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

Softstuff

I hate those work collections.

When I worked in a large office there were about 40 of us, and it was a quid a time. So by the time the year was out, counting births, marriages and birthdays I was down about 50 quid. Then it was my birthday, and I was quite looking forward to it, so what did I get... a cheap filofax and a fiver :rotfl:

I think I prefer it the way I have done it for the past few years. To friends and work colleagues I want to give a gift, I do. That way I can usually do something much more special, but for not much more cost.

bowz25

hi
i work part-time so miss most of the collections at work. I have been asked to put in and always say i do not bring my purse as i only work part time hours and have one 15 min break. I do worry that people will think i am greedy (which i am not but also do not want to tell them i am on dmp) It does bother me really.
I have bought separate presents for people who i have been close to and i sometimes say i am buying that person a separate gift and do not put in the collection.
When i was younger and working in office i always put in collections but i did always receive a lot of gifts when i had a baby etc birthdays. I would not be bothered now if i did not receive anything.
bye for now

Lemon_Tree

I'm not going to be much help i was put in this situation just after i started at my company. There's only 8 of us and the only one who hasn't made me feel welcome was 40, everyone else decided on the pressy and i was told how much i owed (decided whilst i was away). didn't have much choice or chance to refuse. When we have other things i just put in a little or £1 depending on who it is but that's easier as it's usually an envelope that no one an see what you put in

MoaningMyrtle

I contribute only if I like them.

affordmylife

How about offering to collect the money for your line manager.

You can go around rattling the tin at the other members of the team she has also emailed and slip in a few coppers whilst you are at it.

jinny

We had a collection for someone last week for someones 5oth birthday who left before I even worked in that office! I was asked publicly to put in a fiver!:eek: when i refused politely saying I didn't know the person, I was met with a patronizing comment about how there was no pressure to contribute. Well that did, it I am now NOTputting in for anything from now on, they can !!!!! all they like behind me back, call me scrooge thats ok, I go to work to pay bills not to buy or get presents. I may send them a card if I like them. Enough is enough.

liz105

I used to (very loudly) throw in a bunch of coppers and then rattle the envelope. everyone knew what everyone else did but got fed up with it all. we were a tight knit group of friends on our team but tbh just got bored with it all. team leader ended up coughing up almost on his own for any presents but then again he was on a lot more money than us!

chloebelle

Hmmm these situations can be very awkward. At my current work I don't participate on principle - envelopes are passed around on the birthdays of the management ONLY with a note stating that donation is £3 minimum and we have to sign to confirm we have put in!

To only do that for management is disgusting, when asked I always say I have no money on me. If pressed I politely point out that as a student I really can't afford it. Don't be scared to be honest, say that you are on a mega tight budget and will happily contribute 20p but cannot pay out anything else.

I agree that your manager is being unfair, she should have had a collection before buying the champagne. I think you should contribute 10p or something, and if challenged point out that you have a very tight budget with literally no money to spare.

For the future, when envelopes come round say that you only have your lunch/bus money and never bring spare cash to work. No one will expect you to go hungry or walk home for a birthday.

If the situation gets out of hand try and get your work colleagues together and explain to the manager that you all have money issues and politely request that birthdays are not a big issue. At my old job we had someone in charge of cards, every year we all gave £1 and that funded cards for the year - sounds like a small amount but she got them from boot sales or those 10 cards for £1 shops. For a big birthday she nipped to sainsburys and bought some jam doughnuts for a few pounds. All birthdays were acknowledged for a total cost of £1 a year!!

maddriver

To be fair, if they didn't ask in advance, they shouldn't just expect that everyone will chip in. If its a problem for them then they should have checked how much people can chip in before they decided how much to spend.

I work at a small company, where I know pretty much everybody, but we only do leaving presents, and only for people who've been there for a while, so its not a big problem. And they collect in advance, so they know how much they have for presents.

Other than people bring in 'munchies' on birthdays. I don't 'do' birthdays so I just bring them in on random days.