Retirement gifts for friends and colleagues: “If you are unsure, …”. “Everything negative is consistently left out,” says etiquette expert Linda Kaiser.
Not everyone may know the departing colleague as well as the person taking care of the gift. If it is an unpopular colleague and the gift would be very small, it is better to forego it and hand over a bouquet of flowers as a farewell and say a few nice words about it. If you know your colleague well, it's easy. Hobbies and interests are a good anchor for finding the right gift.