One Minute Manners: The Gift Pool.

Every once in a while, you may find yourself stuck in an odd situation where you don’t know how to respond. These One Minute Manner posts are designed to help you out of those awkward moments!

Today’s Lesson: The Gift Pool.

The Situation: You just started a new job at a high profile company. It’s your first day, and you’ve put on your best suit, in hopes of impressing a few people and making a few new friends. Within the first hour of work, you’re approached by a group of three coworkers from different departments and they cordially introduce themselves… Followed by a request to put in $20 for a birthday/baby shower/retirement/engagement gift they’re getting for another person in your department.

Do you…

A) Enthusiastically say “Yes!”, pull out your wallet and give them $20 right there on the spot.
B) Politely decline and say “Maybe next time, after I get to know a few people.”
C) Politely decline giving money, but suggest other ways you could give back – say, decorate the office/their cubicle, or buy the celebrator a drink instead?

Out of all of these options, your best bet is solution C. You don’t know these people, but you want to make a good impression on them. The problem with giving them the requested $20 is that the receiver won’t know that you put money into the pot. That turns you into part of the big group of people who all gave $20 (though honestly, if you ask me, that’s a lot of money to put into a gift – it better be a good gift!). By doing something personal, like decorating the office for a birthday party, or making your own card for them, or even buying them a celebratory drink — though that may not work if the recipient’s pregnant — allows you to introduce yourself to them, and get started on the right foot.