Dear bosses, a potluck meal is not saying "thank you for all you" to your staff

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, OP, that sucks.

Companies are cheap as hell. I once worked somewhere that tried to pass off the opportunity to wear jeans to work on Fridays (in the summer in DC!) as a staff appreciation program. But in order to earn the right to wear jeans, you had to donate a minimum of $5 to a charity chosen by one of the management team members, and there was literally someone who would come around with a list to see who had donated and then look under your desk to see if you had jeans on.

I felt so deeply appreciated that I went and got a job somewhere else where I could wear jeans whenever I wanted and there was no compulsory charity requirement.

The Jean Pass Day, was it a law firm?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. Why do this? The boss can just spring for some holiday cookies and have a festive little afternoon tea hour if they don’t want to pay for a meal. Potlucks are a pain and can be gross.

My rule of thumb is that no matter how much employees like their jobs, the best two ways to appreciate them are:

(1) Money
(2) Extra time off

That's it. If you can do real holiday bonuses, that's best. If you can't, smaller gift cards are a nice gesture. I've also heard of places doing surprise days off between Christmas and New Years (why not, people don't get a ton of work done then anyway) or doing "early off" for the last couple weeks before Christmas -- people can leave at 4:30pm barring an urgent deadline or meeting. It's a nice way to allow people to spend more time with their families or to get additional holiday-related activities done, plus it's the darkest time of the year so an early release feels really good from a mental health perspective.

But yeah, money and time. Those are the things people want and need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, OP, that sucks.

Companies are cheap as hell. I once worked somewhere that tried to pass off the opportunity to wear jeans to work on Fridays (in the summer in DC!) as a staff appreciation program. But in order to earn the right to wear jeans, you had to donate a minimum of $5 to a charity chosen by one of the management team members, and there was literally someone who would come around with a list to see who had donated and then look under your desk to see if you had jeans on.

I felt so deeply appreciated that I went and got a job somewhere else where I could wear jeans whenever I wanted and there was no compulsory charity requirement.

The Jean Pass Day, was it a law firm?

Yes.

It is now $10 a "pass"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. Why do this? The boss can just spring for some holiday cookies and have a festive little afternoon tea hour if they don’t want to pay for a meal. Potlucks are a pain and can be gross.

Yep. There are several people in my office that talk a big game about their cooking skills and then you taste their food and it’s just… not good. People have gotten feeling’s hurt when no one touches their contribution. Stuff that’s supposed to be served hot is cold. It’s all so pointless.

I am a good cook, but I don't want to be known for that at my office. I made that mistake in my early 20s. That's not my calling card.

Now I'll just pick something up from a restaurant or store

[Anonymous]

Millennials and Gen Z don't cook, bruh. Everything is take out or ordered in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, OP, that sucks.

Companies are cheap as hell. I once worked somewhere that tried to pass off the opportunity to wear jeans to work on Fridays (in the summer in DC!) as a staff appreciation program. But in order to earn the right to wear jeans, you had to donate a minimum of $5 to a charity chosen by one of the management team members, and there was literally someone who would come around with a list to see who had donated and then look under your desk to see if you had jeans on.

Whoa speechless

[Anonymous]

INFURIATING!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, OP, that sucks.

Companies are cheap as hell. I once worked somewhere that tried to pass off the opportunity to wear jeans to work on Fridays (in the summer in DC!) as a staff appreciation program. But in order to earn the right to wear jeans, you had to donate a minimum of $5 to a charity chosen by one of the management team members, and there was literally someone who would come around with a list to see who had donated and then look under your desk to see if you had jeans on.

I felt so deeply appreciated that I went and got a job somewhere else where I could wear jeans whenever I wanted and there was no compulsory charity requirement.

The Jean Pass Day, was it a law firm?

+1 (my initial guess also)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. Why do this? The boss can just spring for some holiday cookies and have a festive little afternoon tea hour if they don’t want to pay for a meal. Potlucks are a pain and can be gross.

My rule of thumb is that no matter how much employees like their jobs, the best two ways to appreciate them are:

(1) Money
(2) Extra time off

That's it. If you can do real holiday bonuses, that's best. If you can't, smaller gift cards are a nice gesture. I've also heard of places doing surprise days off between Christmas and New Years (why not, people don't get a ton of work done then anyway) or doing "early off" for the last couple weeks before Christmas -- people can leave at 4:30pm barring an urgent deadline or meeting. It's a nice way to allow people to spend more time with their families or to get additional holiday-related activities done, plus it's the darkest time of the year so an early release feels really good from a mental health perspective.

But yeah, money and time. Those are the things people want and need.

Agree: money and time

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, this is the norm in government.

It would be a lot more festive to just go out to eat and pay your own bill, rather than being forced to make or pick up food. Or, just order pizza or delivery or something.

Making people take time out of their non work hours to put on a work party with their own money isn't very festive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Millennials and Gen Z don't cook, bruh. Everything is take out or ordered in.

I’m the PP who said that the people who brag about their cooking aren’t very good cooks and they’re totally the millennials and Gen-Zers! They can’t cook, they just think they can because they watched a YouTube video or something.

[Anonymous]

Opt out. Don't bring anything, don't eat anything. I've done this at times. A couple of times, I made up an excuse. Once said I had a doctors appointment. Sometimes, some co-workers did the same.

If office environment was where it would cause more issues than not, I'd bring a pack of cookies or chips and still possibly not participate in the meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. Why do this? The boss can just spring for some holiday cookies and have a festive little afternoon tea hour if they don’t want to pay for a meal. Potlucks are a pain and can be gross.

My rule of thumb is that no matter how much employees like their jobs, the best two ways to appreciate them are:

(1) Money
(2) Extra time off

That's it. If you can do real holiday bonuses, that's best. If you can't, smaller gift cards are a nice gesture. I've also heard of places doing surprise days off between Christmas and New Years (why not, people don't get a ton of work done then anyway) or doing "early off" for the last couple weeks before Christmas -- people can leave at 4:30pm barring an urgent deadline or meeting. It's a nice way to allow people to spend more time with their families or to get additional holiday-related activities done, plus it's the darkest time of the year so an early release feels really good from a mental health perspective.

But yeah, money and time. Those are the things people want and need.

Agree: money and time

Ding, ding, ding..we have a winner! OP, I completely agree with you and thank you for your public service announcement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. Why do this? The boss can just spring for some holiday cookies and have a festive little afternoon tea hour if they don’t want to pay for a meal. Potlucks are a pain and can be gross.

My rule of thumb is that no matter how much employees like their jobs, the best two ways to appreciate them are:

(1) Money
(2) Extra time off

That's it. If you can do real holiday bonuses, that's best. If you can't, smaller gift cards are a nice gesture. I've also heard of places doing surprise days off between Christmas and New Years (why not, people don't get a ton of work done then anyway) or doing "early off" for the last couple weeks before Christmas -- people can leave at 4:30pm barring an urgent deadline or meeting. It's a nice way to allow people to spend more time with their families or to get additional holiday-related activities done, plus it's the darkest time of the year so an early release feels really good from a mental health perspective.

But yeah, money and time. Those are the things people want and need.

Agree: money and time

And if you're a boss who isn't in a position to give money and time off, for heaven's sakes, don't create more work or expense (nothing that costs money, nothing that requires cooking, etc.)

[Anonymous]

OP again. Found out more annoying information. This is a very small company. The owner took the 5 managers from a different side of the company to a $700 dinner in a rented limo. The rest of us, our department of 7, gets $30 to spend on a ham, rolls, & pasta salad and the honor of potlucking the rest. ugh, just shaking my head. Bet he will try to say the potluck is also on our unpaid lunch hour.