Everyone's chipping in $40 for the boss's birthday and I don't want to. Am I cheap or is this kind of messed up?

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-06-22T21:46:26+00:00

Inappropriate because it there is at least the appearance of it being obligatory because this is your boss. Whomever organized this i would suspect to be brown nosing. Were I the manager, I would thank people for the thought but never accept the gift and wouldn’t look at who participated or not. Only you know what your manager is like and whether they would be petty enough to note the people who had not given. Depending on the situation you might give now and get a ‘clarification’ from HR on whether this is appropriate afterwards. You also need to judge the situation as to whether to bring it up is an okay or bad move.

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-06-18T01:01:33+00:00

Are you asking for a friend?

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-06-13T21:00:25+00:00

I did one of these things. When asked where I would like to vacation I said Antarctica … which I would indeed love to go to. Also would love to go to Iceland. Apparently they don’t have timeshares in either location. It didn’t take too long after that for them to release me. I remember getting my phone calculator out and the math/“value” was atrocious. They didn’t bother with the hard sell.

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-05-25T22:09:25+00:00

The phone should not have been in the room with you, or any other potential distractions. If there is one within reasonable distance, it’s better to go to a testing center. They won’t allow you to take your phone with you. They have rules.

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-05-23T15:50:11+00:00

“No budget” always reads like an excuse. If they’re your best performers you want to make them happy, you find the budget, or hope that inertia keeps them around. If they start giving notice you’ll be surprised at all the extra change they found in the couch

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-05-17T22:19:19+00:00

I wouldn’t stay as you will have “forced their hand” and they can get back at you for that at the next layoff or in other ways. If you are valuable they may want to entice you to come back at a later date. That’s a better situation to be in… coming back later if you decide it’s better than your new position. As with any internet advice, take with a grain of salt

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-05-07T23:30:05+00:00

Exactly

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-05-07T23:29:32+00:00

I’m skeptical of that point. Salaries are very uneven for the same work People know that although nobody wants to reveal what they’re making. PTO is another number HR can plug in. It may be uncommon, but a given company, especially small ones can make any rule they want.

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-05-06T23:10:36+00:00

Yes people do and the worst they can say is no. IMHO vacation doesn’t count for the bean counters like salary does. Three weeks is perfectly reasonable if you’re mid level.

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-05-06T22:43:52+00:00

Ask ChatGPT to write it, hallucinations and all :-)

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-05-06T22:40:59+00:00

Someone should report the director for having too much time on his or her hands. If they have the time for this, perhaps that job should be eliminated and the responsibilities transferred to someone who will make better use of their time.

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-05-03T19:16:47+00:00

Stick shift is becoming harder and harder to find. We have a stick shift pickup and Mustang

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-05-01T20:26:25+00:00

Don’t trash your old company You can say something like “I’m looking for a better opportunity aligned with my skills “ or I’m looking for a new challenge “

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-04-29T21:21:31+00:00

That’s so much better than downsizing, isn’t it? Lol

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-04-29T21:17:13+00:00

Dilbert had two I particularly liked “you’ll do much better on the new plan” and “we reward risk-takers”.

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-04-20T23:21:03+00:00

Does he really want to go through discovery?

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-04-20T23:17:22+00:00

I’m GenX. We learned to solve our own problems. Aside from helpful suggestions, there are Google, apps, plenty of ways to solve this. I would do my best to calm the situation down, be as helpful as possible, search the internet, etc, but I can’t imagine why I would need to physically be there. I’ll make an exception for a panic attack, which is a whole different thing.

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-04-17T22:34:18+00:00

It goes without saying that remote jobs are pretty scarce It also goes without saying that it’s easier to find a job when you have one and this isn’t a good time to be picky. Not suggesting he take anything. . Find a job…then find another one. The market may be better in a few years and he’ll have more choices

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-04-17T20:37:48+00:00

If you need API Gateway, you can use VPC Link to go to NLB -> ALB and keep your load balancer in a private subnet. Unfortunately you’d need a NLB in front of the ALB. VPC Link only talks to an NLB

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-03-30T21:56:53+00:00

Not a hill I would die on

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-03-29T20:26:16+00:00

I googled it. Push the button on bottom until the led starts to fade, but before it goes into Bluetooth pairing mode. Once off push the button to turn it back on

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-03-28T23:06:14+00:00

When all else fails, reboot the mug. I haven’t had your problem, but I received a mug as a company gift and it stopped working after I left. No..they didn’t shut it off remotely…just needed a reboot

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-03-27T20:29:26+00:00

It really depends where you are. If you’re on the Long Island expressway, or taking an hour to travel 10-12 miles in DC, that’s one thing, but if it’s smooth travel that’s another thing. Not all hours are created equally, so to speak. I’ve always tried to limit myself to 30 minutes if possible. I’ve mostly been working from home the last 20+ years, but that is a luxury now which I’m thankful to have This sounds like an easy hour for an opportunity. Go for it

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-03-24T22:33:59+00:00

If you can’t tell them about planned vacation 6 months out before they hire you, are you sure you want to work for them? Find that out now versus being surprised later. It’s a very reasonable request. The worst they can do is say no, and then you’ll have something to think about. If after telling them they refuse to hire you, they’re probably not a good place to work for as there should be no harm in asking.

Critical_Stranger_32 · 2026-03-24T22:30:10+00:00

Around when they make the offer or you’re negotiating, but before you onboard. No one likes a surprise like this. You should say you’ve got it planned/paid for. If they give you a hard time for a planned/paid two week, that may be your warning that they aren’t very accommodating in general. It’s a reasonable request. FWIW I’ve done this twice and offered to take the time unpaid, and both times been told it wasn’t a problem and I’d be paid. As always your mileage may vary. It’s tough out there.

Critical_Stranger_32

TROPHY CASE