Gift collections in workplace

Beans_On

Thsi really is a pet peeve of mine.

Started a new job about 3 month ago and every friday there is a collection for somebody (be it birthday/leaving/ moving deptartment?!? ).This annoys me as i have only just started so usually it turns out i dont even know the person, never mind like them.

Just putting it out there. whats the general etiquitte?

monkeyfudge

I've never understood how everyone knows when peoples birthdays are...

Do people loudly pronounce in the office that their birthday is coming up a week beforehand or something?

I've never had a birthday collection as I'm not in the habit of walking around telling people what date I was born on....

2funki4wheelz

If I don't know the person I don't put anything in, I just pass the envelope on. I'd rather put more money in someone nice's collection that a small amt in everyones'!

I've worked with a few people who make it clear they won't get involved in any collections/secret santas etc.

godtabh

2funki4wheelz wrote:

If I don't know the person I don't put anything in, I just pass the envelope on. I'd rather put more money in someone nice's collection that a small amt in everyones'!

I'd be the same.

I'm in the same postion as the OP. Been here 5 months and no messsing some one leaves every two weeks. Have of them I dont even no the names off but at least they leave sweets behind

seamus

monkeyfudge wrote:

I've never understood how everyone knows when peoples birthdays are...

Do people loudly pronounce in the office that their birthday is coming up a week beforehand or something?

I've never had a birthday collection as I'm not in the habit of walking around telling people what date I was born on....

Women find out (through whatever chats and various means) when other peoples' birthdays are. Then they take out their handbag diary and stick the date right in there, whether or not the person cares that someone remembers their birthday.

You'd also expect most people to have one remotely "good" friend in an office environment, who would then make the effort of telling the rest of the office.

I don't believe in making birthday collections. Once you have more than ten people in a department, certain times of the year will work out very expensive for everyone. In our place, people buy cakes for the rest of the department on their birthday. Net effect is that each person only has the expense once, but the rest of the department gets to feast at least once every two weeks.
We do however do collections for stuff like leaving, weddings, babies, etc.

_blank_

My approach?

When someone is leaving and a card goes around, if someone asks for money for the person I don't know, I tell the asking person to fúck off, I don't know this person, what have they ever done for me.

Greedy feckers.

Tar.Aldarion

I'm glad that this does not happen at work, sheesh.

dellas1979

yeah, I dont really care what my workmates think of me with regards birthdays/leaving etc etc.

If the person meant something to me, i.e I worked with them or they were nice to me etc then I would give something (maybe €5).

A girl last week left. We didnt work together but we got on really well so I gave €10.

This week I got 2 wedding emails for collections. I will give money for one of them as am invited to the afters and I get on with that person. But the other girl I wont give anything as, although Ive had the odd chat with her and she seems nice, I dont know her.

Thats how I basis it anyways, otherwise I would end up with nothing in my wage (the little bit I get anyways!).

I very rarely give anything for birthdays either.

I know it has been a bone of contention with workmates but I dont care. If they are that concerned about me giving to the collection, they can contribute for me themselves.

skywalker

Im reminded of the episode of friends where Ross moves into the building and is expected to kick in for a present for the janitor straight away.


In here we get tea and cakes on the company on birthdays. And a nice card signed by everyone. What more could ya want.

wes

If I know and like the person I will chip in. Otherwise I don't see the point.

Jesus Wept

I find it really tedious and pointless, always wrecked my head.

I also found it really uncomfortable when I was leaving a job and was handed a cup/envelope with cash in it.

John Mason

I dont chip in unless, i know the person really really well e.g. was invited to 30th birthday party and i couldnt go, so i stuck some money and one of the girls is about to drop, so i will stick something in for her, the 5 five that are about to drop wont get a thing, and dont put money in for weddings

Huggles

Beans_On wrote:

Thsi really is a pet peeve of mine.

Started a new job about 3 month ago and every friday there is a collection for somebody (be it birthday/leaving/ moving deptartment?!? ).This annoys me as i have only just started so usually it turns out i dont even know the person, never mind like them.

Just putting it out there. whats the general etiquitte?

This happens in my place. We put a fiver into a social fund every week and then spend it on something.

This time we're going to see a show and all my colleagues are bringing there partners, when I asked if I could bring a friend (am partnerless) I was told no so Im considering not participating...how crap. Grrrrrrr!

_blank_

Is it a bloke or a girl you want to bring?

If it's a bloke, then just tell them he's your new bf.

If it's a girl, tell them you're a lesbian.

00112984

I like the way my company does it- everyone gets the day of (or around- depending on what day it falls) their birthday off as an additional holiday. The company buys a card, everyone signs it and it's given to them the day before their birthday.

Zaph

When I started work the people in the department I was in had a rule that new staff didn't contribute to collections until they were a year in the place, by which time you'd have generally got to know most people. When I was given charge of my own department I did the same thing. It's unfair to shive an envelope under someone's nose and ask them to cough up for someone they've never even heard of. We don't have collections for birthdays, you buy cakes for everyone else and just take the one hit a year, but we do for leavings and the odd wedding.

Thrill

On somebodys birthday where I work, a few people bring in cakes and have it during lunch break, wish the person happy birthday, make jokes about their age etc.
Only when theres a big occasion like when someone has a baby, is getting married or is leaving and so on, do we have a collection and I have no problem contributing.
I've known my work collegues for a few years though. When I was new there I was told about these events but was also told that I was not expected to give anything unless I wanted to.

Riesen_Meal

Ive only started a job about 3 months ago and one of the lads is getting married, in fairness, we are only a small company but they are looking for 50 quid for his present!

In fairness, out of the whole staff he's prob my favourite person here so I dont really mind, but €50 is a killer if ya ask me....

Archeron

Doesnt anyone give their colleagues the bumps anymore???? Nothing says happy birthday like a good bout of nausea and a sore ass bone when you get dropped at the end of it all.

dellas1979

Well, I got a little stung like that and learned my lesson.

I contibuted like an ejit to peoples birthdays etc. When it came to my own, not even a happy birthday. Anyways, I said nothing, but decided myself that I would no longer contribute to other peoples birthdays.

Few weeks on, one of the girls in a different department emailed saying that it was so and sos birthday. I ignored the email - deleted it. I didnt contribute. The girl who sent the email stopped talking to me - she still isnt! I find it quite amusing. Goes to show people for what they really are!

galah

geez, you're all lucky...I'm working for a German company, and we have it organized to the T - a list with everyones birthday, a birthday monitor, a birthday kitty, and whenever that's empty, the staff contributes to the kitty again (usually no more than 2-3 Euro per person)...Plus the boss pays for the cake...But we're all fairly close, so it's grand and I don't mind.

Used to work for another company with a very high turnover of staff - and couldnt be arsed contributing for someone who'd only worked there for three weeks then left, nevermind their birthdays...Refused to sign the cards, or pay for presents...I mean, seriously...

skywalker

Fieldog wrote:

Ive only started a job about 3 months ago and one of the lads is getting married, in fairness, we are only a small company but they are looking for 50 quid for his present!

In fairness, out of the whole staff he's prob my favourite person here so I dont really mind, but €50 is a killer if ya ask me....

Its a bit cheeky telling you how much to give.

monkeyfudge

What do you write in the leaving card then?

I've always drawn a little picture of a monkey and made some form of reference to hairy love....

So I thought it was very funny when I saw this on BBC3 earlier this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aM2W5n8p3Y

kelle

Fieldog wrote:

Ive only started a job about 3 months ago and one of the lads is getting married, in fairness, we are only a small company but they are looking for 50 quid for his present!

In fairness, out of the whole staff he's prob my favourite person here so I dont really mind, but €50 is a killer if ya ask me....

It's cheeky telling people what they should contribute. Have you been invited to the wedding, or the afters? If so, it should be up to you to give what you want. If you haven't been invited, again it should be up to you what you'd like to give depending on how much you like the person.
We were asked to contribute towards a colleague's wedding present years ago - I refused on the basis she had borrowed £20 off me and never gave it back! 3 days before the wedding (after presenting her with her wedding gift), the "groom" called it off! She never returned the gift....

Zzippy

Jeez, here we only have a collection when someone retires, or someone who's been here for ages moves to a new job - like 2 a year maybe (public service so not too many leave well-paid permanent jobs). Birthdays - I hardly remember my own, let alone anyone else's. That's just mad, giving someone you work with money for their birthday. They should be lucky to get a cake!

crybaby

Solely organised and kept going by women in offices, I don't think a man has ever organised a gift collection or chocolate cake for someone in an office

If you know someone well by all means, buy them a drink or contribute to a card etc but this nonsense of giving random people money has to stop!

Ruu_Old

I only had to throw in a few europeans for someone retiring/birthday/whatever with people who worked in my sector and the leader would pick them up something, anywhere else in the building I wouldn't bother because I probably never see them.

Jesus Wept

Sector 7G?

missmatty

I've been in my job 4 years and the AMOUNT of money i've passed over for stuff is unreal!

-funerals of people's parents
-weddings
-birthdays (bt we don't really do that much nowadays)
-people leaving
-babies (alot of them)
-adopted kids (quite a few)
-charity sponsorships

I've not had the occasion to receive anything myself, but i bet if i leave it won't be much, as technically i am not employed by where i work. They'll probably be like 'she's not one of us'......depressing.

Ishmael

Meh, would never give anything unless i know the person in question.

monkeyfudge

Oh I f*cking hate the charity sponsorships...

Give money so some f*cker can feel smugly good about themselves and get a free holiday to South America or China? Not a chance.

pwd

They have them every week where I work.
At first it seemed nice. Soon it just annoyed me.

It's not about making people feel good on their birthday.
It's just masturbation.

Jesus Wept

What's wrong with masterbation.

skywalker

pwd wrote:

They have them every week where I work.
At first it seemed nice. Soon it just annoyed me.

It's not about making people feel good on their birthday.
It's just masturbation.

Masturbation at work on your birthday, maybe thats one to put in the suggestion box.

mikemac

monkeyfudge wrote:

Oh I f*cking hate the charity sponsorships...

Give money so some f*cker can feel smugly good about themselves and get a free holiday to South America or China? Not a chance.

QFT

If they realy cared about the charity, they wouldn't go and then the some of money wouldn't be spent on flights, hotels and expenses and could go to people who needed it.
You're right- it's a free holiday.

What's even worse are the huge amount who walk (they don't bother training to run) the mini marathon and often they don't even pay the entry free themselves as they're being sponsored. :mad:

I used to contribute to loads of collections and €5 was the going rate.
Someone put in a few coins one day and the some of the women were talking among themselves, asking who the tight fecker was that was too stingy to give a banknote.

I only contribute if I know the person well.
And I generally don't show up on my last day of work in most of my jobs , so I've haven't recieved a collection in years. Never got a bad reference from an employer:) yet for doing this

whiskeyman

skywalker wrote:

Masturbation at work on your birthday, maybe thats one to put in the suggestion box.

Not sure how you'd get it in the suggestion box.... might need a spoon or something...

MikeHoncho

monkeyfudge wrote:

Oh I f*cking hate the charity sponsorships...

Give money so some f*cker can feel smugly good about themselves and get a free holiday to South America or China? Not a chance.

Exactly the same way I feel.

Tosser- "Ooh please can I have some money for charity?"

Me- "Eh why what are you doing?"

Tosser - "Im going to hike to base camp on everest"

Me - "Fcuk off you scrounging ahole im not paying for you to have the experience of a lifetime. Do something that doesnt cost a penny like a marathon or bath of beans and give all the money to charity"

Honestly how can these people sleep at night doing these things under the premise of "charity". Gets on my goat it does.

monkeyfudge

I did things arse ways when I left my last job and bought bottles of wine for everyone in the office when I was leaving.

Although.. they did get me a really large Bubbles doll... she was supposed to be able to talk, but it didn't seem to work... but the thought was there.

crybaby

They have them every week where I work.
At first it seemed nice. Soon it just annoyed me.

It's not about making people feel good on their birthday.
It's just masturbation.

and after that it just becomes about a certain bunch of people getting to eat a load of chocolate on Friday before they go home

CiaranC

Luckily I work in IT and dont have to deal with this crap. I suspect it must be wimmin behind it.

If someone suggested I give money to some bloke because its his birthday they'd get a smack in the mouth.

mountainyman

I smell a sitcom!!
'I JUST started here'



MM

thefinalstage

I would tell them to go the hell away if they tried to collect money for me. I would find it incredibly insulting.

pwd

CiaranC wrote:

Luckily I work in IT and dont have to deal with this crap. I suspect it must be wimmin behind it.

If someone suggested I give money to some bloke because its his birthday they'd get a smack in the mouth.

I work in IT too dammit

Brian Capture

pwd wrote:

I work in IT too dammit

is it informative?

sheepshagger

Know where the OP is coming from. . .used to put cash in the envelope when it was being passed around but it seems that every week a card is on my focken desk!

Have no problem in not putting cash in if I dont know the person. . . stopped going to peoples farewell drinks just because everybody is going aswell. . .if I dont know them/get along with them. . .fock them.

fly_agaric

Work Birthday "celebrations"! What a load of cack.

IMO, it's an excuse for cliques of fat-arsed wagons to guilt everyone else into funding a cake/chocolate orgy for them.

Red Alert

I only ever was on the receiving end of one work collection - that was when I was leaving my summer job for the last time this summer. Thought it was a very nice gesture!

Red Hand

I don't like it. Most times, you don't know the person you are required to "say goodbye" to. A card is sufficient. And the person that gets the card and moneyt is all embarrassed when about 20 people show up and demand a speech. I know I was! They must have thought I was a right ignorant so and so, cause I couldn't come out with anything! Ha! However, I made it up to them and bought everyone I knew a drink with the money they gave me in the pub...as far as I remember.:o

intheknow

I hate that "Colleague" crap too.. Stab you in the back as quick, Glad I am self employed nobody has to put up with me either !!

DO0GLE

I worked with a girl who requested that she wanted M&S vouchers when she was leaving!! Now there's cheek!

philstar

well one time in a previous job....there's wasn't a collection mind, but a farewell card that everyone was expected to sign.

Now the guy that was leaving was a major league "asshole" and i for one could'nt stand him....so when the card was passed to me to sign, i point blanky refused..i said i'm not signing it, i don't like the guy and i don't wanna be a hypocrite by wishing well in his new job when in fact i don't mean it.

now this caused me a bit of hassle as from then on the asshole's mates started to give me the cold shoulder....but looking back im glad i stuck by princples.

So if any of you feel uncomfortable with collections and the like, then say something and complain if you don't agree with it.