Workplace culture can be a source of stress and frustration for many employees, especially when they are expected to show gratitude and loyalty to their bosses, who often do not reciprocate with appropriate wages and working conditions.
One Reddit user reportedly experienced this firsthand when their office manager tried to “bully them” into giving money for a birthday present for their millionaire boss.
The user, who goes by the name u/brooklyn3264, shared a screenshot of an alleged text message conversation with their office manager on the subreddit r/antiwork, a community dedicated to criticizing the exploitative nature of work and capitalism.
Office Manager tries to bully me into giving money for a present for our millionaire boss
byu/brooklyn3264 inantiwork
The screenshot shows the back-and-forth between the office manager and the worker as he tries to pressure them into giving money for a group gift for their boss.
“Hi [redacted] I just wanted to confirm that you haven’t given any money for [redacted]’s birthday present yet? If you can drop $20 off to me during your next shift that’ll be great!” the office manager writes.
The worker replies that they aren’t planning on giving anything, but the office manager keeps insisting: “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Everyone else is pitching in, I just thought you’d want to be apart of the team.”
The office manager allegedly keeps bargaining, saying, “Can you do $10?” They also try to guilt trip the employee with, “We all wouldn’t even have employment if not for him.”
Finally, the worker responds with, “Can you just leave it be? I live paycheck to paycheck I don’t have extra money to give to our boss.”
The post quickly gained traction on the subreddit, receiving more than 1,300 upvotes and dozens of comments from other users who sympathized with the worker.
“‘we wouldn’t even have employment if not for him’ b*tch he wouldn’t have a business if not for us. stf*,” one commenter wrote.
“he’s not the only person out there capable of employing people. I’ll go somewhere else goddamn, f*ckin brown nosers,” another user replied.
“They always get it backwards. Labor is your business. Period,” a third added.
One more commenter shared his experience of dealing with a similar situation, stating “My manager bullied me into giving $20 for the owners birthday and they laid off my entire department two weeks later…”
A user in a similar situation posed this question to r/AITA in 2021. Many users determined that the user was not in the wrong, and reassured them that employees are not obligated to gift their bosses anything.
The Daily Dot reached out to u/brooklyn3264 via Reddit for comment.
