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”

Or you could just communicate better next time?

It wouldn't occur to me say thank you for something I thought was a company freebie.

I'm a freelancer right now so this kind of thing doesn't apply, but when I used to work in the public sector they always used to pay for everything, including taxis home. It wouldn't really occur to me to say thank you - I'd thank my manager for organising, but my manager wouldn't be the one paying for it, it would all be coming out of the organisation's budget (which is about £100 million a year).

If I worked for a smaller organisation that would be different.

Not necessarily. And if you're the boss, and you didn't mention the cost when you booked it, they probably thought you were stumping up the cash yourself.

If you didn't state the cost when you booked it, then YABU.

Why? Do they not deserve both?

I don't know anything about NHS work structure, but are is it like you are a consultant and they are admin- so a large difference in wage?

It does seem strange in the NHS and everyone would know that there was no Christmas budget.

If you’ve bought them all individual presents in addition to the tickets, you could return the presents and consider the tickets as their gift. I wouldn’t expect both.

I work for NHS so whatever Christmas do/celebration we do, we obviously pay for it ourselves and split the costs. So if I was on your team I probably would have queried this with you, as I hate owing people money and want to get my share transferred over asap.

However, you need to be 100% clear in writing that it should have been X amount per person and needs paying by X date. This way CFs can’t assume it’s a gift.

You live and learn OP.

Depends on the salary gap. My “big boss” earns about 10x what I do and I’d assume that anything he arranged he’d pay for. Someone one rung above me who earns 2x what I do I’d probably offer to pay but expect them to refuse - but if they didn’t I’d happily pay. Anything that’s a Christmas celebration I wouldn’t assume I had to pay for unless the organiser specifically said so.

Sounds like a simple miscommunication - they may think the company was paying rather than you personally.

@Helluvawomen I agree with the above poster and I was just coming back to say exactly the same thing as Possum has. If you haven't given out the presents yet, just send out a Christmas Greeting now, saying that the tickets were your present to them and return the individual presents - or keep them for next year?

You should have made it clear they were paying for their own before you booked anything. I agree if you didnt give clear instructions of amount owed and when it had to be paid by sounds like they think work is paying.

Unless you told them the cost up front, yes, they think their boss is treating the team to a night out. You can't bill them now.

(where on earth are you seeing something at a theatre for £20 a head?? - and please can we all go there?)

You messed up, I’m afraid.

If you told them the cost before booking, then just message them all with your details to pay the £20. If you didn't make it clear, then be prepared for a few to say no thanks. You can always sell their tickets.

Jesus lots of entitled scroungers on here! I'd never assume it was being paid for unless explicitly stated. But then I'd have said 'let me know how much to transfer for the tickets' as soon as it was booked. As for OP being 'the boss' that doesn't necessarily mean she has much more money than them. It depends on the company and the structure.

😂 no way id pay for a 'work' trip to a theatre for christmas although I might check to see how much it cost before I agreed to it (£20 = yh I could probably make it £50+ I'd have second thoughts regardless of wether it was free)

I have a feeling alot of people will drop out once they get the memo to pay for it so id absolutely double check the numbers with clarification before requesting payments.

Agree. And I'm very curious about what theatre performance costs 20 quid.

Sounds quite typical for public sector workers sadly.

The only thing is it wasn't agreed that they would pay £20. She as the manager should have communicated better when she was planning and told them how much it would cost and expectation that they would have to pay not keep quiet and "hope" they know.

I'd assume it was a gift if work arranged it. You are being very unreasonable as you should have been clear at the start. Some people might not have £20 spare

Unless the boss was absolutely specific that they had to pay for themselves I would think the boss was paying for it. I would have expected an email to say please transfer payment for your ticket asap.

If my boss had organised this and not said at the first mention "it will cost ......" or asked for a deposit then yes, I would assume it was covered by them.

You are being very unreasonable as you should have been clear at the start. Some people might not have £20 spare

This. Especially for a work thing.

And thank you would come on the day at the event,not before, I'm not a cf

Not entitled if it wasn't clearly stated. If the cost wasn't mentioned, then I would have assumed it was on the company. That doesn't make anyone a 'scrounger'. I'm afraid that the OP is guilty of a miscommunication and will have to eat the cost. She'll know another year.