting, I forwarded the texts to our group leader, and I’ve since received word that Jen would no longer be a member of our social group.

I genuinely feel bad because I know how happy being a member of this group made Jen.

She has had a lot of setbacks in her life.

I do not hate her or hold any negative feelings for her at all.

I simply felt she was knowingly taking advantage of the rest of us to basically trade up beyond her means.

AITA?

Here is what folks are saying.

Brilliant way to describe it.