Surviving Christmas

Christmas shopping for your boss can be a difficult situation. First of all purchasing a Christmas gift for your superiors at work is considered to be somewhat of a faux pas unless the gift is being purchased by a group of employees.


While giving Christmas gifts to subordinates is generally an accepted practice, gifts from individuals to a boss can be viewed as an attempt to gain advantages such as promotions or favorable projects or treatments. Care should always be taken when giving Christmas gifts to a boss.


A boss who oversees the work of a small group of employees may receive a gift from this small group collectively and this would be considered appropriate.


In this way the gift is viewed as a gesture of appreciation from the members of the group rather than one employee "sucking up."


If you choose to go this route, I would suggest taking a collection, and then purchasing one gift with all the money collected - such as a gift card to a nice restaurant, a bottle of wine (or other alcohol if somebody knows what the boss likes to drink). Another gift idea would be tickets to a sports event...


It is considered acceptable to spend a little less than the budget as long as you refund the remaining money equally to everyone who has contributed. For example if you spend $20 less than you collected from 20 people, you should return $1 to each person who contributed.


If you are the person shopping for the Christmas present you may have to exercise some common sense and make judgment calls if necessary. For example if you collect $120 and purchase an item which costs $121.04, including tax, you may opt to simply pay the additional amount yourself if you are able to do so.


The additional amount is quite small and if the gift is appropriate, it might be worthwhile to incur this small expense for the sake of purchasing a perfect gift which is within your budget.


If you are not particularly close to your boss and do not often socialize with him or her you may not know a great deal about personal interests.


If you are unable to come up with a suitable gift idea, a gift certificate to a local restaurant is always an appropriate, and appreciated, Christmas gift.


All above said, I have never had an issue if I wanted to do something special for my boss at Christmas (when I had one that wasn't me, lol!). Usually it was a plate of home-made cookies or a 1 pound box of candies.


There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. Really. But do be discreet.

Many Blessings,
GrannySue

As usual - if you have any ideas, suggestions or comments, be sure to post below! THANKS!