What's your take on your office's birthday celebrations (if you have them at all?)
My office asks us to all chip in $2 to buy a cake (or two) once a month to celebrate that month's birthdays... the $2 also helps buy cards for those celebrating.
I think our celebrations are impersonal. We all know that we're all there because it's required.
I don't really want to be there, I don't even eat cake, and nobody else really seems to want to be there. We all have to be dragged out of our offices practically to go sit down and eat cake.
Then we all sing, "Happy birthday," like dying geese. And we always ask the one singer in the office to start off, then he demurs....
Finally, someone asks the birthday person, "So what are you doing for your birthday?" and it's always the same.
"Eating dinner out...."
Who even reads the card they get that the whole office was forced to sign?
I know I don't feel good in May when it's my birthday and everybody has to stand around to acknowledge that I was born.
I've tried not paying and not going, but lately, if we don't pay up, the administrative assistant sends aggressive e-mails and passes out neon green sheets of paper saying the birthdays will have to be postponed until the following month if we don't pay up.
When I pointed out to my boss that maybe some people would rather do something different, in fact, that some people don't like being the center of attention, she pretty much blew me off.
Here's an article on the subject from Monster.com.
My office asks us to all chip in $2 to buy a cake (or two) once a month to celebrate that month's birthdays... the $2 also helps buy cards for those celebrating.
I think our celebrations are impersonal. We all know that we're all there because it's required.
I don't really want to be there, I don't even eat cake, and nobody else really seems to want to be there. We all have to be dragged out of our offices practically to go sit down and eat cake.
Then we all sing, "Happy birthday," like dying geese. And we always ask the one singer in the office to start off, then he demurs....
Finally, someone asks the birthday person, "So what are you doing for your birthday?" and it's always the same.
"Eating dinner out...."
Who even reads the card they get that the whole office was forced to sign?
I know I don't feel good in May when it's my birthday and everybody has to stand around to acknowledge that I was born.
I've tried not paying and not going, but lately, if we don't pay up, the administrative assistant sends aggressive e-mails and passes out neon green sheets of paper saying the birthdays will have to be postponed until the following month if we don't pay up.
When I pointed out to my boss that maybe some people would rather do something different, in fact, that some people don't like being the center of attention, she pretty much blew me off.
Here's an article on the subject from Monster.com.
