Work Christmas Lunch - Truth or a Lie re. Attendence

I'm curious, where do people who think £40 for a 2 course lunch is reasonable live? Just up here even in a more 'fancier' place you wouldn't pay that for 2 courses for a Sunday lunch. Seems expensive but appreciate down south this might be normal?

Not £40. How about you?

If you know it's happening every year why don't you save a bit every month towards it? If you put aside £10 every month it'll pay for the event, secret santa and journey to event......

This is the time of year when hospitality is in demand and they have to cover their costs (you think domestic fuel bills are bad - you should see commercial fuel costs) and try to make a profit to take them through January. Restaurants are going out of business at the fastest rate ever - next year you might find that your team don't want to organise anything and if they do it will be even more expensive as there will be fewer Restaurants to choose from.

I was in a similar situation, but I just said "Sorry, I can't make it on that date" rather than "You've got to be kidding, HOW MUCH?".

What amount for a Christmas lunch do you think would be 'inclusive'?

This absolutely. I don't think your salary is relevant. Its a fact of life that unless you are a multi millionaire, some people's non negotiable outgoings will vary regardless of salary. if it were me, I'd just say cheerfully "sorry folks not this year" and decline to comment further. so no, I wouldn't lie but also my financial decisions and opinions are my business so I wouldn't comment on the price of the meal. If I was senior in the business though and juniors were feeling pressured to go when they obvs couldn't afford it, THEN I would stick my beak in on their behalves.

Say no in solidarity for the people who can’t afford it!! £40 isn’t very inclusive is it.

Depends on your department and your G5/6/7. Ours had a very small pot allocated for wellbeing and a slightly larger pot for reward and recognition. Buying £100 worth of pizza to recognise the achievements of the team over the year is rare but isn’t unheard of.

I do events - £40 for Christmas is cheap. Nevertheless - If i were you - just be honest, why the need to lie?

Why would you make a big deal out of this? It's not mandatory to go, £40 is what it's costing this year for Christmas meals (I've organised ours and the prices are all high), if you can't go just decline. No one will be that bothered, and perhaps you can offer to arrange it next year?

“£40 is more than I anticipated for this event so I’m giving it a miss. Thanks for organising and I hope it goes well.”

or

”Sorry, I can’t make the Christmas party this year, hope you have a great time and thanks for organising”

Just acknowledging that someone made the effort to organise it whether you are open about the reason or not would help.

Organising events is a PITA.

If you can afford it (even if it's more than you wanted to spend ideally), I would suck it up and go this year, unless you're comfortable with the idea of not having an office Christmas lunch organised at all in subsequent years. If you believe in the endeavour, you should support it even if the outcome is not perfect.

Why don't you take charge next year and offer to organise? I'm sure everyone will be delighted if you manage to find somewhere nice with 3 courses and a glass of wine for £25.

Please be honest. There may be others who feel the same and so perhaps in future years something more modest will be proposed.

I'd just say that you can't attend, then off the record state the reason if you have a discreet verbal opportunity.

My Christmas do is supposed to be a budget of £25 each from our employer, which will pay for piss all. We're all based around the country, and attending will cost a likely three figure bill each for the sake of a £25 benefit.

If they get their act together and organise something, I'll decline if it doesn't fall in with a usual work trip in that location anyway.

But I won't protest unless asked.

i think that’s fair enough- would be nearer £50 with drink and tip. I’d be honest.

No is not a sentence.

Doesn't matter if you earn £40k or £50k, everyone has different financial commitments, someone on £40k could be better of financially than someone earning £50k even though they earn less money. £40k could have 0-1 children and a husband, £50k could be only income or have 2-4 children

I would be honest and say you don't feel like you can pay that much and respectfully decline the invitation

You haven't yet factored in the cost of alcohol/drinks, possible secret santa's etc

As a civil servant of 22 years this made me LOL literally…

As someone who is a HEO in the civil service I would just like to ask on what planet do you think that you as a G6 are middle management?

Oh this thread has made me laugh! The juniors probably don’t want their G6 to go anyway so just don’t go 😂😂

£40 is a lot. I would just say you have a prior family commitment you can’t get out of and leave it at that.

I did best part of 40 years in the civil service. The works Christmas do in the early days always used to consist of a rubber turkey dinner followed by a disco in a hotel, I always enjoyed those,people would really let their hair down, sometimes a bit too much!. Then latterly changed to a “better” meal in an overpriced restaurant followed by a bar crawl, and it was boring as hell.

Ours was £25 last year and not enough food (sharing). It's £35 this year for your own food and I prefer that (although I'm hoping it's 3 courses!)

I might say something like 'Hope you have a great time. I'll have to skip this one as we've decided to prioritise kids Christmas presents/family days out etc this year, so I'm putting my spare money towards that at the moment'.

I'd just say 'I can't make it this year.' If people are cheeky enough to ask why, it's up to you whether you say, 'Just can't afford it' or to tell a white lie, like 'family commitments' (your money is committed to being spent on family not works outings.)

As an introvert I think one of the best things about being a grown up is not having to go to parties! Remember the word No is a complete sentence, you don’t have to give a reason. £40 is a lot of money if you don’t want to spend it.