Being made to go out for food after work

2cats1kid

Could you suggest that the "work" bit gets done in the office straight after work hours. If you are in the office you are more likely to focus on getting the message across and less on faffing about and chatting. Then those who want to have a pizza on the management can go out to eat, and those with other commitments can go home.

Might be a decent compromise?

I always hated work "socials" too, but those that didn't go were definitely noticed and commented upon, like it or not.

mymatebob

I think you will find that you are actually working and being given a pizza (or food of some description) as opposed to this being "after work".

From what you have stated this is definitely working time.
Do you get paid by the hour? EDIT - sorry re-read the original post and you say you don't get an hourly rate. How is extra work compensated?
Will you get extra payments for this or time off in lieu?
How is your working time recorded, will this infringe any working time regulations e.g working longer than six hours without a break?

You can potentially make a fuss about this if you wish but in the bigger scheme of things is it worth it?

Scarlett1

RBK I think you should go to at least one of these nights to show willing otherwise it gives the impression that you aren't interested in getting to know new colleague or socialise with work friends, as its been mentioned before you can easily eat from the salad cart and you never know you might have a drink and relax more and have a really good night, you said on a previous thread that you don't have any friends so maybe you should start helping yourself but taking the first step and take this opportunity to meet new people

Woby_Tide

with a recession/redundancies looming round the corner in most sectors over the next few years a high possibility, I'd probably think twice about rocking the boat at an employers request personally, currently

but each to their own, all depends on what you value so it's entirely a personal choice that they should respect

foreign_correspondent

TO be honest these things arent my idea of fun either, but they are important and if it was me I would go along, put my best foot forwards, smile, be interested, have a slice of pizza and realise that a few hours in the scemem of things is neither here not there.

Not going, (or going along and being sullen) does not show you in a good light, and unless you are very wealthy or totally unambitious I think it is a good move to go and be seen positively by your colleagues and bosses.

secretspender_2

free PIZZA? YUM! can I go?:money:

Spendless

Mr S constantly attends this sort of thing and has for about 5.5 years and it drives ME (not him) nutty. With no set hours, it is difficult to plan round this, for meal-times, looking after kids etc. Last year he wished to go to a conference in U.S about something connected to work. His bosses agreed to paying for 3 of them for a few days. Mr S asked 2 other members of his team, they refused cos 'they just didn't fancy it', so he went alone. This was when I realised that it is the hours that Mr S has put in that has made his salary/career/prospects what they are today. He earns double what he did 10 years ago, and £12k more than he did when he started with this company 4.5 years ago. Finally I realised it was all worth it even though it still drives me nutty at times.;)

In your case I'd go and if pizza is really an issue, ask if you can order from the salad bar, say you don't like tomato puree or something.

chipmunk

ceridwen wrote: »

Personally - I wouldnt go.

Two reasons:
- The food is unhealthy compared to what I normally eat (so I would be sitting there eating own food I had brought with me - or going hungry)

- The other - its MY time, not theirs. I would definitely feel "You want my time - you pay for it - and dont forget that its to be at overtime rate".

Its a pity that you have already told your manager you dont wish to go. But I think the situation could be retrieved if some necessary requirement in your own personal life came up "unexpectedly" and "at the last minute". Maybe - you could say some relative has come over ill unexpectedly and you have to be in attendance every hour going perhaps. I dont agree with lying basically - but in this case they are the ones that started the immoral behaviour - by trying to grab your own time for themselves for nothing.

What I am also wondering is whether this is the start of a "slippery slope" - ie they might come back with further excuses in the future to try and make the staff do unpaid overtime...in which case, even more necessary to make it plain NOW that you wont be doing it.

At an absolute bare minimum - if you do decide to "cave in" and go (and please dont!!!!) - then take your own food. Why should you have someone else's idea of how to eat inflicted on you? You could take subtle "revenge" for being forced to do unpaid overtime by making sure its very smelly, very messy food that takes a long time to eat - and sitting right by the culprit (ie the person that did this) and eating it.....loadsa garlic comes to mind. The cheese called "Stinking Bishop" comes to mind - it really does stink. I dont think they would be too anxious to repeat the forced "invitation" somehows..:D .

Another possibility for a bit of subtle "sabotage" is to come over ill unexpectedly....a bit of food poisoning or something....and then you can either do that at the start of the day in question (or - if you are playing fairer than them).....start "feeling ill" at the beginning of the unpaid overtime period. It is literally possible to go from feeling fine one minute to wondering what on earth is going on you feel so terrible 5 minutes later....really...it has happened to me before now and cleared up equally mysteriously (when I'd just about managed to walk out of the "religious" talk I was listening to and stumble back home to bed somehow).

PRESSED THANKS INSTEAD OF QUOTE:eek:

I was going to say I think this would create a really bad impression on the OP's new employer. If I were a Manager confronted with this type of behaviour over something as potentially important as this could be, I would take a very dim view and if in the future job losses were on the cards, they would be on my list for sure.

I think the OP should go along to the meeting, as someone else said, you can order things other than pizza at these places, i.e. nice salads etc. and show that they are prepared to be one of the team and a valuable employee. It's only a few hours of of your life

[Deleted User]

If it helps, i just volunteered to work on Sunday unpaid because i) we need someone to do it ii) it's my annual review in 2 weeks

duchy

I think in a time of flux in a company no-one's job is safe and it'd be madness to make a stand over something like this.
Your contract probably has a clause in it to the effect that you can be required to work different or extra hours when company need dictates. Most do.
No they can't force you to attend but you'll be likely assumed to be disinterested and unmotivated regardless of any other good stuff you've done elsewhere in the job.
The excuse of not liking pizza is a thin one (no pun intended) either eat beforehand or eat salad-please don't embarass yourself by bringing your own food-getting asked to leave by the resturant will not help your employment prospects either.
It's two nights-it won't hurt you-but not going may hurt your job security.
It isn't worth rocking the boat over.