ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2007 > July > 30
Monday, July 30, 2007
Nickel-and-dimed at the office
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Sunday ajcjobs lead story by Laura Raines this week brought up a topic that many of us face at the office but are reluctant to complain about (at least not too loudly): the cost of being a good co-worker. None of us wants to be seen as Ebenezer Scrooge, but surely many of us get a little bit of a sinking feeling inside when we see our co-worker coming with that wrapping-paper sales brochure for her child’s school or when Harold picks the expensive seafood restaurant when your department treats him to a birthday lunch.
Baby showers, bridal showers, birthday lunches, welcome-new-employee lunches, company charitable fund-raisers, raffles, Girl Scout cookies … It adds up after awhile. If you say “yes” to everything and everyone, you could break the budget. If you say “no,” won’t you seem like a party pooper at best and an antisocial jerk at worst?
Do you sometimes feel besieged by these types of requests for money? Do you feel social pressure to contribute or participate? Or have you put an end to the “nickel-and-diming” — and, if so, how?
