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!!

He was incredibly cheeky - and I think you would have been quite reasonable to only have paid for the wine and left him to cover the double brandy chaser himself, as that's a separate drink.

As an employee I made a mistake when my boss said she'd buy us all a drink. I asked for my usual tipple, a g&t. She snapped you can have the gin but not the tonic. To my disbelief she bought me a gin, no tonic. Apparently I should have asked for something cheaper!

Surely that's the same as a rum and coke or vodka lemonade.
She should have specified only house wine and cheap beer!

Wow how nice of you do that! Have never had that pleasure of a boss buying a drink or indeed a Christmas present. Have always paid for my own drinks and food on staff nights out myself! X

You’re being mischievous here. The point was is, that if someone is expecting a freebie but is ordering two drinks, then you’d expect them to pay for the most expensive one (a brandy in this case). The coke thing was just hypothetical, but you already knew that.

Intheflicker
And you sound like a complete pleasure, I bet you are a little ray of sunshine to be around.

No they don't sound right the op bought 15 presents and a round of drinks

There's always one OP. He took the piss, you could have dealt with it ie 1 drink, but you didn't, so bear it in mind in future.

Bless you for your pressies and first drink. Many managers wouldn't do that 👏👏👏

Not sure on the double brandy but a large glass of wine in our local is £7.50. Cheaper to buy a supermarket bottle !!

‘Tight’ wouldn’t be buying individual gifts for staff as well as the first drink. ‘Tight’ is a tin of sweets and a card ‘for the team’ !!

Absolutely cf. I am a manager in a family run hotel, we used to have a staff party in house, let them help themselves to the bar. It made me actively dislike some of them, they would line up the drinks and when we cleaned up the next day we would throw them away. Awful way to behave, nothing is ever free, someone, somewhere is paying, and they have earnt the money to do that. Whether a company or an individual I would never take the mick like this. I wouldn't want people like that in my team. Sorry.

Of course it's a CF thing to do. I'd have just paid for the wine.

ONE drink each! He was CF to order two but you should have said something. Main shock is £20 for 2 drinks!!

That’s why pub offers like “buy two large glasses and we’ll give you the rest of the bottle free”. You’ve already paid £15 and could get two bottles for that at the supermarket! Basically buy two large glasses and get two small glasses free.

Many years ago we were on a course in a hotel and the organiser said there would be a 1 hour free bar before dinner!!! He didn't offer it so openly the following year, no cocktails allowed, beer wine or soft drinks only.

He’s a cheeky bastard

Don’t buy them a drink next time. I wouldn’t if I basically earned the same as them.

We went out for a works do and the company were footing the bill, I had a few beers as did most of the people I sat with. There was another group who got a bit rowdy. On the Monday we were all called individually to our manager and she asked us what we'd had to drink as the bill was colossal. It turned out that's been heavily drinking triple jack Daniels and coke.

You should have called him on it, and just ordered 2 bottles of wine. Not that I'd have drunk it 😆. I'd have had an orange juice on the rocks as they say across the pond. 🙂

think buying individual gifts for 15 people, plus buying a round of drinks is excessive.

If you want to give some sort of gift, give something like a big box of biscuits for everyone to share. If you were being paid a lot of money or were getting expenses for this type of outlay then it would be OK but you might be giving the impression that you are much better off financially and there will always be people who will take advantage.