Dermer says a good gift shows you appreciate people's work and pay attention to their interests: "You work with these people everyday, you depend on them, they depend on you"-and a gift should reflect that. Ask yourself: "Where are they in their life?" For example, is someone getting married? How about matching mugs or luggage tags? Or, does your coworker want to learn how to cook? You could get them a cookbook.
It started small - he'd microwave weird things like boiled eggs (which exploded) or sardines (which smelled like the apocalypse), but then it escalated.