23 November 2011

Interesting Christmas spirit an APS team ...

| I-filed
Join the conversation
18

I’m interested to hear from Rioters whether this is unusual in the APS:

    — Our AS has organised for my broader branch team to have two lunches.

    — There’s a “director’s lunch” at an expensive restaurant,

    — and there’s a “peasant’s lunch” for the rest of the branch at a cheap restaurant which the directors of course may attend as well.

I’ve never struck this before in the public service! Perhaps the directors have always gotten together separately but just haven’t broadcast the fact.

Is this usual? I’d love to know!

Frankly I’d rather go to the good restaurant for a slap-up lunch at Christmas!

Join the conversation

18
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest
Clown Killer7:53 am 24 Nov 11

Although my experience of the APS is now nearly a decade old, back then its was customary for the AS and Directors to have a Christmas lunch or dinner at some restaurant invariably paid for by the AS.

There was always a Branch (and occasionally Division) Christmas party. If you wanted to attend, you paid. I was always amazed at how tight-arsed people were – bitching about having to pay $25 for a lunch with drinks included.

I-filed, this is not so unusual. You’ll find that along with the branch lunch, many sections will have a seperate section lunch, ie director and team. For the AS, the directors are their section or team so it makes sense to have a separate lunch as well. You might also find the FAS has a Christmas lunch with their AS ‘team’ and so on up the line (all paid for by the lunchers, not the APS).

The intention in having a cheaper restaurant for the branch lunch is not to make it a ‘peasant’s lunch’ but, as Watson says, in recognition that some branch members may not be able or willing to pay for anything more – it’s an expensive time of year for many. The restaurants tend to get more expensive the further up the line you go.

On the other hand, if the AS isn’t attending the branch lunch there might be an elitist issue 🙂

Affirmative Action Man6:03 pm 23 Nov 11

I remember the good old days. Public Service Xmas parties in the early 80’s. Chicken & champagne breakfasts, extensive sexual activity in the tea room & other places, music, a punch up or 2 & several people throwing up.

@OP that is terrible! Crap party for the peasants and the good party for execs. Isn’t that bloody terrible. I hate this kind of elitism in any organisation.

Luckily they don’t do that at ActewAGL. They have several Christmas parties all with different themes (not mentioning the small section parties). They are brilliantly run and catered, anyone can go to the parties that correspond with which social club they joined up with (one or all) – workers and execs and you can mingle with whom you like. (this is the opinion of matt31221 and not ActewAGL)

RedDogInCan said :

poetix said :

RedDogInCan said :

You insensitive bastards! We astronomers use the Julian Calendar which doesn’t have years. We never get invited to these sort of parties.

Do you get invited to Christmas in July parties instead?

No, we’re astronomers not accountants.

God’s own accountants, surely…

At my last job I got a generic card, similar to the Andrew Leigh’s ‘street party’ template. So consider yourself lucky with a free meal!

poetix said :

RedDogInCan said :

You insensitive bastards! We astronomers use the Julian Calendar which doesn’t have years. We never get invited to these sort of parties.

Do you get invited to Christmas in July parties instead?

No, we’re astronomers not accountants.

Yep, people don’t seem to realise that in the APS, you pay your own way! It is rude though, having a Special People party, wouldn’t have happened in my day. Or if it did, we certainly didn’t know about it.

Private sector is so different, everything is paid for. And you get a nice present too. I got told off the other day for having breakfast in the hotel dining room rather than getting room service. Bloody hell. Imagine using room service on an APS trip, you’d never hear the end of it, probably get done for fraud.

jonquil14 said :

Lol at commenters who think APS employers pay for our Christmas lunches. Hell to the no, no public money is spent on such frivolities (the same reason they don’t provide tea/coffee, cups, plates, spoons etc in the lunchroom).

Ahh the joys of the private sector, large bonuses and an abundance of Xmas parties paid for by other people. I have RSVP’d for five so far and was invited to another but will have issues getting there.

Just don’t tell them I am only in it for the free food and booze 🙂

And yeah, it’s paid for by the punters. You’re not going to find any budget-funded APS organisation paying for hospitality or entertainment. I’ve worked in areas (including this one) where the director/manager level types routinely throw in for drinks for the peasants.

Due to where and how I’ve worked of late, today I just paid for a ticket to my first departmental Xmas party since 1997. Forgotten what they look like.

RedDogInCan said :

You insensitive bastards! We astronomers use the Julian Calendar which doesn’t have years. We never get invited to these sort of parties.

Do you get invited to Christmas in July parties instead?

far_northact1:38 pm 23 Nov 11

We have a departmental one and a section one. Neither are paid for by the workplace. Attendance at any of these lunches is entirely optional, all staff are welcome to stay at work.. and work instead of being festive.

Personally, I wouldn’t care if the Directors or SES went out without me, you should have an early lunch, and enjoy the peace while they’re not in the office for the afternoon!

Bluey said :

Next year it’ll be an end of year celebration and the following a ‘voluntary gathering of team members to commemorate the end of a calendar year’

You insensitive bastards! We astronomers use the Julian Calendar which doesn’t have years. We never get invited to these sort of parties.

Lol at commenters who think APS employers pay for our Christmas lunches. Hell to the no, no public money is spent on such frivolities (the same reason they don’t provide tea/coffee, cups, plates, spoons etc in the lunchroom).

This is weird and wrong. It’s quite normal to have a branch, section and, in smaller agencies, an agency wide Christmas lunch, but segregating the EL2s and the AS is definitely not usual.

I’d be grateful to have a Christmas do organised at all. The PC brigade is doing a great job of dismantling Christmas cheer in the Public Service.

Next year itll be an end of year celebration and the following a ‘voluntary gathering of team members to commemorate the end of a calendar year’

I agree that it’s quite common to have several Xmas dos. And at your branch they just happen to have one with the directors separately. Our directors still have a planning day on a golf course each year, I believe!

As for the difference in restaurant quality… they try to make it affordable for everyone. It is assumed that directors can all afford expensive lunches, but not all of the peasants can. Like you, I don’t mind shelling out on expensive food now and then, but some of my colleagues wouldn’t come if they had to pay more than $15 for their lunch.

I don’t understand what the problem is. Most organisations have numerous Christmas parties all divided up on different lines. My PB was 5: a departmental party, division party, branch party, unit party, and a group of us had our own BBQ on the last day of work. Personally I rather not have the high-ups in attendance anyway.

Or is the problem that your employer pays for the party and you want better food? In which case as a NSW PS (where you can’t spend any public money on entertainment) I recommend you keep your mouth closed and hope that the Telegraph doesn’t find out.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.