Might have been, this new regime makes it difficult to see timescales and even genders. 
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or she could be a Jehovah’s Witness. They don’t believe in Christmas or Christmas presents.
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You’re not looking at my gender! 
Unless it was Az, ‘cos it’s his site and he’s the boss, why worry about the slagger off ers?
Someone’s always going to have a whinge and moan whatever you do, after all, most of us are Brits!
Naughty! Now you’re just trying to scare her! 
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So, I mentioned to her manager that I’m still not sure what gift to get since her wishlist is empty. Her manager gave me some ideas.
Turns out, she also likes Gin. All sorted and ready for the party tomorrow.
On an irritation note, I got a traffic fine on the way home. Failing to stop. Yet a portion of the road is closed, so it shouldn’t really be a stop any longer. I did halt but apparently it wasn’t long enough for the policewoman 
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Perhaps she had a wishlist.
No, she didn’t know how to update the wishlist on the Secret Santa App.
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Happy to report that secret Santa is a success! Team 
party about to begin. We started with Artjamming!
Artjamming!
cheers!
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Your job looks fabulous Minx. I’m so jealous. I only go into the office once a week since the pandemic and really miss the party season. We have rail strikes over here too so many festive events have been postponed or cancelled.
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Oh well done you, looks as if you had a smashing time, when it goes good, it’s so good
You can relax now until next year!
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She’s probably started organizing the New Year celebrations.
I always hated Secret Santa. The office manager always clocked the gifts going into the sack and made a note so that she could tell the recipient who had bought the gift. Made a mockery of the “secret” bit. I would gift a sensible, tasteful present because I am loathe to waste money, but a large proportion of staff just saw it as a way of making you look foolish. Hated it!!!
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I’ve had some pretty bad experiences too!
Some do use it as a chance for a spot of bullying.
Shy people bought ‘vulgar’ gifts and their reactions laughed at
People opening their gift and saying “ eugh, who bought me this? “ when their friend who was the organiser has already told them and they just want to intimidate
People saying “I better get something good or there’s going to be trouble!”
The year I downed tools and refused to organise ever again was when I offered the office bitch the envelope with the names to pick out who you were buying for in
She pulled one out, opened it, and said loudly so the whole office could hear, “eugh, I’m not getting hers, can I swap it?”
When I pointed out that was hardly the Christmas spirit and no, she couldn’t, get lost, she threw the name in the floor, said “I won’t be in it then” and stomped off!
It was a pain in the bum because when I checked, someone had already taken out her name to buy for her
So I sent out an email, (including her!) to everyone saying could whoever had picked her name return it and pick another one, which they did
I admit I did a little bit of cheating and picked up the name of the person she’d refused to buy for, (who was someone she picked on a lot) and made sure I was the one buying for them.
And bought them a really lovely gift, slightly above the price limit and wrapped it beautifully, partly to see the bullies face when she watched her open it
And partly because when the bully shouted about not wanting to buy for them, the victim was in earshot, as was the whole office, and it was pretty obviously who she was talking about, so I wanted to make her feel better
A couple of days later, the bully came up to me and said “can I get my name for Secret Santa?” as if nothing had happened!
And it gave me great satisfaction to tell her no, she’d said she wasn’t going to be in it, so it was all sorted now and it was too late to change her mind, I wasn’t changing it
And more satisfaction when we opened our gifts before the Christmas party and she didn’t have one, because I’m not a nice person!
She whinged to our manager, of course. So I explained what happened, that names had already been allocated and gifts bought, and if he wanted to change it, he was welcome to take over and re-organise it, but I wouldn’t be and I’d be making a complaint of my own to his manager about him not tackling office bullying if he did! He backed off, of course……
And that was the last time I organised the Secret Santa!
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Thanks Annie, but please don’t be fooled. My job is far from fabulous. It is long days; stressful and constant meetings and travel and unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if it will get better next year.
My portfolio has just been extensively extended - so a lot more work.
But I am a single mum so, I need this job since I have no man to depend on by choice. There’s always a constant worry and pressure on me as I have bills to pay and importantly, things are so difficult here in Africa. The poverty levels have been exasperated since the pandemic, so I also indirectly support two other very vulnerable families by providing some meagre partial employment for one day a week to a housekeeper and a gardener. They depend on me too.
Sometimes I wonder if spending more than half my adult life studying and working (because my parents couldn’t afford to educate me) and not being a mum that was always present for my kids when they were younger is worth it.
I am in a hybrid work model now Annie, so I work from home and am isolated all day except when my son is home which isn’t often.
I must admit, I enjoy the hybrid way because I get a lot more done, can complete my household chores in my ‘travel time’ as I am not stuck in traffic.
But it’s all a trade off, so it is nice to join on the Forum to have a good natter, share music and complete quizzes and just de-stress. 
I am sorry your festive events have been postponed or cancelled. Are online parties permitted? We did that once during lockdown and sent out gift packs to the team. It worked well. 
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So, it was you who cursed me eh.
I just got saddled with another secret Santa for the last party of the festive season. I’m all Secret Santa’ed out! 
Maree, I wish I could be more like you. Just say no - but I’m a pushover. I hate conflict and confrontation so I always say ok 
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Aw, you’re just a nice person, it’s cos you’re young yet, you’ll grow out of it!
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The only growing I’m doing is sideways 
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I don’t have a problem saying no in that context - thanks for the vid, I enjoyed that!