This reminds me of when i read about ancient norse gift giving culture years ago. Apparently it was expected that when you had a relationship like say a friend youd give them a gift, and youd get a gift back that was a little better usually. But it was considered really rude to give someone a huge gift that would be a burden for them to gift you something similar in return. Since the expectation was theyd give an equal or better gift back, and your placing this huge social burden on them to come up with something appropriate.