I work in a t.v. facility where the overwhelming majority of workers in each department are freelancers. There is no line between us and them when we are at work- they hire folks to do a job, we all work well together and then go home.
This would have been the fourth Holiday Party. I went to the first two, had to miss last years. The two I went to were great fun- and all had a good time.
I was handed an invite, and the Confirm email address to use to be put on the list. This was last Wednesday. Between then and now apparently all non-staff have been UN-invited. What the fuck. Last year we were bought by a major t.v. network, to be used like many other cable outlets as an adjunct to the network programming. While no freelancers ( and most staff ) did not gain financially from that deal, all of us have worked hard in the last 4 years and all of us were proud of the step up in the world.
Things are not dire here. They spend money, sometimes wisely and sometimes not. But I cannot imagine that this is a financial choice. This is an elitist rude choice- it is in the true sense of the words a Fuck You to all of us.
So, FUCK YOU BACK, you cheap-assed motherfuckers !!!
I know we are not “owed” it and it woulda stung some to not be invited. But to make a big deal again of handing us the print-outs and inviting us and then UNinviting us all? Gee.
I hope they at least had the class to hand out un-invite cards as fancy as their invite cards. People could then frame them, and put them over their desks as motivational posters for the coming year.
Now that is fucking ridiculous. It sounds like someone screwed up and accidentally invited people that they shouldn’t have. Once that happened they should have just sucked it up and paid for the extra people. At the very least they could have apologized all over themselves for not knowing that Corporate changed the rules or something. That is one of the most classless things I have ever heard.
I’ve known a few media executives, and they’re not necessarily interested in popularity or rational decision-making. The media sector is where big bucks get spent on gambles and subjective decisions basically anyone could make, so execs are often interested in demonstrating to people that they are not just anyone; they are people you do not fuck with, or they’ll fuck with you. This is known as toughness in the business world, and abruptly uninviting most of the office from the holiday party is an excellent way to project it. (I don’t know the structure of your operation, but there also may be divide-and-conquer advantages to be had from setting “staff” against freelancers.)
One year they sent round a note from the Chairman saying that times were very hard, and instead of the expected 5% annual pay rise, we would be getting 2%.
Well there was some discussion, but in true Brit fashion we agreed to go along as team players.
Next came the news that the Chairman had been awarded a 35% pay rise, plus generous stock options and a massive boost to his pension. :eek: :rolleyes:
It’s the only time I’ve gone on strike (well I didn’t want to be the only one left in the office!)
I’d be inclined to file this under “incompetence” rather than “malice”. My assumption (which may or may not be what actually happened in your case, but I’ve seen in happen many times in my industry) is that the sequence of actions was something like the following:
1 - In years past, freelancers were invited to parties same as full-timers.
2 - Corporate policy is changed so morale events are now only for full-timers, since there are legal implications about treating freelancers and full-timers the same way outside of core duties.
3 - Person who handles invitations sends out invites to both full-timers and freelancers since that’s what always happened before.
4 - Person who handles invitations is informed of the new corporate policy.
5 - Person who handles invitations is now forced to retract the freelancers’ invitations.
Fallacy of the excluded middle. The decision could have been made maliciously by an incompetent.
I will say that this beats out my experience. In '82 I was RIFfed, along with some others, in October. Despite the layoffs, they department had the usual Christmas party. In '83, a very few contractors had been brought in and they were invited to the Christmas party. In '84, they brought me back in to do some work that I was particularly well suited to perform, having been an employee working on that system. By December, I, a former employee, was the only contractor in the shop. The Applications Manager went around the department and personally handed out invitations to the party to every employee–bypassing only my desk.
He lost a whole bunch of good will from the rest of the staff (many of whom I had bailed out of problems and e.m. situations).
One of my former co-workers had something similar happen, except it was a launch party for the video game he’d been working on. The party was going to be a catered picnic on company grounds. At the last minute, someone decided that QA didn’t need to go to the party, and all the people who had tested the game were dis-invited, including my co-worker. The kicker? From the office where QA is located, they could all look out the windows and watch everyone else enjoy the picnic while they worked.
Reading the OP made me think “Wow, I’m glad I left the television field!”
That said, here’s the core of the matter:
You may have been used to being treated the same as the full timers, but that is now at an end. Small operations can get away with that kind of behavior, but large corporations can’t, and they have strict policies about it. Expect the major TV network to start driving a wedge between freelancers and full timers. Life as you know it is over, unless you can get a full time position.
Yeah, I’ve gotten that too. I took a temp job at the corporate headquarters of a video rental place and worked in their web department. I was the only full-time temp there, and I worked on content, contests, and page postings right alongside everyone. I was in the meeting where our boss appealed to us to please, please, please get revved up and hit the goal numbers for our next quarter. If we did, she’d make sure we were rewarded. I, like everyone else there, did the revving and helped not just hit but surpass the numbers.
At the quarterly meeting, it was obvious we had hit the goal numbers, because there were a whole bunch of boxes with the most awesome suede jackets you’ve ever seen, each one stitched with the company logo. I was one of the last ones in, and we went through most of the meeting, and then the manager excused the two part-time temps who took handled the web orders.
She started handing out jackets to everyone.
Except me.
I didn’t get one, because I was a temp.
And you know, if she’d told me that at any point short of me coming up and asking her for my jacket, I would have been disappointed but cool with it. As it was, I went back to my desk and pouted for the rest of the day. Boy, did THAT suck.
Hi. Okay, an update and answer to a question up there.
I was told by a crew member, who was here yesterday when the word was passed around from Production.
Here is what happened. We were bought for $ 325 Million by a major network last year. This is the first Christmas party since the merger/purchase. Apparently “The Suits Uptown” are delighted to have this division to play with, and after hearing that the Christmas Party was A) Budgeted and B) Scheduled with the same group of staff and freelancers as in past years, The Suits Uptown decided to Uninvite all freelancers.
To make room for themselves and their spouses. Without going over budget.
I’m pissed, but I’ve been in the business for 27 years so I am not overly surprised, now that I have found out what happened in some detail.
Sucks, though. We all work the same hours, and they’re long hours. Oh well. I’ll be flying to L.A. that day, and would have declined the invite today by email anyway. Why L.A. ? Cause I’m a freelancer, and I got a gig that weekend !!!
As we say, it’s ALL about the swag. ( Which frequently stands for "Stuff We Ain’t Gettin’ ! " )
We’re shocked when we are handed anything at all around here. That’s ok. I don’t wear baseball caps, I’ve given away all of the swag hats I’ve gotten over the years. I do enjoy a lovely black wool and leather bomber jacket that was given to me in thanks for doing a product demo for a company a few years ago.
Sorry you got screwed out of nice swag- they simply do NOT get it. You helped them to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in rentals, and they wouldn’t spring for the extra three hundred for your jacket? Small-minded in the extreme…
I work for a Fortune 50 company and have to attend HR training once a year to reinforce our temp/employee “wall.” Among other things, temps are NOT to be included in holiday parties because of co-employment issues. In other words, if we treated temps the same as we treat employees, then the temps could build a case against us and sue us for benefits, profit sharing, etc., that the employees receive.
I am a renegade as I willfully violate the rules. I can’t throw a holiday party (can’t say “Christmas”) and invite everyone but the temp who works just as hard as everyone else for less pay. If they want to fire me for doing so, have at it. I’ll clean out my desk with my head held high.
I’ve worked as a temp before, was assigned to a firm that processed documents for the legal industry. On a monday the temp agent who was in house at this office handed out slips inviting all the workers including temps to an open house at a ice rink for skating and food on Friday night.
I was hugely pregnant but took the coupon anyway. I called in sick on Friday. but had the balls to show up at the skating party on Friday night with my husband who skated. We were approached by the big boss lady and made to feel welcome.
Imagine my surprise that no other temps were at the rink. I learned on Saturday they were all laid off on Friday morning. All of them, except me! what the hell I thought, I’ll go to back to work and see what happens. Certain I would be let go, I still went to my desk and worked the whole day. Finally the inhouse bitch said that I was kept because so and so liked me. (Bull shit, they let one slip through the cracks and didn’t like having shit on their face).
I loved giving her my notice 6 weeks later. Just told her as she was passing through the office that it was my last day. She hated not being in control of that!
:eek: :rolleyes:
