To feel my boss could have got me a Christmas gift?

[Mylittlerobin]

Ok so I work for a large organisation as a PA, where the top bosses earn well in excess of £100K.
I bought my boss a lovely box of chocolates, and received from him......a card.
No present whatsoever.
I think this is jolly mean, they earn so much money and we do so much for them the least they could do is show their appreciation once a year no?

Why would you expect a gift from the boss, or even buy him one?

There are only three of us in our office and thankfully we have never done gifts for each other. I do gifts for immediate family only at Christmas.

Maybe his wife didn’t think to buy one?

Mumsnet is really channelling the 1950's this Christmas...

A gift is something given because you want to do so.

It isnt a gift if you expect a reward.

The manager of the team I sit beside (and help out) got all her team a present. My boss got me, nothing.

It's actually not very nice to sit there whilst 8/10 people in the room are handed gifts.

Mine could have got me a gift but didn't.

Got one for the other team members though...

I'm a freelancer and my main client hasn't even paid my November invoice yet. Merry Christmas to me... No Christmas wishes from the boss although someone else I work with closely wished me a good Christmas yesterday.

In general, yes I think it's not unreasonable to expect a gift in that scenario, OP. All my previous bosses when I was employed got me something, usually chocolate.

Our senior got all the team token presents. That's been the norm in most places I've worked. I always got something as a secretary/PA. I also appreciated the team member who kept me stocked up with alcohol in return for my typing up his PhD papers throughout the year; I've still got some of it years later!

Is there a Christmas party funded by the executives?

Not quite the same situation, but I'm a GP partner, so along with the other partners I employ all the salaried staff (salaried GPs, practice manager, nurses, receptionists, HCAs).

I don't get a present for any of our employees, but the partnership does fund a nice Christmas party with a free meal and two free drinks for all staff.

yup I'm NHS and not a thank you or a merry christmas!

We had a really shit, right area team leader. It was actually quite embarrassing that every team had something from their bosses except us. Our operations manger got us all something but even then he didn’t seem to click!

Bit stingy.

DH is one of a team of about 10 who share 4 admin / PA staff between them. Each year they all chuck in £50 and the admin team get something lovely, like a hamper or Molton Brown goodies, or last year it was champagne and chocolates.

The admin team buy the bosses a token gift - this year it was a big box of liquorice allsorts.

Lots of you are missing the unique position of being someones’ PA, its not the same as a regular line manager, he is a thoughtless pr”ck.

bonny you're joking right??

I'm a PA and every boss I've ever had has always given me a Christmas gift. The other PA who shares my office has never had a single gift from her stingy boss. In fact, one year, a rep left a small gift for her on her desk. When she arrived her boss was standing there and said.. 'don't worry, its not from me'.

I hate this expectation especially based on how much people earn. Your boss is under no obligation and , in a working relationship you certainly should give with the expectation of receiving in return. I’ve just had an employee complain to my face that I didn’t get them a little something..

When I first saw your title I was going to say YABU but given that you're his PA AND you bought HIM a gift, YANBU!

Having read this thread I realise that our staff are actually relatively lucky. They get an all expenses paid Christmas party which this year averaged out to £60 a head (I know this isn't huge, but we're a small business and we do a few events like this a year), they get a Christmas bonus in their wages, nothing major per person but it costs us about £4k extra for the month AND they get to choose a gift from a selection that we put out (nice bottles of wine, fancy chocolates and biscuits, etc).

It really wouldn't have done him any harm to even just buy you a bunch of M&S Christmas flowers to say Thank You for your work this year, OP. Is this the first Christmas you've worked for him?

My boss (Head of a small Primary) bought everyone a bottle of wine and bought me a scented candle as I don't drink.

That should say “ shouldn’t give with the expectation of receiving in return”

Yanbu - he’s an idiot, piss off your PA at your peril!

I’m with you @Mylittlerobin when I worked as a PA both of my bosses always got me a bottle of champers every Christmas - and I only got them a card!

It is mean I agree.

I’m a PA to very high earners too. Every year I get lovely gifts from the team. In the past I’ve had £200 gift vouchers and Jo Malone perfume! For the amount of personal things I do to make people’s lives easier that aren’t part of the job role, it’s a small thing. Your boss obviously doesn’t appreciate everything you do.

I'm public sector and manage a team of ten. I got them all a Lindt reindeer. Not much but I'm part-time and skint.

It can depend on culture but i dont think yabu based on my industry. (Media/advertising)

In my company/past companies the PAs are all on first name terms with the wife/partner* and are heavingly involved in all logistical aspects of their bosses lives. A good PA is often all that stands between them and burn out. Depending on how big the boss is they usually get something worth £100-500 although one got a birkin?!?! Wtaf?
*industry is pretty sexist and still mostly the preserve of the grey haired white man.

I do not think it's too much to expect a nice Michael kors handbag/white company gift set/whatever.
In fact any decent boss (or more often their wife - yes I know, how depressing...but it's the reality) does this because they know how much a bad PA can fuck up their home life.

I'm not joking when I say I would be looking for a new boss who appreciates what I do....it's especially shit if all the other PAs got something lovely

Should add everyone apart from PAs gets a big fat nothing apart from our salaries