One of my colleagues (let's call her Mary) is in hospital, the rest of the team organised some flowers and chocolates for her, I work part time so wasn't available for any of the discussions around the subject.
I had a text asking if I was ok to put in £3.50, I replied saying 'no sorry, please put in £2 for me'. So this morning I arrived to 'flowers and chocolates cost x, we've split it between us, so actually you need to pay £4.50'. The flowers have been sent so there is no going back on the price paid.
I am tempted just to pay it in order to have a quiet life, it's only £2.50 difference as opposed to loads of angst but...
I do not get on very well with Mary, there have been a couple of occasions where we have had serious run-ins. At one stage the whole team accused me of imagining things to do with the work rotas, it was really unpleasant all round, but Mary attacked me far more than anyone else and on a really personal level, which only stopped when I produced the figures which proved I was right and she was wrong. Mary never apologised, she waited until there was something minor, which was against an unofficial rule, which another ex-colleague had always done and didn't have a negative impact on anyone else, and demanded I was stopped from doing it. This made my life much, much harder. It's really hard to explain exactly without giving too many details, but suffice to say there's no love lost and the rest of the team are aware of this.
The only knowledge any of them have of my financial situation, is that I am the only member of the team who lives in a household with a low enough income to be entitled to tax credits, there was a lot of surprise about how low this actually is these days when another colleague was trying to work out if they were entitled. So they don't know if I won't pay more because I don't like Mary, or can't pay as I can't afford it.
If I refuse to pay more now, it won't impact Mary who already has her flowers, but my nicer colleagues who will have to stump up the difference. I don't want to drop them in it, but I'm pissed off that they signed me up for an amount that was more than what I'd already said I wasn't paying. Normally a collection would be made in an envelope and then a present bought, using the amount collected, so this wouldn't be an issue. I don't know what reasoning led to it being done differently this time, but I had already said what I was willing to contribute when the purchase was made, I feel this should have been factored in, or a more lengthy explanation sent why I should sign up to their plan and agreement reached with me, before the order was made.
The upshot is I have sympathy for Mary's illness (from which she should make a full recovery) but given the history, it's about £2 worth of sympathy, not £4.50. I can afford the extra £2.50, but equally there are many other things I'd much rather spend it on.
So should I pay? I'm willing to let the MN jury decide (if you haven't got bored and wandered off in search of more interesting threads during the epic backstory).