Comments on: Avoid Being Taken Advantage of at the Office http://www.pfadvice.com/2010/01/04/avoid-being-taken-advantage-of-at-the-office/ Bridging the gap between saving money and investing Wed, 22 May 2013 20:38:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Commenter http://www.pfadvice.com/2010/01/04/avoid-being-taken-advantage-of-at-the-office/comment-page-1/#comment-666327 Commenter Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:14:01 +0000 http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/?p=5603#comment-666327 I work in a small office (about 30 or so) and we travel together for work and usually spend more time with each other than our families.
I am usually tasked with soliciting donations for group gifts (for weddings, babies, or retirements). Most people contribute; one or two usually don’t (and they are the same ones repeatedly). I still have everyone sign the card or sign the card “from your friends at….”. I include the noncontributors because if the gift receiver figured out that Sally didn’t participate, it would cause hurt feelings and make it a more stressful workplace. But believe me, when something happens for Sally and a collection for a gift would likely occur, I won’t be contributing (and I doubt I’ll instigate the collection as well).

]]> By: mahanda http://www.pfadvice.com/2010/01/04/avoid-being-taken-advantage-of-at-the-office/comment-page-1/#comment-665783 mahanda Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:32:45 +0000 http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/?p=5603#comment-665783 i have to agree with most of this. i opted out of the secret santa this year and as i carry no cash on me did not contribute to the christmas gift for boss who makes more than me and gave his underlings nothing not even a card. i have stopped buying from co-workers for school stuff and such. i choose my own charities. no guilt here

]]> By: Gail http://www.pfadvice.com/2010/01/04/avoid-being-taken-advantage-of-at-the-office/comment-page-1/#comment-665069 Gail Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:27:24 +0000 http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/?p=5603#comment-665069 One of my first jobs as a newly married woman making around $2/hour they took up a collection to buy my millionaire boss a recliner chair. I was stunned and offended. Here we barely had money to buy Christmas presents for each other and I was supposed to chip in on something my boss could go buy himself if he wanted. It wasn’t like HE gave us anything for Christmas. That was my first real taste of office giving other than a previous job where I told them politely that I didn’t drink coffee so would not contribute to the fund.

I’m so glad I’m out of that mess. One year the girl in charge of getting the boss’ Chrismas gift spent all the money on herself! Why is it bosses that earn more always get a nice gift and the peons get nothing???

]]> By: Janet http://www.pfadvice.com/2010/01/04/avoid-being-taken-advantage-of-at-the-office/comment-page-1/#comment-664948 Janet Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:50:23 +0000 http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/?p=5603#comment-664948 I work in an office of about 20 people. We took turns bringing in treats on Friday. He never brought in anything, but was always there to pig out. Nobody had the guts to say anything to him, just simmered quietly. It got to be such a thorn that we ended up dropping the entire practice.

]]> By: Just Me http://www.pfadvice.com/2010/01/04/avoid-being-taken-advantage-of-at-the-office/comment-page-1/#comment-664795 Just Me Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:43:53 +0000 http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/?p=5603#comment-664795 Makes me glad that I am retired!
:D

]]> By: M E 2 http://www.pfadvice.com/2010/01/04/avoid-being-taken-advantage-of-at-the-office/comment-page-1/#comment-664566 M E 2 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:58:25 +0000 http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/?p=5603#comment-664566 This is the MAIN reason I am SO glad I work for a VERY small company. Including me, there are 4 of us. And 1 of the others being the boss/owner.

The boss buys each of us a gift for X-mas and our birthdays.

The 3 of us exchange X-mas gifts. $25 limit.

For each birthday, the other 2 go in on a gift ($20 max – $10 each)

NONE of us bring any outside products in to be sold. IE: school fundraisers, girl scout cookies, avon, etc.

Makes for a HAPPY work environment.

]]> By: John DeFlumeri Jr http://www.pfadvice.com/2010/01/04/avoid-being-taken-advantage-of-at-the-office/comment-page-1/#comment-664552 John DeFlumeri Jr Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:51:44 +0000 http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/?p=5603#comment-664552 Buried in pressure to buy girl scout cookies, popcorn magazines, candy, wrapping paper. It is so awkward all the time.

John DeFlumeri Jr

]]> By: matt http://www.pfadvice.com/2010/01/04/avoid-being-taken-advantage-of-at-the-office/comment-page-1/#comment-664453 matt Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:11:40 +0000 http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/?p=5603#comment-664453 very good article. i know how it feels to be on both sides. it is tough to say no and just as hard to get other people to chip in.

]]> By: Jackie http://www.pfadvice.com/2010/01/04/avoid-being-taken-advantage-of-at-the-office/comment-page-1/#comment-664436 Jackie Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:37:26 +0000 http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/?p=5603#comment-664436 I work in a medium-sized office, maybe 200 people in the whole building. Thankfully, everyone is (mostly) grownup about these things. No one hold it against anyone else if they don’t want to participate or contribute and no one goes cubicle to cubicle with their hand out – they may announce their stuff that way, but no one expects to put another on the spot.

Like most places, we have one or two who ALWAYS want to eat but never want to contribute a dish. We’re just very blunt and honest and tell them that if they don’t bring stuff, then they don’t get to eat. (not the first time of course, but after they mooch a few times no one has any issues with telling them no) Often this isn’t even an issue since most groups open up their food days after a certain time to discourage leftovers. :) Easy peasy.

When I was younger and less experienced in the workplace, it did used to make me feel an obligation to be asked for a donation while at work. Now I know better, and lately the higher-ups have required a disclaimer about not feeling any obligation, I still sometimes feel the workplace is not really the place to solicit. On the other hand, you see these people 40 hours a week generally, it’s a logical place to go to to get a message out.

]]> By: sewingirl http://www.pfadvice.com/2010/01/04/avoid-being-taken-advantage-of-at-the-office/comment-page-1/#comment-664434 sewingirl Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:36:21 +0000 http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/?p=5603#comment-664434 My five department coworkers and I decided to go together and get a gift card for our superviser for Boss’ Day. Only one ever chipped in afterward, and after I commented to the others, very casually I thought, how much the super enjoyed the gift card, no one ever made a move to reimburse me. So, I won’t be doing THAT again. In past years, I would have been very angry, but I’ve worked at a lot of jobs, so….. Live and learn.

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