In what is wrong with people news, last night when I went to bed, I had a cheap version of this [link] on my lawn, but this morning it's not there anymore.

That really sucks, Lee. Stealing holiday decorations is just really low.

Good luck today, brenda.

Brenda that sounds awful! I hope you have someone with a key who can let you in. And that the project is easier to fix than you thought.

I am so sleepy. I shouldn't be, but I tossed and turned all night.

Don't know, JZ, click bait? I mean, if you click it cause you hate it, still traffic.

Don't know, JZ, click bait? I mean, if you click it cause you hate it, still traffic.

Yup. The Atlantic is getting Slate-ified. So disappointing.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, folks! And I get to continue celebrating because my flowers are in my office and they're lovely. And I'm meeting my niece for lunch--she gets back from her semester in Chile today!

On the down side, I scheduled at teleconference for tomorrow at 2 PM, except tomorrow is the holiday party, which is off-site. I don't really want to miss it, but I hate rescheduling the meeting at this late date (we set the date two months ago!). Sigh.

One of the guys on our midwestern team asked me and one developer if we're getting something for our manager.

I forgot to answer. The developer did, enthusiastically. I have never bought a boss/manager Christmas gifts (I'm back from JA gifts, but usually the whole team gets those) and only one boss (guy who was fired from here) gave us gifts, and they were along the line of Steph's--his wife made salsa, and there were handmade labels--so you're not getting a sense of huge amounts of money, just more personal gestures.

Why not ask the whole team? I am confused. I'm not giving my manager a gift that doesn't come from anyone else in the LA group. God, just the asskissingness aspect of that makes me shudder. And they already think, apparently, that I'm a bit forward with the executives.

if we're getting something for our manager

In the work environment, gifts should flow downwards, not upwards. People shouldn't be giving presents to their supervisors, it leads to perceptions of influence. In fact, that's a rule in the federal system: supervisors can give gifts, but gifts to supervisors are either forbidden or very limited.

Also, it's just unfair to expect someone making less money to be giving presents to someone making more.

In the work environment, gifts should flow downwards, not upwards.

Yes.

I get really irate about expectations to give up the chain of command, because of the less-money part. I hadn't even thought about the perception of influence!

I've given my boss holiday or birthday gifts in the past, but always little in-jokey things, nothing expensive. And it's certainly not something expected within the company culture, just something I do on my own if I see something I know she'd love.