Baby shower at work, invited entire building...appropriate? (collecting, fund, career)
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We've had baby showers and wedding showers at work. It's usually either over lunch, with food provided for lunch, or right after work, with different refreshments that most companies would not provide over lunch!
Just got an "meeting request" in my work email (anyone who uses Outlook at work should know what I'm talking about) for a baby shower in the middle of the work day on Friday, held in one of the large conference rooms, and as far as I can tell at least the entire building was invited. This isn't a small company by any stretch (in total we have thousands of employees..our LinkedIn page says 5,000-10,000 employees, and I'd wager its closer to 10,000 than 5,000).
The shower is for a gal that holds a senior position in the IT department, but not management level (not that I think the position held changes anything, but I suspect people would ask anyways).
Doing a baby shower during normal work hours on company property just seems wildly inappropriate to me in the first place, and double so to invite thousands of people you don't even know. This is also the first time I've even seen such a thing here, and I've worked here for several years, so it's not like it's an otherwise common thing that I just haven't seen before.
Would you consider this inappropriate to be done at the workplace as well, or am I just still living in the distant past?
Just got an "meeting request" in my work email (anyone who uses Outlook at work should know what I'm talking about) for a baby shower in the middle of the work day on Friday, held in one of the large conference rooms, and as far as I can tell at least the entire building was invited. This isn't a small company by any stretch (in total we have thousands of employees..our LinkedIn page says 5,000-10,000 employees, and I'd wager its closer to 10,000 than 5,000).
The shower is for a gal that holds a senior position in the IT department, but not management level (not that I think the position held changes anything, but I suspect people would ask anyways).
Doing a baby shower during normal work hours on company property just seems wildly inappropriate to me in the first place, and double so to invite thousands of people you don't even know. This is also the first time I've even seen such a thing here, and I've worked here for several years, so it's not like it's an otherwise common thing that I just haven't seen before.
Would you consider this inappropriate to be done at the workplace as well, or am I just still living in the distant past?
No, not inappropriate. Mid-day is lunch time. I've been to many lunch hour baby showers. If they had invited only certain people, someone would have felt left out or complained. If you don't know the lady, decline. I'm positive no one expects 5000 people to show up.
ETA don't hold it against the mother to be. She might not have been to one to decide to invite everyone. IME, the IT department works with everyone, across divisions. That's probably why everyone was invited.
Would you consider this inappropriate to be done at the workplace as well, or am I just still living in the distant past?
Yes, I would. If a small group of friends want to go out to lunch to celebrate this, then they should do it, but it isn't inappropriate to do this in the office. Only company celebrations should be in the office during work hours. It's very expense to hold parties in the office in terms of loss productivity to the company. It's hard to take a deadline seriously if parties in the office are being held all the time.
I've never worked at a place where parties were NOT occasionally held. Be it birthdays, baby/wedding showers, work anniversaries, retirement celebration, etc. Most if them were either "sponsored" by the dept./organization. or had a pot luck type of arrangement.
In most cases, when the invite is extended outside the department, it's just letting people know so they can stop by and have some food and chat. The only situation where I'd think it would be inappropriate is if they expected everyone to bring gifts. That's something I've never experienced. Typically the close friends (or managers) would just pitch-in for one gift, and a card will go around for everyone to sign.
If you have to ask that question then you likely won't agree with anything I have to say. However...
1.) If I don't know you, I don't want to buy a gift for you and I don't care about your baby or your upcoming wedding.
2.) I don't like the concept of "shower creep" into an office environment. If you have close friends who want to give you a gift, invite them to your baby shower. Or they can give you gifts after work. Why is a shower necessary?
3.) Office showers are pure gift grabs, nothing more.
4.) Inviting the whole office which has, as the OP stated, hundreds if not a few thousand employees? Really?
Baby showers on paper are nice, but today they take on a new meaning from older days. Many people have not one, not two, but three separate showers. It seems as if they are trying to nickle and dime all their friends, colleagues, and family, it's sort of ridiculous if you ask me. When I have a baby, I will have enough money to buy what the baby needs, not ask my coworkers/friends/family to buy my baby things.
No, I've been to 2 dozen baby showers at work over the years. It's not inappropriate.
In terms of inviting the "whole building," though ....
I would wager that someone screwed up the invite.
Yeah, I've heard of celebrations at the work place before from baby showers, retirement parties, some birthdays (I know the library I work for does)... so I don't think it's inappropriate. However, I think someone messed up the invite because I don't think it was meant for everyone in that company - WAY TOO many people.
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