Being "told" to donate for owners present AND told the amount?

[lecach]

I went ahead and gave my $10. It was clear that everyone else is doing it and I don't want to get off to a bad start. And really, it's only $10. Plus the owner met me for my first interview on a Saturday morning (and bought me breakfast) since it was hard for me to get away from my last job during the workday. So I really do owe a lot to her. It's still weird but I will just chalk it up to "small company culture".

I found out that the ringleaders are big brown nosers. Apparently one year the ringleaders tried to get everyone to go in on a vacation for the owner - to the tune of $75 each  ! The owners husband found out and put a stop to it. So I am getting off easy .

By the way - I have actually received a paycheck already which surprised me. I started on the 27th and they pay here on the 30th and 15th. So I got a check for my first 4 days.

[Venus193]

every office seems to have the busy body who wants to curry favor with the boss and this sort of lavish gift is a typical example -- it is ludicrous for the boss who makes the big bucks to be given a lavish gift that is beyond what the employees are likely to get at Christmas from anyone

Many years ago I worked for a place where this situation was applied to a baby shower for its female VP.  Everyone was told what to buy and approximately how much it would cost.  The amount was ridiculous for most employees.

Since it was a retail store that didn't keep good track of its saleable inventory, you can guess how most people solved the problem.

[kingsrings]

The point is, it is rude to make it mandatory to chip in for a gift. I don't care who does it or the size of the company or what their traditions are, it's just rude all the way. Have it be a choice, not an order. This is no different than requiring people to buy gifts for a wedding or birthday party.

[ShadesOfGrey]

The point is, it is rude to make it mandatory to chip in for a gift. I don't care who does it or the size of the company or what their traditions are, it's just rude all the way. Have it be a choice, not an order. This is no different than requiring people to buy gifts for a wedding or birthday party.

agreed, but perhaps the issue was that someone simply wasnt thinking about the 'new girl' and this email was just a confirmation of a previous discussion, sent to an automatic distribution group, (which now includes the new girl).  Defnitely rude to the new girl, but just a confirmation to the others. 

I agree that lavish gifts for higher-ups are generally a poor idea, but we have no other information except what the OP posted, and she was clearly more concerned about being told to donate and how much than about the etiquette of purchasing gifts for supervisors (since she's only been there two weeks, she doesnt really know protocol yet). 

[Venus193]

By the gods, if I were a CEO I would definitely not permit birthday celebrations on company time if only to prevent the abuses that they are prone to.  I consider it particularly inappropriate in this situation since the difference between an owner/CEO's salary and his/her lowest-level employee's is so much greater than it was 20 years ago.

[Deetee]

I went ahead and gave my $10. It was clear that everyone else is doing it and I don't want to get off to a bad start. And really, it's only $10. Plus the owner met me for my first interview on a Saturday morning (and bought me breakfast) since it was hard for me to get away from my last job during the workday. So I really do owe a lot to her. It's still weird but I will just chalk it up to "small company culture".
 

I think that seems the right thing to do.

Now I don't agree with hitting everyone up for a gift for the boss at all, but after two weeks on the job, just go with the flow.