Staff xmas drinks - is this a cf thing to do?

[Botox30k]

Light-hearted but... still irritated

Works Xmas do tonight. I'm the team line manager, but not paid massively more than the rest of them. I think - and they say - I'm a decent boss who protects them from pressure

Have bought thankyou Xmas gifts for all (15) , also thought I should offer to buy the first drink.

Most people standard large glass of wine etc, one cheeky git ( stood at bar and so placed his order direct, I was just stood with card) - a large glass of red with a double brandy chaser. His drink alone was £20

I'd never do that - diet coke thanks and I'd buy my own expensive drink later!!

I've worked public sector all my life... in private sector is it really the case that manager's buy drinks and then get to expense them?! It's such an alien concept to me.
My works public sector Christmas 'party' is sit in the work cafe for a couple of hours one afternoon with a free tea or coffee and do a quiz 😂

Yeah and then all the managers sign each others expenses off so there's a really high budget!

The double brandy was CF. I used to know an alcoholic who did that when people were buying drinks. We eventually stopped.

Now you are prepared, you can fend it off in future

IMO presents for the team are unnecessary unless perhaps it is a Secret Santa of negligible value. People will not be grateful because they will assume the boss has an allowance or is claiming it back.

No way would I buy my team presents.

Yeah and then all the managers sign each others expenses off so there's a really high budget!

Not quite. In some companies the company will pay for the drinks, and the manager or someone has to front up the cost and claim back from expenses. They can sign off each others expenses as much as they like but at the end some boring git in the accounts team (me in our case) has to check them all and reject or accept according to company rules and tax law which covers this kind of thing

You can spend up to £150 per employee per annum after that it becomes a tax issue, so it's not unlimited what you can spend pp on a Xmas do in the private sector, though I suspect some companies/sectors find ways round this to splash the expenses cash (banking sector perhaps!)
www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim21690

I was also public sector all my life but I do remember when the Director, Heads of Division and Heads of Section used to pay for the booze from their own pockets at the Christmas lunch. We had to pay for our own food of course.

My husband's dinner/drinks etc are always expensed so they order ridiculously expensive everything. Bottle of Champagne each? Go for it! Taster menu for two just for me? Fine!

If you know the person is paying out of pocket then no way would I order essentially two drinks. I wouldn't even order a large wine to be honest - unless you're all on 200k + salary then a team of 15 all ordering a large drink is going to add up.

I'll bet you anything your manager has approved expenses you don't know of

What a CF. If someone's buying the team a drink then courtesy suggests that you ask for a small wine etc - not 2 drinks and not a double either!!

True, we had a HT who used to order in pizza for everyone on parents evenings ( by everyone I mean staff not parents!) we all thought he was generous and kind, until the day the receipt was accidentally lost and he was furious as without it he couldn’t claim the money back!

I paid £18 for a cocktail and a glass of port last night. Most cocktails were c£10, then wine was from £6 for the small. So I assume the port was £8.

So £20 for those two actually sounds a bit low!

I'll bet you anything your manager has approved expenses you don't know of

Nope. That's not how it works. Do you work in accounting, auditing or anything remotely related? Any company breaking the law like that will be in the poop.

If they successfully hide it elsewhere, that is a different matter. If it is uncovered, everyone in the approval process chain is liable. Tax issues are prosecuted

That's what you can spend without a tax liability. You can actually spend whatever you like, but it becomes taxable on the individual.

I worked somewhere we had company paid for drinks every week. They just grossed up and made the tax payment on behalf of the individuals.

In the school I work with that would be mis-use of funds and it's specifically stated in policy that it's not allowed.

He’s definitely a CF. Everyone who works in public service knows the managers don’t get expenses for this type of thing. You sound really generous.
If he’s pulling this stunt at a work do what’s he pulling at work?

I don't understand why you didn't just say "it's one drink only". Not confrontational at all.

He was a CF.

You always spot these tossers - in Ireland there could sometimes be a free bar for a period at a funeral or up to a certain amount. It's very poor form to be ordering spirits, wine or beer only. I can't believe he ordered two drinks, personal payment or expenses; it's going to come out of the overall budget.

A different scenario but I was at a work event when the waiter came out and took all the guy's orders. (One guy ordered whiskey incidentally and there was some debate about whether it was allowed before it appeared.) I was the only woman sitting at the table and when the waiter went to leave I said "excuse me, you forgot my order"

"No don't worry ma'am I haven't, we serving prosecco for the ladies"

"Not for me thank you, I don't drink prosecco"

"Oh I'll have to check if you are allowed order something else".

If you’re buying gifts and drinks because you’re the manager, that’s a business expense that should be refunded by the employer. If your employer doesn’t pay for that, neither should you.

If you don’t tell your team clearly that you’re personally buying gifts/drinks, you can expect them to assume you’re getting reimbursed.

And what a load of unoriginal boring replies as usual telling you what you should have done.

Her aibu is "was he a CF?"
Not "aibu to ask what I should have said?"

I don't understand this immediate response from posters to tell off the OP for not responding exactly as they would.

Sometimes it is classier to not sink to CF level, write off the cost of the extra drink and reassess ever including the person again.

The I'd just ask for a diet coke thing is just silly and martyrish if you'd really do that. 😶

If you're buying the first drink, you've got to expect them to buy an alcoholic one. If you can't afford to do it, don't offer.

A large wine and double brandy chaser is absolutely taking the piss, tho.

It's usually just a done thing in the public sector, that on the Christmas night out the manager buys the team a round of drinks. I've done it to my team. The senior management team would club together and get each individual team a couple of boxes of chocolates to share too.

It probably was in ours too, but he was a financial wiz kid, we had never had so much money, Lord only knows where he got it from. I think he sold the odd Y6 kidney !

I work in public sector. Expenses are not allowed to be used to pay for alcohol.

OP and others have said already

Public sector

No expenses
"Christmas allowance". Eh, what's that?
pay rise. We're lucky we still have jobs