This just popped in my mind and I thought you’d enjoy.
Back in Uni (second half of the 90s) I had made “friends” with a slightly older student. She invited me to her birthday party. I accepted the invitation and asked her what she would like as a gift. Normal things for me would have been a paperback book, flowers, sweets, corner store skincare or makeup maybe something like let’s check out a new coffee house with drinks on me or an invitation to the movies. She wanted a dvd player that was around $300 (google says that would be around $770 in today’s money). And if it is too much money for me no problem! She gave out my phone number to other friends so they can call me and I can collect money from them. I was flabbergasted to say the least. My phone number out there and I am supposed to work out payment schedules and meet up with strangers to collect money? (No Venmo etc back then.) then it got even more awkward. One guy called. One. I told him this wasn’t going to work out.
I didn’t know what to do so decided to take an empty box, paint it to look like a dvd player, put a slit in and stuck a note on it “let’s get x the dvd player she wants“ so her friends could “donate” at the party. Still awkward. At the party she was miffed I hadn’t just bought the dvd player in advance. because even though no one even signaled they were on board they would have given me the money at the party for sure.
Her friends were a hoot, too. One girl approached me and complained she would have participated but I didnt give HER a call.

Oh, and I was also “encouraged” to also bring a cake because I liked baking and was also quite good at it. I made a Black Forest gateau and decided that was gift enough (ingredients, my time and energy plus the hassle of getting it there PLUS this weird dvd player business). She graciously accepted it but kept inquiring what “gift” I brought.
Suffice to say that “friendship” went nowhere.