Work Christmas Lunch - Truth or a Lie re. Attendence

[Recruitmentangst]

Just as it says on the tin, really!

Civil servant. Middle management. Decent salary.

Staff Christmas lunch this year is £40?! (Organised by the HEOs - so more junior and therefore lower salary). I feel really awkward saying ‘£40 is to much for two courses, not including any drinks’ when they earn about £30K less than me (pre-tax). But equally…it’s far more money than I want to spend.

So, AIBU to be completely honest (both with my team and with my own line manager) that £40 for Christmas lunch is just too much for me to spend? I don’t want to lie - I don’t think it’s necessary and I don’t think it’s a good example to set and I’m very much a believer of being honest about finances - but equally it feels a tad insensitive to be blunt when my salary is much more…

YABU: suck it up and go, or tell a white lie.

YANBU: £40 is a ridiculous amount to expect people to spend on food alone for a work event and you should be honest.

I’m also a civil servant
I think £40 sounds ok, it’s what our Christmas night out is costing (bowling and boot less pizza and drinks).
but people need to stay out of other peoples wallets.
im not going to our night out because im away at another event, we having a second lunch on an office day for those that aren’t going the night. Should cost like £20 each. Which is good

Your finances are not the business of any work colleague let alone your team
Find an excuse. Please don't tell all and sundry your business, it's unprofessional and tacky

It says we have been brought up not to discuss our finances with people who have no business knowing them
And to avoid people, particularly work colleagues, who wish to do so

To much or too much? 😂

Don’t know what weird tabloid point about civil service killjoys you’re projecting on my post tbh - my point was that if you are delegating organising something to more junior people, you should still take responsibility for things like making sure they know e.g. that £40 is considered to be too expensive by senior management. If they’d known in advance, they could have tried to organise something cheaper but still more exciting than the nearest Spoons.

Mince pies and hot chocolate one afternoon would probably be a much better idea. Everyone put a 50p in for mince pies if the top management don't fund it.

I disagree.....well kind of. I agree that its tacky to go into details or boast but it can be helpful to others to say stuff like "that's outside my budget this month" As seen here, someone senior having the gumption to be tactfully honest can help more junior or less confident people to get out of an awkward situation. Where I worked, in a management team we were all at various life stages and used to have our management team staff meeting off the premises to get some uninterrupted time. We used to go to a local caffe Uno or pub/coffee bar so we could all get something that suited our pockets at the time and no one thought anything of it. OP I am glad the outcome was a good one.

It's the going rate this year, the cheapest i could find was £35 where I am (not London) so we are going to the local Indian instead who is charging £15!

Why do people choose to work for the public sector long term? It's utterly miserable. I lasted 18 months and got out of there as soon I as I could. I'm now earning £30k more with plenty of potential to earn more (and a bonus) and I've never paid for a Xmas do.

What is the appeal?

We do a ‘fica’ once a week of coffee and cake (homemade cake, coffee from our Nespresso) or I’d have suggested that!

As it is we’re all massively looking forward to spoons (mostly because we’ll get 10x the amount of food for half the price and we’re a bunch of piggy’s) 😁

Probably the pension.

I've just spent £24 on 2 coffees, 2 toasties and a bag of crisps from Costa so i guess £40 isn't really that bad.

What's a fica?

I had to look this up also
I'm assuming it's fika
https://www.swedishfood.com/fika
Rather than fica
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Insurance_Contributions_Act
😄

I work for the NHS. We’re going for a lunch organised by the secretaries in the department. I’m going because I like my colleagues and think it’s important to make an effort to socialise with other members of the department who I don’t routinely socialise with. I’m not doing it for my employer - I’m doing it because I enjoy spending time with my work friends and because socialising together makes things run more smoothly throughout the year. Also it’s a couple of hours away from the kids three weeks before Xmas - that’s a treat in itself.

Of course the tax payer shouldn’t pay for this. I’m not doing it for my employer I’m doing it for myself.

Surely the company should be paying? A small acknowledgment of staff hard work.

You must be really out of touch to think that applies in all workplaces, especially the public sector, where the employer pays for nothing that could be seen as frivolous staff entertainment with taxpayers money unless you're an MP.

Same here. A simple ‘no, I’ll leave it’ worked for me…or they put a list on the wall and you added your name to it if you wanted to go.

yes!! Typo on my part.

But honestly, Fika’s are amazing. Every workplace should have designated fika days