To not organise any more nights out

[droppinglikeflies]

So, I work in retail. About 15 members of staff ranging from 16-60.
Lots of colleagues saying they fancied a meal out. Head office had gifted us some meal vouchers so decided to use them tonight.
Spent days finding out what days people could do. Changed the date twice as people said date didn’t suit them.
Chased around to get a list of numbers etc.
All fine, 12 out of 15 put their name down to come.
So far today I’ve had 4 texts from people dropping out. So we are down to 8.
We’ve reserved the biggest table in the restaurant and only going to half fill it which will be embarrassing.
It’s like a running theme.
On our Xmas meal (all paid for) 7 people just didn’t turn up.
The year before 11 people didn’t turn up to a social evening all paid for.
People cancelling by text 20 minutes before we were due to go in.
Excuses tonight range from “seeing my boyfriend” “feeling tired” and “got too much school work”
I just think if you can’t be arsed to come then why say so in the first place?
If I don’t want to attend something then I say straight away, not 20 minutes before we are due to meet.
It infuriates me and makes me not want to bother organising anything in future.
Plus the restaurant rang me yesterday to confirm numbers and are still counting on 12 people turning up.

Asking people for a deposit up front normally helps with this. I feel for you though. It's very frustrating.

Couldn’t ask for a deposit as the meal is going to be paid for with vouchers.
Perhaps that’s the way forward tho. If you turn up then you can have you £5 back.

Amend booking to 8. Enjoy spend g the vouchers. Not a problem

I haaaate this. Me & the girls in my office are always asked to be the organisers of social events by our boss but after a few attempts at organising one where (of 32 in the office) 4 people replied, we gave up and now refuse.

Say that if they don’t show up or notify you well in advance that they’ll have to reimburse the company. Or, if they fancy a meal out why does the company have to pay at all?
After an embarrassing meal when 30% of the people didn’t show up, the next time I organised a group meal I said everyone had to buy a voucher by X date. Surprise surprise for the first time EVERYONE showed up because they had all paid in advance.

Exactly. I was nominated to sort this night out. Have tried to please everyone with restaurant choices and some people not wanting spicy food, or curry, or pub food etc.
Wasted my time out of work hours as I’m very part time chasing up responses and then people just cancel.
I can almost guarantee that at least another 2 people won’t turn up as there are 2 more repeat offenders.
I reckon it will end up being 6 of us.

You'd best phone the resteraunt and tell them. They may add a surcharge to cover the loss of income from the no-shows. Some resteraunts do this and it is allowed.

Announce date and place...do not ask or attempt consensus. Those that want to go will turn up. Less people bigger budget for those present.

I will call the restaurant, but they don’t open until now.

I stopped doing it. Was very liberating as it was just presumed I would. Had two years of moaning about venue/date/time and chasing deposits.

I do this sometimes (as part of my wider job) - we have a slightly bigger budget (in the tens of thousands) and people pull out on the day.... it’s sickening but some people just don’t care if it’s not their money.... the most re want one I’m organising for was 45 people - after initially having everyone one confirm...... I now have about 30 people say they can come..... so far...

Too much hassle.

I'm not organising anything again. Last time I did 10 of us ended up sharing 1 bottle of wine.

Friggin waste of my time

I think the fact it is paid for makes it worse.
They just think sod it as they’ve not paid for it!

I sympathise. We once had staff in a lovely Chinese restaurant be really snotty with us saying they could have given the bigger table to others, had turned down bookings and we should have let them know. We didn’t know until we were sat in there and 5 people suddenly texted they weren’t coming. It is so rude to pull out at such short notice.

I hope you have. A good night without them.

It's utterly infuriating. People are so flaky and now a text seems to suffice ad let people off without considering all of the work that has usually gone into organising these things.

Maybe going forward, you could do somewhere in the building you work for an hours socialising during lunch or after work. The smaller group of people who do attend these things are the ones worth focusing on for future 'nights out'. The others, IME, talk the talk and want to be seen as 'fun' and up for socialising, but the reality is different!

I’m worried that others just won’t turn up and the restaurant will be snotty with us too later, but what can I do if people just don’t turn up.
We all work different shifts and only one staff member on a break at a time so can’t socialise in the day unfortunately.

Do the no-show vouchers have to be spent on food or could the people who do show up enjoy a better quality glass bottle of wine with dinner instead? The restaurant wont care then if 6 or 16 show up so long as they aren't down money, right??

Lots of people feel pressured into saying yes or they say yes on their own then reconsider and think fuck it, it was free anyway, I won't go.

I find this even amongst my friends. Trying to organise a night out, taking in people's preferences for date/time/what to eat/etc, etc. Organise a taxi, or mini bus ...all agreed beforehand, then on the day/a few hours before, people dropping out and you end up going to a place not of your choosing, at a time that doesn't really work for you, paying twice as much to get home because the taxi is a fixed price. I refuse to do it now, too much hassle.