Dear Manager

You make 100K annually. We bust our asses meeting your deadlines all year to make you look good. So why do you offload the seasonal cheer back onto us, and ask us to buy each other $30 Christmas gifts? You could thank us out of your own pocket because you make so much more than us. But you instead give us more work (shopping for coworkers) and ask us to spend $ on each other in a gift exchange. I miss my past boss who made six figures and would surprise us with unique bottles of wine or cover the tab for everyone’s lunch out. The underlings gift exchange is deflating.

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Sounds weird...

Dec 9, 2017 at 9:31am

... it seems like the "elementary-school-ification" of society is complete. I can see an elementary school teacher "organizing" something like this for her "class," but a manager organizing it for employees? And if you don't go along, you're "not a team player," etc. etc.

I imagine anyone who objected to this in the strong terms an adult should object to it would be looking for new work.

18 6Rating: +12

Dear "Underling"

Dec 9, 2017 at 10:47am

Deadlines don't exist to make a Manager look good, they exist because things need to get done. The Manager is obliged to make it so.
100K is great, but not a fortune anymore. You don't know what obligations a person has - ill family members, old debts to pay off, uncovered prescription drugs etc. (My Mom's drugs were $2000 per month).
It's the company that should be offering to cover a Christmas party, not an individual Manager. (Unless you are small, one boss).
For a while, I took every staff member out to lunch for reviews, bought flowers and gifts for birthdays and covered small costs personally all the time. It was enjoyable, but it really wasn't my place to do so, and it did put a strain on finances.
BTW, you should be regarded as a valued employee, not an underling.

Not generalizing but...

Dec 9, 2017 at 8:20pm

For the past few years, I've organized clothing charity drives at work.
Everyone in the office participated except the executives.

11 9Rating: +2

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