Being made to go out for food after work

DCFC79

I understand where the OP is coming from, i get along with people at wokr but im not sure id want to spend an evening with them, OP you could go and just eat 1 or 2 slices, they cant make you go but would it not look bad on you if you didnt go, personaly i would have said i could go but id have to go at a certain time due to a prior engagement eg babysitting or you've got to be in to receive a parcel,

its up to you OP,

isme_2

tbh i have had to attend many a work function that i would rather not have done, but i needed the job!
If you dont eat pizza, then dont eat something there are a milliion or so reasons you can come up with for not eating, but really unless you contact your union rep and see what they say i think you will be standing alone in this one.
Please please please dont take your own food, especially stuff to really upset, irritate, annoy the other diners!

mymatebob

I would love to know how the OP is getting on with all of this.
Advice is flooding in from everywhere and I would like to know what the outcome might be.

sarah1980

I was in a similar situation a few years ago. Worked in a small company (6 of us altogether). The 2 Directors were big drinkers and booked a day trip to Amsterdam for the Xmas do. Very generous yes, but from past experience (we had done a similar thing the previous year in Copenhagen) we would see little of the city and more of the insides of various bars and (esp. in Amsterdam) "cafes".

Thing is, I am tee-total, never touched any illegal substances and there is nothing worse than being in a group of completely wasted people when you're totally sober. I said I would rather not go and they had a real moan at me, said I was a killjoy and it would be fun, not just drinking etc. (but believe me it would have - the previous year the drinking had begun at 5am in airport bar).

In the end I made an excuse about having a recent operation (true) and not being able to fly so soon afterwards (not exactly true).

3 weeks later they had to make someone redundant and guess who got picked?

OP - if your pizza night will genuinely be about work, I wouldn't want to miss it in case I missed something important. I would say I had somewhere else I needed to be so could only stay for 1/2 an hour. That way you can be home in time for eating your own choice of food but you've shown your face.

mymatebob

sarah1980 wrote: »

I was in a similar situation a few years ago. Worked in a small company (6 of us altogether). The 2 Directors were big drinkers and booked a day trip to Amsterdam for the Xmas do. Very generous yes, but from past experience (we had done a similar thing the previous year in Copenhagen) we would see little of the city and more of the insides of various bars and (esp. in Amsterdam) "cafes".

Thing is, I am tee-total, never touched any illegal substances and there is nothing worse than being in a group of completely wasted people when you're totally sober. I said I would rather not go and they had a real moan at me, said I was a killjoy and it would be fun, not just drinking etc. (but believe me it would have - the previous year the drinking had begun at 5am in airport bar).

In the end I made an excuse about having a recent operation (true) and not being able to fly so soon afterwards (not exactly true).

3 weeks later they had to make someone redundant and guess who got picked?

OP - if your pizza night will genuinely be about work, I wouldn't want to miss it in case I missed something important. I would say I had somewhere else I needed to be so could only stay for 1/2 an hour. That way you can be home in time for eating your own choice of food but you've shown your face.

Interesting criteria for being made redundant - "Not attending social functions"
You could have taken them to the cleaners if that was their only reason

sarah1980

I know, I did consider it but then thought - would they have to give me my job back? And if the answer was "yes" I wouldn't have wanted it anyway. Besides, as soon as they gave me the elbow I contacted all my account clients, told them I was setting up on my own and thankfully they all came with me.

Besides, the company was doing pretty badly (being run by 2 finance-ignorant directors. I mean, why fly 6 people to Amsterdam all-expenses paid when you're cash-strapped?) so the redundancy per se was justified, just possibly not my being chosen. They gave me a month's pay and I'd only worked there 18 months, so I wasn't that bothered.

[Deleted User]

sarah1980 wrote: »

Thing is, I am tee-total, never touched any illegal substances

Just being pedantic, but it's not illegal there

sarah1980

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Just being pedantic, but it's not illegal there

Very true I did think this when I posted, but didn't want to sound pedantic

BTW the legal issue never held themback in Copengahen....

Jo_R_2

In my experience most job descriptions have an item stating something like, any other duties considered reasonable under the nature of the post or along those lines. This might be seen as coming under that, so it could be a bit of a problem.

However, I have *never* been a big fan of eating around people, particularly in a big group. I find it really uncomfortable and I can never relax - I generally like eating (LOL!) so I have no idea why but it's always been there and I can understand what the OP is saying.

Not sure what to suggest... Could you OP maybe go along but just have a drink or two instead of eating, as a compromise?

Also I know the feeling of spending so much time round round workmates that you don't want to see them outside of work - the thought of it used to make me cringe!

Incisor

DKLS wrote: »

Damn right, I have a large project coming to an end in the next two weeks, 3 of my developers are putting in long days, working up to 10 pm at night, to ensure the project is delivered on time and on budget.

1 staff member leaves on the dot at 5.30pm:rolleyes: which is fine by me, however staff reviews are being done on the week after the project ends, guess which staff are getting a 5K increase and who will get £500

And none of them will give a mention to the fact that you are posting on the internet on a working day at 0925. But I bet they all know and have their opinions. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: