weekly budgets...

LookingAhead

Can I just add as well that her comment of "you should manage your money better" is completely STUPID because, by living on a budget that's exactly what you are doing?

D'uh her.

Imelda

This thread has wound me up, I read it once and now I have had to come back and add my support to the OP.

I work with a team of 8, I am the most junior member (that is a whole other thread) and earn less than half than the rest of them, about a month ago I came back from holiday to find that they had made a collection for one of the guys who was getting married. There was an email to me demanding my share of £50!!! £50!! that is more than I would put in for a good friend. So, I was cheeky/ cunning/ unscrupulous* (delete as appropriate) and put £5 on the guy in question's desk. I doctored the email to read £5 instead of £50 and replied that I had left it on his desk. He never said a thing.
I should add this guy is a bully, flashy and nasty. He once saw that my coat came from George in Asda and balled me out in front of everyone, kind of karma that he had to shell out the extra £45 for me.

LookingAhead

OMG Imelda, what a complete ******! How very dare he do that to you!?

climbgirl

lynzpower wrote:

If I was in your shoes Id just kick off. I can be pretty hard when I want to be.

Id be like " look love if you want to waste you money on this crap then thats your prerogative, but if you expect me to copy your stupidity you are sadly mistaken"

I agree with Lynz, stand up for yourself! I opted out of our secret santa this year for the same reason - if I want £5 worth of cr*p from the Gadget Shop, I'll buy it myself.

cathybird

hi saintly, £4 for xmas decorations!! Why isn't the company paying for them anyway?? ... is this one of those wonderful jobs where they expect you to pay them to work there? I agree with everyone else, the woman was totally out of order trying to pressure you to join in and saying "why don't you manage your money better" is extremely rude (and ironic, since as lookingahead has pointed out that's what you WERE doing), and not in the least in the spirit of Christmas!! they're only going to buy depressing plastic tat that's bad for the environment anyway.

hi imelda, £50 for some guy's wedding present!!!!!!! that's even worse. I can't believe they asked for that. I wouldn't pay that for someone I hardly knew. That's just complete cheek. It's a lot of money!!

Good on you both for refusing!!!! :T :T :T

tinkerbell212

The behaviour of your colleague is well out of order. I wouldn't lower myself to her standards though by screaming stuff through the office. I would however speak to HR or a manager and explain that you feel that the contributions to birthdays, x-mas etc are getting out of hand and that you feel you are being bullied because you choose not to participate. And they don't need to know whether you're poor or whether you have a million in the bank. The principal is that your colleague took this issue to bully you and that is a very serious matter (HR departments are being bombarded at the moment about bullying in the workplace). Somebody will need to have a discreet word with that lady, she probably thinks she is really funny, but doesn't realise that bullies are normally very insecure people. Really, she is the one who needs help with her esteem problems..

raq

I can remember these moments just like yesterday. The person who was collecting for xmas or leaving or special occasion was always great with everyone. I never did take any money to work and always took my lunch. Never any reason to take money.

Stuff this person is what I say and what goes around comes around.

Keep your chin up and don't let these people worry you any more.

saintly_2

oh she has a very wealthy ex husband who pays the mortage and gives her 2500 per month as well as givin the kids pocket money. she has admitted she onlys works for fun!!

no doubt the secret santa would mean £10 worth of smellies from boots!!!

everyone is avoiding me like the plague already this afternoon an i havent even kicked off, maybe i have some kind of catchable disease because i'm on a budget.

colleague has just got the office decorations out from last year, even she has admitted there is nothin wrong with them, they are only 2 years old!!! wait till nasty c*w gets in work tomorrow and sees them up everywhere, ooh im gettin in early to see her face!!!

in_over_my_head_2

Just wanted to add my support here too
Totally out of order, this woman sounds like an annoying, ignorant bully.

We usually have a secret santa at work, but no-one's mentioned it so I'm not going to bring it up... and luckily for me, our company pays for a big posh do with nice meal, entertainment and wine (within reason), and also lets us have a tenner a head for a team lunch wherever we like.

tinkerbell212

By the way, do you have to give a certain amount for birthdays and stuff or does an envelope go round. I only give to very close colleagues, the rest gets the coppers from my copperfund!! I know it reflects how you feel about people, but then some people just deserve more then others. At my work we have lots of charity things. I don't participate in very many of them. When asked I always say that I got my standard charities I pay to and that that will do for me.
They can call me stingy or tight, don't really care.