No employee appreciation for you!

[IndianInlaw]

Gosh, it's just plain  awful to know a party is going on, that you would like to attend and are not invited.



On the bright side, who else gets a chance to relive junior high school?

[LadyJaneinMD]

Gosh, it's just plain  awful to know a party is going on, that you would like to attend and are not invited.



On the bright side, who else gets a chance to relive junior high school?

*snort*  Thanks for the laugh!!  It's sad, but boy can I relate!

[StuckInCube]

My company does Christmas lunches and other celebrations for its employees. We have contract employees who also sit on-site with us. However, they are not included in our lunches, etc as they are technically not our employees. It really does come down to legal and cost issues. It is up to their individual companies to provide that type of celebration, not us.

I don't think I'd be upset at all if I was not included in a celebration since I would understand I don't technically work for the company. Yeah, it is sad that it has to be that way, but there really is a reason. I know when I expense things it asks if the people attending were employees. If they weren't, there are all kinds of other things you have to do in order to show you're not improperly using company funds on other than company people. So, in order to avoid the hint of impropriety, we're not allowed to pay for contractors.

[kingsrings]

Gosh, it's just plain  awful to know a party is going on, that you would like to attend and are not invited.



On the bright side, who else gets a chance to relive junior high school?

That is exactly what one of the invitees and I were saying. It is like school where somebody has a birthday party, and they hand out invitations to some people in the class, but not others, right in front of everyone. I told her that that behavior never ends, even when we're adults.

[kingsrings]

My company does Christmas lunches and other celebrations for its employees. We have contract employees who also sit on-site with us. However, they are not included in our lunches, etc as they are technically not our employees. It really does come down to legal and cost issues. It is up to their individual companies to provide that type of celebration, not us.

I don't think I'd be upset at all if I was not included in a celebration since I would understand I don't technically work for the company. Yeah, it is sad that it has to be that way, but there really is a reason. I know when I expense things it asks if the people attending were employees. If they weren't, there are all kinds of other things you have to do in order to show you're not improperly using company funds on other than company people. So, in order to avoid the hint of impropriety, we're not allowed to pay for contractors.

Unfortunately, what you are saying could very well be true. However, I wonder if there is a way around it where others could be invited without anyone getting in trouble for it. And even if there wasn't, it would of been nice for someone to come over and explain why we weren't being included. At least now we're being included in the department potlucks now. In the past, these would go on around us without us being invited to participate. Finally, some of them spoke up and said they weren't going to participate anymore unless we were included, too. 

[DottyG]

And even if there wasn't, it would of been nice for someone to come over and explain why we weren't being included.

You've made a good point.  Had someone come over, apologized and said, "Kings and others, I know it seems really unfair that you're not being included in this celebration.  I wanted to let you know that we're legally obligated to keep these things for actual employees only/our upper management forbade us from allowing contractors/we decided to revert back to Jr. High antics and say "Naaaa naaaa! You're not invited to our swell party!"/whatever.  We really wanted you to know that you're very much appreciated and that the lack of invite to this party is, in no way, a reflection on our gratefulness to you for doing such a great job for us."

Had someone actually had a backbone and COMMUNICATED with you a bit, things might have been different, and feelings might not have come into the issue.

[StuckInCube]

Unfortunately, what you are saying could very well be true. However, I wonder if there is a way around it where others could be invited without anyone getting in trouble for it. And even if there wasn't, it would of been nice for someone to come over and explain why we weren't being included. At least now we're being included in the department potlucks now. In the past, these would go on around us without us being invited to participate. Finally, some of them spoke up and said they weren't going to participate anymore unless we were included, too. 

You do have a point about it being explained. I know when emails go out they specify exactly who is permitted and who is not, so there is typically no confusion then. Perhaps you can make that suggestion for future celebrations? Excluding you from the potluck thing is weird. Here everyone is included whether or not they're a company employee or contractor.

[kingsrings]

Unfortunately, what you are saying could very well be true. However, I wonder if there is a way around it where others could be invited without anyone getting in trouble for it. And even if there wasn't, it would of been nice for someone to come over and explain why we weren't being included. At least now we're being included in the department potlucks now. In the past, these would go on around us without us being invited to participate. Finally, some of them spoke up and said they weren't going to participate anymore unless we were included, too. 

You do have a point about it being explained. I know when emails go out they specify exactly who is permitted and who is not, so there is typically no confusion then. Perhaps you can make that suggestion for future celebrations? Excluding you from the potluck thing is weird. Here everyone is included whether or not they're a company employee or contractor.

It could be looked at as rude and presumptious for us, the vendor, to tell our client how they are to do their celebrations, so I would not give them that advice to their face. As for the potlucks, yes, it was weird and rude, and no good reason to exclude us other than we're not technically employees. That's why I'm so glad that some of them started standing up for us and refused to participate until the "rules" were changed.

[LadyJaneinMD]

I work for the federal government (US), but I'm a contractor.  There is a whole BOOK to explain who can buy what for whom, and what celebrations are appropriate and what is too much, right down to what gifts and how much money can be exchanged to and from.  After all, this *is* the government, Your Tax Dollars At Work every day.  It's very complex and confusing.

And we don't do potlucks at all.  Just too much to worry about.

[kingsrings]

I work for the federal government (US), but I'm a contractor.  There is a whole BOOK to explain who can buy what for whom, and what celebrations are appropriate and what is too much, right down to what gifts and how much money can be exchanged to and from.  After all, this *is* the government, Your Tax Dollars At Work every day.  It's very complex and confusing.

And we don't do potlucks at all.  Just too much to worry about.

LOL at your last sentence. Would the potlucks really be regulated, too? I wonder what that would be. "No more than two people may bring deviled eggs" "No cocktail weenies in barbecue sauce in a crockpot".

[artk2002]

I work for the federal government (US), but I'm a contractor.  There is a whole BOOK to explain who can buy what for whom, and what celebrations are appropriate and what is too much, right down to what gifts and how much money can be exchanged to and from.  After all, this *is* the government, Your Tax Dollars At Work every day.  It's very complex and confusing.

It's not just the federal government.  I work for a very large, multinational corporation and we have a lot of rules about things like this.  The problem is that what is perfectly acceptable business practice in one country may be a very serious breach in another.

[LadyJaneinMD]

I work for the federal government (US), but I'm a contractor.  There is a whole BOOK to explain who can buy what for whom, and what celebrations are appropriate and what is too much, right down to what gifts and how much money can be exchanged to and from.  After all, this *is* the government, Your Tax Dollars At Work every day.  It's very complex and confusing.

And we don't do potlucks at all.  Just too much to worry about.

LOL at your last sentence. Would the potlucks really be regulated, too? I wonder what that would be. "No more than two people may bring deviled eggs" "No cocktail weenies in barbecue sauce in a crockpot".

ROFL!  yeah really.  It would be more about the cost of the ingredients and who would be allowed to partake.  In the couple of years that I've been here, they seem to be working VERY hard to separate us into an 'Us and Them' mentality.  The feds get to do this, but the contractors don't.  It's gotten so bad that I'm desperate to find another job, something where I can feel useful again.  Believe me, I'm looking. 

[freakyfemme]

Gosh, it's just plain  awful to know a party is going on, that you would like to attend and are not invited.



On the bright side, who else gets a chance to relive junior high school?

*snort*  Thanks for the laugh!!  It's sad, but boy can I relate!

Lol!!!  Why don't you do that?  You could throw a "relive junior high school" party for everyone who wasn't invited to the "employee appreciation" party.  When did you go to junior high?  Whenever it was, just organize the theme of the party around that decade, and you're set. 

[platys]

I work for the federal government (US), but I'm a contractor.  There is a whole BOOK to explain who can buy what for whom, and what celebrations are appropriate and what is too much, right down to what gifts and how much money can be exchanged to and from.  After all, this *is* the government, Your Tax Dollars At Work every day.  It's very complex and confusing.

And we don't do potlucks at all.  Just too much to worry about.

LOL at your last sentence. Would the potlucks really be regulated, too? I wonder what that would be. "No more than two people may bring deviled eggs" "No cocktail weenies in barbecue sauce in a crockpot".

I have an ex who is a lawyer for the federal government.   He's often field calls where like a group of contractors would want to throw a little party for the federal employees, and he'd have to tell them no, it wasn't allowed.  (This includes things like baby showers) I always imagined everyone standing around in a conference room with streamers up, and him dashing all their hopes.

[Tagy]

Many years back, I worked as an office temp at a large manufacturing plant.  At Halloween, the Powers-that-Be put out ginger cookies and apple cider in the break rooms and sent out a memo that temps were not to partake; the snack was for permanent employees only.