STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Tara · Dooney & Bourke

I hate Coworker Gift Collections!!!!

crystal · Kate Spade

ugh, that's horrible! i don't mind shelling out a few bucks for a coworker i like & associate w/ often, but a rude B? that's another story! i'm glad my company doesn't do that, there's plenty of people here that i am nice to & they never even say hi or anything! i think that is so rude that they keep track of how much u give! what an invasion of privacy! plus, who gives more than $5 when it's a group thing? i dunno how many employees are in ur company, but sounds like this lady is already getting a damn good gift... and for being pregnant? don't get me wrong, having a baby is a big deal, but this sounds more like something u would do for someone's 50th anniversary or the going away of a head honcho... not some random preg. girl! ok, sorry so long, ur story just made me a little testy!

honey · Gucci

this is the story of my life. it seems like in the past few months half of my office has had a kid and everytime there is a shower and the expectation that you bring a present. in an ordinary situation you could just skip the shower, but since the office is on the small side, people notice when you don't go, and therefore assume that it's for some personal reason.

Tara · Dooney & Bourke

Yeah, this is annoying me! I have decided to give a gift of $20.......I was told that they are giving her cash. What kind of company gives someone cash from a gift collection?! We have ~50 ppl working here, so she is getting a nice gift. I am annoyed. Maybe my office will send around a collection for the "Tara needs a vacation" fund?

hotcocoa · Kate Spade

who doesn't hate the gift collection envelope and who are the co-workers that are starting it anyway? shame on them! one more reason that i'm glad i work at home now.

honey · Gucci

quote:
Originally posted by: Tara
"Yeah, this is annoying me! I have decided to give a gift of $20.......I was told that they are giving her cash. What kind of company gives someone cash from a gift collection?! We have ~50 ppl working here, so she is getting a nice gift. I am annoyed. Maybe my office will send around a collection for the "Tara needs a vacation" fund?"

ha! i want to start one of those too.

halleybird · Hermes

Aaaaaamen to that. I swear, the teachers at my school don't take a breath in between pregnancies. I think I am out at least $50-75 so far this year.

Tara · Dooney & Bourke

Ok, I hate to dwell on this, but here is the latest scoop on the pregnancy gift:

Gift Basket / Flower from the Company (paid for by the company)

$500 gift certificate from the Company to some Baby Store (paid for by the company)

All the cash that was collected from employees!!!!

Is this ridiculous or what??!?!?

bumblebee · Dooney & Bourke

wow--that does seem really excessive. is she some kind of bigwig at the company?

i get hit up for this stuff all the time at work, too. the problem is that they are very clique-y in my office, so the people who are close to the one being gifted will give $20, and then those of us who aren't close to that person get guilted into giving the same so that they don't look cheap. i just gave $20 to a person that i have never spoken to in my life because she is having twins. she works on a different floor and literally has never spoken to me--i'm sure she doesn't even know who i am. we also have full-blown wedding and baby showers, and i have had to go out and choose and purchase gifts for people i have never spoken to. it's very strange.

Tara · Dooney & Bourke

No, she is definitely not a bigwig at all.....I think she is a lab tech or something.....it is all so strange to me. I always found my company to be so cheap, I wonder why this person has gotten so much attention.....

Andrea Julia · Coach

Wow! That sucks and it seems really unprofessional the way it is done. In my company they pass around a card and an envelope when someone experiences some sort of milestone and you can put (or not put) as much money in the envelope as you want. It is very easy not to contribute because there isn't actually someone walking around with it. The originator just puts a list in the front and you pass it off to the next person on the list. So, if it is someone you like, you can put a lot in; if it is someone that is just ok, you can put a little in; and if it is someone you absolutely can't stand, you can not put in anything at all (hehe). If you feel comfortable doing it, you should tell the secretary that you think it would be nicer if she does it this way because some people feel bad that they don't have as much to contribute as others.

lsubatgirl · Gucci

ugh. my company is similar to AJ's. We just have passed around stuff for people's who have had a death in their immediate family or have retired/left work. We just pass around an envelope with a little note saying what they are using the money to buy and its optional to donate or not. Most the time the envelope gets passed from one person to the next without anyone having to be stared down to donate or anything like that.

carmenb513 · Coach

Call me selfish if you like but.........I don't get into co-workers baby showers, x-mas gifts, b-day, etc.....I don't associate w/ most ppl outside of thhe job so why fake the funk?Plus I work 100+ ppl, I would be dead broke if I contributed to everyone's fund.It seriously can get out of hand!

blink · Coach

That is such an annoying part of working in a bigger company. I think that there should be company policies about gift collecting methods.

Now, I must acknowledge, my husband is a branch manager at the company he works for and I haven't met most of his employees, but all 20+ of them went ALL out and threw him a baby shower with tons of gifts at work last summer before our son was born. I was floored by the generosity and I know it's because so many of his employees are older women who really like my husband as their new manager and who also love shopping for babies. I hope nobody was pressured to give, but he is their boss and they are all doing well, so maybe they all really wanted to....I will never know.

Now that I have a baby, I love to buy gifts for other people's babies.

mizzle · BCBG

it's so weird how EVERYONE hates the gift collections, yet they still go on. why can't we pass a labor law banning this crap? it seems unethical anyway. what if you're just broke? suddenly everyone in the office hates you and thinks you're cheap just because you don't want to shell out $10 for the fifth time that month for someone you don't even know or like. plus the endless fake parties... no one wants to go to these. except for the creepy people in my office who have dog-like senses of smell and hover around any room with a cake or pizza until they're let in. it's like they're starved in their own home or something.

halleybird · Hermes

actually, you know, when I got married last year, I got a $150 gc from a group of teachers I was close with, and $50 from my department's gift collection. It was nice, but not necessary...I would have rather saved my money from all the collections over previous years and not gotten anything. Someone needs to stop this madness!