"You're Giving me $10? Fuck You!"

The BBQ Pit
1

On Friday, Hubby brought home his paycheck. Inside was a gift certificate for our local grocery store in the amount of ten dollars with a little note, wishing us a happy Thanksgiving.

“How nice!” I said. “That’ll buy our trimmings for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s really sweet of your workplace to do that.”

“That’s not what my co-workers think,” Hubby replied. “A couple of them are actually pretty pissed off about it.”

“Why?”

“Well, one guy said, ‘Ten dollars? What am I supposed to buy with ten dollars?’ Some of them were sort of, well, disgusted. They think the workplace is being stingy.”

“Tell your boss not to give them anything at all next year,” I said, angrily. “What a bunch of jerks!”

Can you believe it? Out of the goodness of their goddam hearts, Hubby’s workplace decides to do something nice for their employees, and they have the gall to be angry about it.

This wasn’t the only occasion something like this has happened. A few months ago, the workplace decided to surprise all of the employees with a free lunch. (Once a year, they have a steak-and-potatoes lunch for the employees, and this year, they decided to do a second lunch, consisting of burgers, fries and a soda.) Hubby, who is in upper management, volunteered to be one of the folks that delivered the lunches.

He said that a lot of people actually bitched about it. “We usually get steak!”

“You’re still going to get your steak,” Hubby told them. “That’s next month. This is just something extra they’re doing to show their appreciation for the employees.”

“But we usually get steak! Why are they cheaping-out with hamburgers?”

“Look,” Hubby said through gritted teeth. “They’re just doing this to be nice. They didn’t have to give you anything at all.”

Perhaps it’s just the way I was raised, but whenever someone gives me something for free, I say “Thank you!” I don’t bitch and moan that the value of the gift wasn’t great enough. How rude!

2

No kidding. These people really need to learn some manners. But then, so do most of the people around these days, myself included.

The company needs to just skip the next planned little bonus, and let it be known that it was cancelled because of complaints about the last one. That ought to shut up the whiners. (It should, but I am afraid that it won’t.)

3

It’s amazing but I see this kind of behavior a lot. I personally don’t go for the workplace parties and such but I would never complain that they exist. These days, people should be happy to be employed.

Haj

4

Your husband works with a bunch of no-class slobs. And you can tell him I told him to say so.

Have him tell the ungrateful wretches that any of them who don’t want the gift certificates are free to give theirs to him.

Re the free lunch thing, it’s still rude to gripe about it but the company could have headed it off a bit by way of presentation. Either move up the steak lunch and do the burgers later or make it abundantly clear through the promotion of it that it’s a second meal. Or cancel the whole thing and spend the money on bonuses for the employees who will actually appreciate them.

5

That’s just ridiculous. I definitely agree with the whole “We’re cancelling the steak-and-potatoes lunch this year because you were such a bunch of assholes when we decided to give you some free burgers.”

Maybe they should have spent more time being starving college students. Lord knows I’d appreciate some free anything right about now…

6

One of the things I hated about my last “real job” was my ungrateful co-workers who always found a reason to bitch about their Christmas bonuses. “How come his was bigger than mine?” (We weren’t supposed to discuss the amounts.) “How come this isn’t X much more than last year?” And so on. Here’s a clue, people: It’s a BONUS. As in NOT REQUIRED. FREE MONEY that they didn’t have to give you. I’m self-employed now and nobody ever gives ME a bonus.

Wankers. I don’t miss any of the whole goddamn lot of them.

7

What a bunch of assholes. I hope they get pinkslips next Thanksgiving.

8

That’s why the upper-management folks were asked to volunteer to hand-deliver the meals. They were supposed to take them in to each area, and tell the employees that it was a little extra “thank you” for all of the hard work that they do.

Unfortunately, my husband says he was barely able to get the first part of the speech out of his mouth before being interrupted by protests that it wasn’t a steak in the container, but a lowly hamburger.

(It was a really nice lunch, too. Hubby brought one home for me. They had a container to the side which had lettuce, pickles, onions, a slice of cheese, and condiment packets. . . Everything you need. The burger was huge, on a sesame-seed bun, and the fries were nice and crispy. Each employee got their choice of soda, juice, or bottled water.)

9

I hate to be the guy who comes into a pit thread and says, “I bet we’re not getting the whole story.” but I can’t help wonder if we’re not getting the whole story.

I’m just thinking, “Are there any circumstances that would cause me to react in the way the co-workers reacted.” And I can think of a couple. For example, “Sorry, folks, no Christmas bonuses this year, but here’s a ten dollar gift certificate for Thanksgiving! Cranberries are on us this year!” If the company routinely jerks around the employees, and then tries to pull some penny-ante stunt to show how much they “really care,” then I’d probably be less than gracious, too.

On the other hand, maybe I’m just reading too much Dilbert.

10

They need to be reminded how many people don’t have a fucking paycheck these days, let alone a bonus.

Assholes.

11

Next time, PB&Js wrapped in the Help Wanted section for these idjits…

I bet upper management will enjoy delivering those!

12

I still wouldn’t excuse their reaction. No Christmas bonus is ever a requirement (barring contractual agreement to the contrary). Just because they did it every other year doesn’t mean they have to do it this year. A gift is a gift, period, and does not guarantee a repeat of itself.

13

You know…I guess there IS something I have to be grateful for with the other employees here. They don’t tend to complain about that kind of stuff.
Every now and again when we have a heavy bid schedule for the day, we get put on lockdown and the boss buys lunch for everyone. We get to pick where it comes from, and we can have whatever we want to eat, as much as we want!
On Thanksgiving, the boss buys a turkey for everyone in the company who wants one…even the people who work in the field who tend to come and go quite a bit.
We even get Christmas bonuses…in fact last year, I had only been here for about two months, and I got a hundred bucks…which was especially cool since I didn’t expect anything.

I have worked for companies that take the hard nosed approach to relationships with their employees. You’ve seen it: “You’ll work on Christmas day and LIKE it or we’ll fire you. You are lucky to be graced with this job and our infallible presence. BOW BEFORE US! KISS OUR FEET! ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that ever went wrong in the world is YOUR fault, peon!!”

What it comes down to is being spoiled on some level. Those ungrateful assholes are going to ruin it for the rest of you at some point. Mark my words. Management is going to get a strong whiff of their selfish bullshit eventually, and their gonna get tired of it. Tell your husband to have someone shut them up by any means necessary! :wink:

14

I happen to love little surprises like that! My manager is really good about little gestures like that. The rare 5.00 Starbuck gift card or the one time I got a 10.00 gift certificate to a local movie theatre was VERY appreciated.

15

My mother, the antichrist, owns her own business. She doles out bonuses and gifts to her few employees based on how well they do or don’t kiss her ass, bend over backward to do the impossible and continuously reneges on promises (like incentives, fewer hours, days off and the like). This is all due to whether or not the wind has blown a hair crooked in her craw. She also aims for pitting one against the other, with lots of jealous, gossip mongering and fear. Yeah, she’s a stalwart paragon of virtue, she is. It’s so disgusting, as a matter of fact, that I can’t believe by sheer word of mouth that she ever finds anyone to hire. Her only saving grace is that she is small enough to not always have a revolt on her hand, with only one or two people at a time, who are usually so under-skilled and SO over-a-barrel that they feel they must put up with her abuse. I’m surprised she hasn’t had complaints with the labor board.

Oh wait, she has.

However, of vast disgruntled ex-workers, she has MANY. Too many to count even. Turn over like that is usually only seen in places like fast food. If they all ever banded together to complain about their shitty treatment and environment, I can’t say I’d even remotely blame them. And further, if she were a management type in a big company somewhere, she’d be the first to suggest screwing people out of anything they might look forward to, desire or, as in the case of her going back on her word, depend upon.

Just another side of the coin to say that I can sometimes see where unhappy folks, with that kind of attitude toward some bosses, can come from. My .02 and all from one who’s been there. Unfortunately.

16

Something similar happens every year at my firm. We’ve got the usual benefit package, paid holidays, etc. Although Christmas and Thanksgiving are on the paid holiday list, Christmas Eve and the day before T-Day are not. The usual work day for secretaries and similar staff is 9-5, but several have asked to work 8-4 instead. Even though this can be somewhat inconvenient, it’s allowed.

Frequently, if we are not especially busy on Xmas Eve or Tday Eve, we’ll close the office early. It might be at 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Everyone gets to leave early. It’s a bonus and not in any way required.

Incredibly, this pisses some 8-4 people off. Instead of being happy that they only had to work 5 hours, they’re mad that others only had to work 4. (If it were up to me, I’ll tell the complainers that if they aren’t happy, they can stay until 4.)

On the other hand, the same firm employs student clerks on a part time basis. They now get about $13 a hour. (It might have been $7 when the event I’m about to describe took place.) If it doesn’t lead to a full time position, the clerk generally moves on within a year. At year end, we’d therefore have clerks who had been with us anywhere from 2 months to maybe a year.

Years ago, as kind of an afterthought, management decided to add them to the bonus list. Flat bonus of $25 pre-tax. Yup, they got a check for about $17. I had to argue for years to get that changed, even when I got to the level where I was involved in the decisionmaking.

Unless the check amount is at least 3 digits, it’s an insult, even for a low wage, temporary employee who probably isn’t even expecting anything.

17

I think that Mr. Lissa should send out a company-wide e-mail that suggested that those who were unhappy with their $10 gift certificates could bring them to him, so that he could distribute them to families with no income and had no chance of having any thanksgiving dinner this year.

Ungrateful bastards.

18

I’m not saying this is true of the OP, but Miller has a point.

I’ve seen that kind of behaviour - they want you to work 60 hour weeks for nothing, no overtime, no time in lieu. And it’s all because some stupid manager mishandled the schedule despite all the advice you gave them in the first place, and then they give you a free takeaway meal and expect gratitude. Excuse me, 20 hours of my time is worth a lot more than a burger or a carton of pad thai.

No thanks. I’ve left that scene, but my partner still encounters it from time to time. Dilbert is a documentary, remember.

19

It sounds like the employees think that unfare things are happening. Are the managers getting pay increases whilst everyone else has their pay frozen In such cases a $10 thank you for all your good work would seem like an insult compared to a deserved pay raise. Also has there been a tradition in the company of giving away much larger christmas bonuses? and were the employees not warned that this year there would be a cut down in the bonus due to financial constraints?
That said, it could also just be that the employees are a whole load of misserable sods.

20

I’ve got another one for you… perhaps the company has not seen fit to give anybody raises in a while? At my company, we’ve been under an “increase freeze” for 3 years. Nobody has had a raise in that time. They occasionally “reward” us for doing a good job, but they won’t even spring to buy us lunch. They let us bring our own food to a pot luck lunch. One of the other companies that work in our facility has not given raises in a while either, but gives out little “trinkets” to its employees every so often. Mints, highlighters, can “coozies”, a messenger bag etc… with the company name on them. Their employees would rather they just took all that money and give out raises, a messenger bag is nice and all and it is the tought that counts, but you can’t pay the bills with a Spherion messenger bag. :rolleyes:

Pebs