It’s a tough road sometimes. Sticking to your principles, often going against the “norm”. We’re all bound to make mistakes, in fact I made a small one just today. Gift giving in the workplace is a tricky subject. CF touched on this issue in a post back before we transitioned to the new site and I really agree that gifts are to be ‘freely given’. That is, they are given not because I feel obliged to contribute to the purchase, but because I would want to buy something for the person anyways.
Photo credit: Julian Wylegly via Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/quattro_ftw/3424691075/)
One of the girls in the office is getting married in a few weeks, and we are having a small celebration for her before she goes away. A collection was started up to give her a gift from her wedding registry, and I said I would contribute. I have not contributed to any birthday or celebratory collection in the year that I’ve worked here. Each time, it has been for someone, or something that I would have only contributed to because I felt obliged. This time was no different – I am not close with her and rarely interact beyond “hi”.
I admit, I had an ulterior motive to contributing. I started to worry that people would notice that I was not contributing to any of the collections. Would this make me look cheap? Will people like me less? Will they think I’m antisocial? My neuroses got the better of me and I conformed. I lost the battle today, but tomorrow I’ll learn from my mistake and try to live true to my philosophy.
