First, Carolyn is right about the LW being judgmental and inflexible.
Second, there are useless gifts, but most of the time it's useless to the recipient. Things like food someone is allergic to, clothing that the giver knows is the wrong size and in a color they hate, or a cheap mug with a picture of a cat to someone who already has dozens and doesn't use or display any of them.
I'm thinking of Naomi Kritzer's annual list of "gifts for people you don't like but have to buy something for," where the message is "I'm supposed to buy you something, and this is something." Naomi also notes that a lot of gift quality is subjective, and she has included things that I would like, listed because they were in very emphatic color that most people wouldn't want." And part of the plausible deniability is whether the giver can say "I saw this and remembered you like blue" or "you love dogs, here's a dog-themed thing" with a straight face.
None of that seems to be going on here. LW isn't complaining that their girlfriend is giving them lots of stuff they don't want, and if she were, that would absolutely be in the letter.
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Second, there are useless gifts, but most of the time it's useless to the recipient. Things like food someone is allergic to, clothing that the giver knows is the wrong size and in a color they hate, or a cheap mug with a picture of a cat to someone who already has dozens and doesn't use or display any of them.
I'm thinking of Naomi Kritzer's annual list of "gifts for people you don't like but have to buy something for," where the message is "I'm supposed to buy you something, and this is something." Naomi also notes that a lot of gift quality is subjective, and she has included things that I would like, listed because they were in very emphatic color that most people wouldn't want." And part of the plausible deniability is whether the giver can say "I saw this and remembered you like blue" or "you love dogs, here's a dog-themed thing" with a straight face.
None of that seems to be going on here. LW isn't complaining that their girlfriend is giving them lots of stuff they don't want, and if she were, that would absolutely be in the letter.