How Do You Avoid Embarassing Work Situations??????

Aberdeenlass

Hi
Im wondering if anyone has any tips on how to diplomatically sidestep the minefield of office collection etc??

Quite recently someone from another part of my department who i do not know personally and have no contact with professionally, got married, and while i wish her all the very best in her new life..... I have just recieved am e-mail from my line manager saying that she bought her a bottle of champagne and passed it on on our behalf and is now looking for contributions...........now i have set myself a very tight budget and believe me every penny counts!!!!

It made me think of all the other collections that must happen in every office at some point, and how can i avoid further embarassment of having to admit I have no cash......Please dont get me wrong i'm no meanie!!!!

[Deleted User]

Damn, makes me glad we don't have this at our office. Admittedly it might have been nice to get an engagement card from my team, but i don't expect anything and wouldn't feel hard done by if people i didn't know, didn't buy me a present.

Just tell them that as you've never met them, you don't feel it's appropriate to contribute.

GreyPilgrim

If i see someone coming round with a collection tin / book of raffle tickets I pick up the phone, pretend to be in deep conversation and put on my best 'disturb me at your peril' frown.

You've got to be honest with people and tell them you're on a tight budget and simply can't afford it. If they're friends, they'll understand. if they're not, then screw them - there'll be no love lost on either side.

Robs1585

I wish I knew! Last week and this week I have been tapped for contributions to 2 leaving presents, 1 get well soon present for a woman I don't even know and 2 sponsored runs, 1 for another person I don't know and one for someone's grandchildren! How do I get myself into these situations?! And, like you say, how do I get out of them?!

rayday2

With that many I would speak to personnel it is taking up works time collecting for all these. Someone spoke with personnel at my hubbys company and now they have a set number of maximum charity days and thats it, only other thing they collect for is birth of babies or deaths - which happens a maximum of twice a year.

mrs_pokemon

I work in a hospital ward and we frequently seem to have collections.Someone leaving,birth of baby,first house,marriages ,deaths,retirement,illness the list is endless.
An envelope is put on the wall and a note of what the collection is for.People can put in money if they wish but there is no pressure.You could put in 50p or £5 and no one would know.
For a while I felt like setting up a standing order for £5 a month for collections!

lynsayjane

I organise birthdays within my dept. There are about 14 of us and 11 chipped in. What I do is get £1 from everyone and it buys a cake, bottle of wine and card. I find this is more than enough for a birthday and £1 isn't too much to part with.

In best miser tradition though I'm ignoring the birthdays of those that don't contribute to others, thats not fair for them to get but not chip in.

Shineyhappy

I am the only girl in my office and we dont do collections thankfully as none of the blokes could be bothered to organise it and I am too busy on here to!

I wish I could think of some good advice and I know from my last job how hard it is to avoid. Loads of collectors would have a checklist to nag everyone to contributing and if you didnt then you were bi&ched about behing your back!

I think the only thing to do is type up an annoyomous letter to a manager or HR saying you are too skint to contribute but too embaressed to tell anyone that and you are sure you arent the only one in a position to give away money you cant afford to.

poorbutrich

I've been on both sides of this problem, so I understand how awkward it is. If it's contributing for someone I know, it's not a problem, but if it's for someone I don't, I just explain that I make a monthly donation to a charity of my choice and would rather just stick to that. If you're honest about your budget, most people appreciate that. Having said that, when the woman at my last job who made my life miserable left the company, I stuck a load of foreign coins in the collection.......

artnoble

I don't tend to bother now, i only got 4 cans of carling for my birthday from my department.

dsljfreeman

I'm so glad I don't work in an office anymore, I totally agree it gets very out of hand with collections and such, the only advice I can give, fully knowing what it's like is to either politely tell the collector that you don't really know the person concerned and don't feel right donating or blame your tight budget on Christmas

I just left work on my maternity and I didn't get anything, I really don't mind cos I had only worked on that department for a few months and everyone wished me well so thats more than enough for me, presents and cards are just a bonus.