My first husband bought me a single (hopefully most of you are old enough to know what that is) - Heathcliff by Kate Bush. I asked him why he bought it and he said he remembered me mentioning it. He was right, I did mention it. How much I hated it! (You should Google it if you have never heard it)
My 26 year old D swears by her Franklin Planner at work! Old school. 
Is this it?
Madison, I couldn’t watch the video for 30 seconds.
When I had my first child, my mother’s boss’s wife sent a gift. She was into weaving and sent this … object… that was too small and plain to be a wall hanging, but too small and WAY WAY too scratchy to be a blanket. No one had a clue as to what it was supposed to be. I had to work so hard on the thank you note: “Thank you so much for the beautiful hand woven piece.” We kept it. When we pass away, our kids will wonder what the heck it is.
@Madison85 yes, that’s it. Like nails on a chalkboard!
I did give my husband an eggslicer once when we were first married, but to be fair I really needed an eggslicer
^^Did he already own a Banana Slicer?
I had Franklin training at work and used the planner for years. It’s just a way of organizing task lists (and noting progress.) It’s fine. At the time, I was multi-tasking like crazy. Kept me straight. Most especially, when others came around with some new task to add, we could have some leverage.
Similarly, my kids’ hs insisted on them having and learning to efficiently use a planner.
MIL visited after a trip to China. She put a number of objects on the bed and told me to pick one. #1–“oh, that is for other DIL”, #2–oh that is for other son, not your H, #3–“oh that is for my D”. I took some silly thing or other just to be done.
She knew I was not happy but I doubt that she knew why.
post #69: How else was she going to know what the good stuff was if she couldn’t trick you into ranking it for her? 
^^That is just, ugh!
My MIL gave me a joke gift once called Boogerboy Boris. It was an egg separator. Crack the egg into the ceramic narrow mug-shaped Boris, and pour the whites out of the openings that were shaped to be his nostrils! Like a big, nasty, you-know-what!
I tried to unload it on Freecycle but no one wanted it although several people contacted me to offer sympathy. I had also tried to unload a bust of Lincoln and something we called “bad bling” which was cheap sparkly jewelry in the shape of an AK-47. The same BIL had given both - oh, it was a baaaaaad Christmas that year!
When we got engaged, one of H’s family members gave H a book, “Divorce in Hawaii,” The gift did not bring either of us joy and was promptly “lost.”
I had a regular planner that I could stuff in the diaper bag. I couldn’t even hold the planner Andy Taylor gave me!
This is a long story I will make shorter. It is much better after a beer or two. Remember this.
My father remarried several years after my mother’s death. I had left my mother’s wedding band on a ribbon on his bed, for the memories and for something to touch. One day I would take it to my house as all of her jewelry was left to me.
A couple of months after their new marriage, I received my 39th birthday gift. His wife had taken the ring to a jeweler or crafts person, had the ring melted down, and re-shaped it into a (much smaller) heart.
So, she took something that was mine, melted it down, gave it back to me, and called it a gift.
I still had to buy a chain.
I don’t wear it and neither of my daughters wants it!
One more story. Someone I know was giving a gift for a second marriage. They gave a case of wine even though the groom was a recovering alcoholic. “After all, they would still give parties and have guests.”
OMG, I can’t believe she took the liberty to melt down your mother’s ring!!! That’s awful!
Amazing the thoughtlessness - or as has been noted, the passive aggressiveness - that is out there. I like the reminder that this is a 1st world problem. Thanks to the poster (I’m too lazy to check back for the name, sorry!) who wrote that.
My passive aggressive yearly situation - My mother decided when I was first married that I didn’t bake enough or serve enough desserts. (It is, after all, up to the woman alone to plan and prepare meals…)
Every Christmas since she has sent my husband a Betty Crocker mix or two so that he can “make his own” brownies, cake, etc. It did not stop the practice to point out that 1) I do bake on occasion, but never use mixes, 2) it really was offensive to insert her opinions into our Christmas celebration, or 3) DH truly has no interest in baking - even if he is the beneficiary. Thirty- three years and counting! Thanks be for food pantries.
I’d rather have a clueless bad gift than a mean one!
Cake mix - oh, I’d be so tempted to bake something really nasty. My kids had a piano teacher that pranked all his students at a recital once. It was in some rented space and there appeared to be tray of (used) kitty litter on the floor in the corner. He complained about being really, really, hungry and looked around for some food. “Oh, I can’t wait any longer”, he said and grabbed a handful of the kitty litter and shoved it in his mouth! Imagine the shrieking! It was some sort of crumbled green and pale yellow cake with a few lumps of slightly melted tootsie rolls spread around. That would be a good dish for your MIL.
As for the melted down ring - that is just awful. How horribly, horribly, mean and then to make it into a heart shape - a symbol of love - when it is really just a hateful slap in your face.