Leaving presents at work: what's reasonable?

[FrenchGirl]

I am slightly surprised by the leaving present someone very junior, who only worked for the company a few months, is going to get: a £140 mini i-pod. So far £115 have been raised and we have been asked to contribute some more Whatever happened to a 'gesture' towards a junior member of staff, a card and a few drinks down the pub? The company has quite a big staff turnover, are our salaries meant only to cover presents for leaving staff?
What do you get the boss when he leaves? A Yacht?
Sorry but I am slightly annoyed by this. Am I being mean?

IMO, you should have a collection and then buy something for that amount, not the other way round!

I don't think so. Also what happened to passing the envelope around and spending what was donated?! In all honesty I would put another 5p in and leave whoever made this decision to make up the short fall. Hee hee. .

I don't necessarily think that someone senior should get a better present than someone junior, but I do think that it should always be fairly moderate present. Over £100 seems like too much to me, at work I used to give £2 or £3 for someone I liked (perhaps a bit more for someone on my team), once when someone I didn't like left I put in some Finish money from before the Euro .

I would just ignore the request for more money, and suggest they buy a gift cert towards an i-pod, perhaps John Lewis.

like the idea of a gift certificate but as I can't stand the woman asking for the money I will just ignore it and leave her to it makes me want to resign to see what I'd get
nothing is my guess

In the City, they often have over £100. But I've never heard of people deciding what to get, and then scrounging about to get enough!

i put a pound in for someone i know. if i dont know them i say so and don't care about the disparaging looks

I would put in what I thought was right. No more nor less.

I always used to contribute based on 2 factors : a) how much I knew and liked (or not) the person concerned, and b) what I could afford !

It does seem rather daft - and a little like emotional blackmail to ask people to contribute for a second time so a specific gift can be bought. But you should say you've already contributed and refuse to be drawn further.

I would just simply say something like "I have made my donation thanks" and leave it at that. Like someone else says leave it up to those that are bothered to make up the shortfall.

No you are not being mean. I suffered similar, in as much as every time someone had a birthday or a baby or engagement blah blah, I got the card and money pouch to make my contribution. It felt like every day was a hand out. Problem is there wasnt much going on in my calender so I never saw much come my way. Like you say, quite often you dont hardly know them other to nod as you pass in a corridor. I think it should be stopped.

Thanks everyone, glad I am not being mean! The woman organising the gifts and parties is a looney IMHO. The thing is, I work part-time for the company and mostly from home!! I have never even met, let alone spoken to, the girl who is leaving, so I think I'll ignore the request entirely. Or should I simply explain that I don't know the girl? Would that be rude of me?

Well, it might sound rude to the person doing the collection but hey you cant keep shelling out, where does it end!

i would say "i'm only giving 50p as i only deal with xxx half the time"