To think I shouldn't have had to chip in?

[feelingrobbed]

So basically, some dude at work has done long service. Really long time. Decades!

Good for him. Anyway my boss insisted on minimum £2.50 donation for his gift and chased us for it.
She also made us send the money to her bank account.

Am I being unreasonable to think she shouldn't have made us do this and also made it mandatory? Properly pissed off!!!

That’s a downright bloody cheek. His decades long service was given to the company, they should bloody well pay for his gift!!

I agree she shouldn't have made it mandatory. But for the sake of £2.50 its not a hill i'd die on.
Are the company themselves giving a gift of marking the event at all?

@Newname71 that's how I feel!! Why do I have to pay? I've only been there 3 months so I'm properly pissed off about it

@YellowRollercoaster no idea. She made us do the donation on pay day so we wouldn't miss it but he hasn't had his gift yet so I don't know if he's getting anything else

It is normal to give to collections in the workplace. That said I am not sure how she made you send the money. You could have said no.

Personally I wouldn't quibble over 2.50. Annoying but I'd let it blow over!

This reminds me of Ross in friends and the handyman story😆

£2.50 isn't my hill to die on. I know you haven't been there long and could you have said no? But either way, it wouldn't be an issue for me tbh.

I've already paid but it's the principle. It should be a choice

Unless you’re very hard up, £2.50 is a small amount to contribute so I wouldn’t get worked up. However, I understand that it’s the principle of being forced to contribute in an identifiable way and the embarrassment that presumably would occur if you declined.

This is exactly what I'm trying to saying.

There are members of the team on UC. Kids have just gone back to school uniforms and lunches to pay for

She didn't make you do it.

It wasn't mandatory.

You're annoyed with yourself because you couldn't find the guts to say no.

I'm with your on this OP. Your manager is totally out of line. The long service is to the COMPANY! They should be buying him a special gift for his service to THEM. It's got sod all to do with the other employees!!!

Whilst it’s obviously annoying to you it’s only £2.50 and I certainly wouldn’t begrudge chipping in such a small amount.

I could understand your frustration if they were looking for a lot more but maybe your boss wasn’t comfortable asking for donations and thought it best to keep it low.

If you felt that strongly about it you could have objected.

You’ve been there three months. I wouldn’t expect you to pay.

£2.50 per person. Unless it’s a big organisation, not going to get much money, especially for long service. Ten people - £25,

We had voluntary donations, and the ‘going rate’ was £2 for people you didn’t know so well, and £5 for the close workmates (and maybe more from managers).

Yes, there was no way for anyone to choose to discreetly not contribute.

Thats really weird, I’ve never contributed to long service gifts ever!

Only time it should be compulsory is if you have agreed to sign up to a birthday club where you agree everyone contributes for a full year.

Our long service awards come from the company, they're the ones who should be at stumping up!

The only long service awards I have seen have been given by the company, not the employees.

Sending the money to her personal bank account looks bad and insisting on a minimum donation is wanky, especially from employees who have only been there a few months.

Spot on

The amount doesn't matter. If I walk down the road and someone asks me for a pound I have every right to say no regardless of it being a small amount.

Also what if it's a big company and there are numerous collections. It soon adds up. They should always be voluntary.

In my work they send envelopes round and most people write their name on to say they put in. Recently they have started writing their amount on which means that say everyone puts in £5 and you don’t write an amount it’s obvious who paid less! Makes me really uncomfortable as money is tight and £5 seems to be the going rate. We have had 3 since August as it’s a large workplace. A few months ago my team was responsible for a collection and one of them commented on people not putting in and on how little someone put in!