$$$ For Births, Deaths, Weddings, Farewells of Co-workers

[RN-PA]

I was wondering how you handle chipping in for co-workers' bridal showers, baby showers, deaths of a co-worker's loved one, farewell parties, Birthdays, etc. My question has arisen since I just today received a wedding invitation from someone I worked with more than 4 years ago. I like her, but I have no relationship with her. Of course I will decline the invitation, but it seems like someone's always pregnant or engaged or leaving the unit for another job or has experienced a death, and it can get VERY expensive. Because our Med/Surg floor is so busy, there's no time to celebrate Birthdays as we once did, so buying a cake and card every so often is no longer an issue for me, thankfully-- and also sadly-- that we have no time for something as simple as a Birthday celebration now and then.

Do your units have "Sunshine Clubs" or committees where someone is in charge of collecting an amount from coworkers who want to be involved in giving for special occassions? I was once involved in giving toward a Sunshine Club at another hospital, but it ended up fading away for lack of interest.

We also can't forget coworkers who sell raffle tickets and other items for their kids, or those involved in seeking pledges for charity events. Do you have a set limit for yourself or a policy to never give or, for me, it depends on the person and the situation, whether I will give or not.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

It's my experience Sunshine funds don't always work. It depends on who manages it and how fairly the money is spent. One girl gets an Aigner handbag and the other gets some walmart perfume?

On second shift we had a panty club. On your birthday everybody in the club bought you a pair of panties. Not over I think it was $10 at the time. That way everyone got something and no one was forced to join.

For babies and weddings, we had "showers" really just a day when whoever wanted to bring a gift could and the new mommy or bride could open them. No pressure at all there.

People I no longer interact with get a nice card for weddings. The invitations I accept I only give what I can afford. Lately it's been casserole dishes.

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

Originally posted by P_RN

It's my experience Sunshine funds don't always work. It depends on who manages it and how fairly the money is spent. One girl gets an Aigner handbag and the other gets some walmart perfume?

Thank you!

[Audreyfay]

The unit I worked on years ago had a sunshine fund. They would use the money to buy gifts for the miscellaneous events that came up. Everyone put in $10/year. The fund was kept locked up in the narcotic cupboard. I was fairly new to the unit, but noticed that one particular nurse frequently did not have money to buy lunch. "Oh, I'll just borrow it from the kitty and pay it back tomorrow." After seeing this several times I got disgusted. I got a checkbook ledger, asked a few to help me, and we counted what was in the kitty to balance the account. We then let everyone know that the ledger was there and they should add their contribution to the ledger, keep the ledger up when the account was changed. Every week or so I balanced the amount. A few times money was missing, so notices went up. Funny thing happened. All of a sudden a policy was made that there was no borrowing permitted from the fund. All of a sudden there was enough to buy flowers and gifts for events. Funny how so many people were buying lunches for so few...so many years!

[grouchy]

I'm still waiting for my "I'm NOT having a baby" shower gifts. Oh, and don't forget my "I'm NOT getting married" gift, either. Hey, I've been shelling out for you breeders for years. Don't I deserve something in return? What do I have to do, people, fake a hysterical pregnancy or something?

But, I'd rather get hit up for money than food. Please don't organize an impromptou birthday party at the end of a 12-hour shift, that will require me to shop or even, God forbid, cook in the tiny interval of awake time I will get to enjoy before my 12-hour shift tomorrow. Not only would I rather be slouching around unwashed listening to loud music, but it's not like we're actually going to be able to all sit down together. No, we will all be running around like maniacs while the onion dip spoils. I definitely don't need an excuse to eat junk food. Look, I just work here. I don't want to be a patient (cardiac, gastric bypass), too!

Don't even get me started on Secret Santa!

[Dplear]

We do it the easy way. we have hot dog/ chili dog and nacho sales. We then keep the money we raise for unit parties and gifts. In just 2 sales we raised about 1200 before expenses and after we had about 750. We are going to hold some sales for our unit christmas party starting next month. We conservatively expect to get about 3000. after expenses for the party this year maybe a bit more. Also as for the gifts we limit it to 125.00 for the gift.

Dave

[WhiteCaps]

Originally posted by P_RN

I

On second shift we had a panty club. On your birthday everybody in the club bought you a pair of panties. Not over I think it was $10 at the time. That way everyone got something and no one was forced to join.

.

PANTIES?!!! Not getting my size!!! Nope, not telling that! :roll:

[Audreyfay]

WOW! Not getting my size either! I wonder if anyone shops at the dollar store?

[jemb]

Generally, I don't mind chipping in $5 or so for a special occassion, if I have a good working relationship with the person.

For a death in a coworker's family, I don't mind contributing if I know the person could use the money for related expenses-- extra time off work, out of state travel to the funeral, or such. Also, depending on my relationship with the person, I don't object to helping buy flowers or a potted plant.

For winter holidays, our unit draws names. No one is pressured to participate. (I never do the name drawing thing!) Administration sponsors our holiday party.

We have a lot of pot lucks, too. I could do without those as well, but will stop off to pick up a deli salad or something, or offer to bring paper goods, chips, or something else that I can buy ahead of time and leave in my car. I have to leave myself a note to remember to do it.

[AndyLyn]

On our floor, if someone's sick and off work, or has a family member die (and sometimes, the connection's pretty loose, like a brother-in-law, or husband's aunt) someone tapes a manilla envelope to the charge nurse's desk and everyone who wants to slips money into it and puts their name on it. I usually only put money in if I know the co-worker well, or know they're in tough straits.

At Christmastime, our NM picks a family from the community that could use help and we "adopt" them. That's fun, more fun than buying stuff for each other that we don't need.

Birthdays are usually celebrated only on a "if-it's-on-the-weekend-and-someone-remembers" basis. We do get a free birthday cake from the hospital, it's actually pretty tasty.