I would love it if they would ban Secret Santas, ornament exchanges, birthday bashes, baby showers, going away parties, welcome parties, anniversaries and most especially potlucks at my office. Like I don’t have enough to do/buy/cook/spend already on people who matter to me? Now I am being asked to donate to a whole bunch of charities, too, and am made to feel awkward if I don’t participate. The sign-up sheets are on the wall in the staff lounge, so everyone knows if your name isn’t there. For some reason, we never have gatherings outside of work, either. We cram everybody festively into the staff lounge for every one of these shindigs, taking turns racing for our ringing phones. And the person who organizes all these little parties makes it a hobby to feel personally left out/excluded/snubbed/unappreciated whenever possible. I wish she’d use this extra energy to do a bit of filing for me. Now there’s a present.