Collections at work

[JP1234]

Last Winter I went to a VEC art class - a short course of ten, two hour sessions.
I paid a fee of course, but as usual there is always one character who feels we should 'buy teacher a present' at the end of the course.
I and some others felt it did not necessitiate buying a present, particularly as the course was by no means fantastic. However, some still went ahead and passed the envelope around - I think it is a silly practice which needs to be reviewed in the present state of peoples finances.

Seriously! That is just wrong, I don't get the mentality of people who would do that, it's not like the teacher was doing the job for free!

Going slightly OT, it's the same with parents buying school teachers a gift "from the child". Wholly inappropriate and was thankfully banned when my son was at Primary.

 

[cork]

It is crazy the amount of coolections, birthdays, for newborns, weedings etc.

Another thing that I find annoying is charity collections for trips to 3rd world countries.

 

[liaconn]

I also hate when someone specifies that they don't want a collection and they don't want a presentation and people just ignore them and go ahead anyway. It caused major embarassment where I work a while ago when a collection had to be dismantled and handed back to the donors because the subject of the collection was furious his request had been ignored.

 

[Yorrick]

The trick is to hold on to some of that useless foreign currency from east europeasia where a paper note may be worth only 10 cents.
When the envelope is going around toss it in. No one will notice.
Job done !!

Pizza vouchers also work

 

[DB74]

The trick is to hold on to some of that useless foreign currency from east europeasia where a paper note may be worth only 10 cents.

Funnily enough I got a Latvian LAT2 coin last week as change somewhere. It is the spitting image of a €2 coin - same size and weight. I was suspicious because it was dated 1999 and the EURO didn't come into circulation until 2002, not to mention the fact that Latvia aren't actually in the EUROzone. I presumed that it would be worth about 5c or something so was planning to dump it into a car park somewhere but actually it is worth €2.85

[broken link removed]

 

[Leper]

For once, I think we are all in agreement. Don't contribute. Forget about putting pizza vouchers in an envelope (that's downright schadenfreude). You only have to say 'No' once. If you keep saying 'Yes' well it will cost you. Stand up and have your contribution not counted.

 

[WaterWater]

Last Winter I went to a VEC art class - a short course of ten, two hour sessions.
I paid a fee of course, but as usual there is always one character who feels we should 'buy teacher a present' at the end of the course.
I and some others felt it did not necessitiate buying a present, particularly as the course was by no means fantastic. However, some still went ahead and passed the envelope around - I think it is a silly practice which needs to be reviewed in the present state of peoples finances.

I might be able to top this one.

We were on a weeks trip with the Travel Department in Italy a few years back. During the trip it was someone's wedding anniversary. Someone who became a drinking buddy of theirs during the trip decided to have a collection for the anniversary couple. I couldn't believe it when we were approached for a donation for a present. As we were only on a few days nodding aquaintance to these people we declined.
Needless to say we were blackballed for the rest of the trip. Didn't bother us as were were there to see the sights and not to spend the day inside the local pub.

 

[MandaC]

The office (betty stash , ie petty cash) pays for a cake when it is somebodys birthday. Just your own floor, not the whole office. They get a cake with candles, some little buns, sometimes fruit at tea break usually around half past four. Everyone usually takes 10-15 minutes from their day to have a chat, tea, etc and to be honest I enjoy it.

There is a collection when there is a landmark birthday, or a wedding or a birth of a baby, but it is limited just to our own floor. There is no pressure on anybody to contribute, the envelope is passed around.

If I am starving, I have been known to visit another floor to see if there is any leftover cake or biccies from a bday!