Woman, 28, Refuses To Pitch In On Retirement Gift For ‘Miserable’ Coworker After Years Of Conflict —’My Manager Said I’m Being Petty…’
- Personal Finance
ThePostMaster- 0
- 6 minutes read
Office retirement gifts are usually easy. Someone passes around a card, people throw in a few dollars, and nobody thinks too hard about it. Until one person decides they don’t want to.
That’s what happened in a Reddit post from a 28-year-old employee who said she refused to contribute $50 toward a retirement gift for a coworker she says made her work life miserable. The coworker is retiring after 40 years at the company, and HR organized a collection to buy her a watch.
Don’t Miss:
When the envelope reached her, the employee wrote that she passed. Later, her manager pulled her aside and asked if she forgot. She said she replied, “No, I’m choosing not to contribute,” explaining that she didn’t feel comfortable giving money to someone who had questioned her qualifications, made comments about her age, and undermined her in meetings since she started three years earlier.
“My manager said I’m being petty and holding grudges.” She pushed back, writing, “It’s not a grudge, it’s choosing not to financially celebrate someone who made my work life miserable.”
The Moment It Stopped Being About a Watch
According to the post, things got awkward quickly. Coworkers started giving her looks. Someone left a sticky note on her desk that read, “be the bigger person.” The person organizing the collection came by again to ask if she had “reconsidered.”
She said she hadn’t. Even after being told it would be obvious she didn’t contribute when the total amount was announced, she wrote, “that’s fine.”
Trending: Designed for investors with strong market convictions, REX Shares builds ETFs for income, leverage, and tactical positioning — explore the lineup.
What started as a routine office collection turned into something else entirely. Not everyone saw the situation the same way. Some people focused on workplace etiquette. Others zeroed in on the expectation itself, questioning why employees were being asked for a set amount in the first place.
When Workplace Money Gets Personal
The employee wrote that her boyfriend thought she should contribute just to avoid drama, but she said she genuinely didn’t want to give money to someone who had been mean to her for years.
See Also: Most Retirement Plans Ignore Taxes — See If Yours Does
Situations like this tend to linger because they aren’t really about the dollar amount. They’re about where people draw the line between going along to keep things smooth and sticking with what feels right to them.
For some, talking through those kinds of decisions with a financial advisor helps put everyday spending into perspective, especially when social expectations start creeping into personal choices.
Retirement gifts are supposed to be simple. This one wasn’t, and that’s probably why so many people recognized the situation immediately.
The retirement party will pass and the coworker will move on, but the decision was always hers to make. It’s her money, her $50.
Read Next: Before the IPO: How One Company Quietly Locked Up 500+ Iconic Character Rights
Image: Shutterstock
