To think they are all cheeky bastards

[Helluvawomen]

I booked to go to a theatre show for the team I manage for our Christmas night out. We all agreed on the show and I'm sure they would have all been aware of the cost when they looked and agreed on the show.

I was expecting them to sort the money out that night and transfer the £20.

not one person has mentioned the money.

If your boss had booked a show for a Christmas night out would you assume it was a present or would you have been like “thanks for booking, here’s the cash”

I’d assume boss was going to expense it.

I'd assume it was a paid-for event if my boss hadn't checked a) that this is something everyone fancied doing or b) that the cost was acceptable for everyone.

I'd assume there was a budget and this was being covered by the company unless it was specified that we had to pay ourselves.

Reverse or not, someone has dropped the ball massively by not being specific about who is footing the bill. Honestly if you ask for the money now I’d expect more than 1 person to drop out as they clearly aren’t expecting to pay! Good luck!

YABU

You should have told them the cost beforehand.

You have no right to spend other peoples money that they haven't agreed to pay.

It’s a bit ambiguous given you’re the boss.

Similar to pp I’ve had work pay for nights out, events for staff to go on, especially around Christmas time, so if a manager was organising something and didn’t make it clear that everyone had to pay for themselves, then I probably would assume that it was coming out of some company budget.

Did you tell them when you were arranging it that you wanted them to pay for themselves?

I would have assumed it was a treat. I used to take my team out for Christmas and footed the bill.

I don't get it, have you never booked anything before?

"Dear all, the cost of tickets is £20 each. Here are my bank details, please make payment by X date so I can go ahead and book, thanks".

We all agreed on the show and I'm sure they would have all been aware of the cost when they looked and agreed on the show.

From this it’s clear the cost wasn’t mentioned, so you’d obviously assume the boss was paying.

How many are in your team?

Where I work now, I would assume it was the boss paying. Where I used to work, I would know perfectly well it'd be us contributing, but it would also have been made crystal clear, with explicit 'can people afford something like x or is something like y a better bet?' included in the message. If you're less boss and more line manager (sounds as if this might be the case when you say 'a team I manage') I think it's more uncertain; I would probably assume you had been given money from the high-ups to fund a trip out, but might ask about it. It really depends on the culture where you work.

My boss arranged our works do, which was a meal, and even to the point we ordered I wasn’t sure whether we were paying for our own or whether work was going to pay for it. Turns out we were buying our own, which I had budgeted for, but it was by no means obvious.

I would assume a gift unless specifically stated.

However, as you say “I'm sure they would have all been aware of the cost when they looked and agreed on the show.”, it doesn’t sound like you did discussed the payment and were only discussing the date and which show.

Sorry, people aren’t mind readers. Even if you have a culture that staff pay for their own Christmas meals, then how do people know to pay you £20.

I would assume that my employers were paying as a Christmas treat unless my boss said hey, this show is on. Does anyone fancy it? Tickets are £x each. Let me know and I'll book them and send you my bank details.

If the cost of tickets was not mentioned previously then it’s a fair assumption that the boss was footing the bill.

I think it’s very strange no one has paid. If you had made it blindingly obvious it wasn’t a treat at least 1 person would have paid. We need to know the exact wording of house this idea was pitched.

Was there an opportunity to opt out? I’d bet happy if it was deemed a work event and I had to pay, I fucking hate the theatre let alone with colleagues … no thank you.

Unless you explicitly made sure everyone knew the price and that they needed to pay, then you can’t ask for money now. They may simply not have budgeted for it as you’ve not told them.

@Helluvawomen OP, OP, wherefore art thou?

Come back and explainificate yourself.

Is this a reverse and you're a team member who's just found out their boss expected them to pay and you're pissed off about it?
Because you'd have got a chorus of yanbu's. You didn't have to do the annoying reverse thing.

Sounds like they all thought you / the company was paying

Next time, you need to communicate better, and not make the booking until they have all paid

£20?? I’d assume the company can stretch to that tbh.

There was 7 of us and NHS so they would know that it’s not coming from corporate funds

I was all ready to hit YANBU until you mentioned you were the boss. Sorry, but I think YABU unless you very clearly stated it was pay your own way.

Did you tell them the cost beforehand though? Bit late now to go back on it!

I would have assumed the company was paying tbh.

If you said "let's go to the theatre for our team night out. I've found this show on this date, what does everyone think? I'll book the tickets tomorrow"
then I'd assume it was covered by the company.

If you said "Do people fancy a night out before Christmas? I've seen this show is on and I wondered if anyone wants to come? It's only £20 each so I can get the tickets and people can just send me the money" then it's quite clear that they are to pay their own way.