Expected Donation to Bosses Xmas Fund!!!!

kazmc

Hello there
Firstly apologies if I have posted in the wrong place, didnt know where else to put it!!!

I have been in my job for 7 years and each year we are 'expected' to give a sum of money towards getting all the bosses a present. The point is I dont have an issue at all over this but I do over the amount and that it is expected. They want £45 off each person this year :eek:
One year the bosses got IPods, another year it was a satnav.. so really good presents.
There are about 10 of us who put in towards 4 presents. It is a small firm of accountants.
My problem is I'm a single mum and really am struggling at the moment (as usual!!) and I could really do with not having to hand over £45. It is also my daughters birthday mid November so the timing is awful.
I feel really really mean but I'm at the point where I want to say no and leave my name off the gift tags and I will buy them something separately like a bottle of wine.
I am seriously risking the wrath of the girls who organise this, one of them happens to be the sister/cousin of 2 of the bosses (its a small family firm)
The company is good to me and we all get a Christmas Bonus so the question is ............

am I being mean???

Please be gentle

DueMarch11

No youre not being mean and quite frankly how bloody cheeky of them to expect you to hand over your hard earned cash to buy them presents that I bet they could quite easily afford themselves! Id leave my name off the card, not spend a penny (well, ok maybe a few pennies) and give them something homemade, Im pretty sure they would appreciate that more than a bloody sat nav that they could go out and get themselves. If the organiser doesnt like it then ask her to sub you until after Xmas when all the expense has died down, if she says no (which she will) then say that you'll organise your own this year. Cheeky gits.

ViolaLass

kazmc wrote: »

I have been in my job for 7 years and each year we are 'expected' to give a sum of money towards getting all the bosses a present. The point is I dont have an issue at all over this but I do over the amount and that it is expected. They want £45 off each person this year :eek:
One year the bosses got IPods, another year it was a satnav.. so really good presents.
There are about 10 of us who put in towards 4 presents. It is a small firm of accountants.
am I being mean???

Please be gentle

I think the idea of employees embarassing other employees into buying presents for their bosses is quite bizarre. For a start, you should be allowed to contribute WHAT you want, IF you want. Do you know if anyone else feels the same? Could you ask people (gently, individually and in private)? If there are others, and there may well be, you could then back each other up.

gratefulforhelp_2

What a massive p1ss take, just. say. no. Paying so people who earn more than you can get stuff they could easily buy themselves? No way I would do it. Bottle of cheap plonk.

Pepzofio

I agree it's outrageous that it should be expected not only that you donate but that an amount is set that you are expected to donate. Nobody should feel pressurised into spending money they can't afford. But looking at it pragmatically/playing devil's advocate slightly, how much would you spend buying four bottles of wine, wrapping paper/giftbags and cards? (My guess is you'd want to buy a reasonably nice bottle of wine - if it was me I'd probably look for something around the £10 mark on a half-price offer at Sainsbury's.) I'm not saying you'd necessarily spend £45 on them, but I could see it easily being £25-30, so you have to ask yourself if the money you'd save is worth the hassle you'd get in the long run.

DueMarch's idea of a home made gift is a good one though - saying you're making gifts this year avoids the whole cost argument completely, and you can say you think it's more personal and shows more thought/effort, so it's harder for people to argue with/criticise!

FelinePrincess

Seems very odd to me that the employees are having a whip round to buy bosses xmas presents! I have never come across this before. I agree with everyone else - don't take part and give your own gift. Also, you could suggest a secret santa instead than everyone buys a little present and everyone gets a little present - much nicer way of doing things then just the 'important' people getting presents.

I could imagine the bosses might not really like this little ritual anyway?

SandC

I would never buy bosses presents outside of any sort of special occasion where a whip round would be done just like for any other employee - and certainly never that amount of money!

They should be doing it for their staff, not the other way around!

ViolaLass

Pepxofio and Feline Princess, I may be out of touch here (self employed and not in the UK at present) but is it necessary to buy your bosses a present at all? What happened to just giving a card?

lynzpower

Ive never bought my boss a Xmas present ( although a whip round for a birthday is usual) or the Manager is in the £5 Xmas secret santa like everyone else.

45 quid! no way!!!! In the world! ever!!

Plans_all_plans

This is, quite frankly, the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard of! While I can see that you will not want to be the only one not contributing, I can't expect all your colleagues are over the moon about this arrangement either, so you should speak up and refuse to put in any cash.

If I were you, I'd have a quiet word with the one organising the extortion and say that as you are a single parent with limited resources, you just can't justify spending so much on your bosses and leave it at that. This is really winding me up actually, I don't even spend £45 on my daughter at Christmas! I have worked for a company where the bosses bought the staff a present for all their hard work, but never the other way round. You could suggest a secret Santa for the whole office to join in instead! There's no way I'd be taking part in subsidising my bosses' ipod's!!!

vwelsh13

goodness me...do they not realise how skint we all are..stick to your guns !