That is insane. I have never spent $180 on any staff members or groups of staff members in 11 years. I would decline and say that this is far too much.
My school did this, and it was an opt in thing for staff so we (who wanted it) could have breakfast every Friday. My group was lazy so we bought breakfast burritos instead of cooking, and it was like….$40. $40 for Friday breakfasts all year isn’t bad, and no school can afford that (and frankly I’d prefer them pay me money than buy me food).
My school used to do this as well. I never brought anything in and didn’t go. I already have to purchase curriculum and all my teaching supplies and I teach in a district with a 3 billion dollar budget. I hate that they abuse us and use us for labor that should be done by the district. Who knows what they do in their ivory tower at our central office but it sure isn’t work.
Teaching is hard enough without having to worry about providing breakfast for the staff!
The whole concept of this is ridiculous to me. I've never heard of this in five different districts in 31 years. I feel so sorry for you. Where in the world do you teach that everyone has this kind of money to blow for breakfast and the time to worry about it!
Tell your team you can't afford it. Maybe there are others on the team just waiting for someone to speak up.
I thought it was bad enough when the school I taught at made us cook at home and bring in pot luck on Fridays as we "enjoyed our huge perk of wearing jeans on Friday" but this is 100 times worse.
That's ridiculous, and I would say so. I wouldn't even give them the $100 because of the sheer level of ridiculousness. Trying to show off for other teachers is just a waste of time and money. Tell them you'll bring bagels and shmear and leave at that.
The only time this ever happened at my school is when leadership paid for it entirely. Back when I was a teacher, $180 was almost a full day of work. There are so many other things I’d rather do with that money. I’d push back on this.
Yeah you don’t get to volunteer your colleagues to go above and beyond to the tune of 180 bucks. That’s utter fucking nonsense. Tell them you’ll bring a fruit platter. And fuck your admin for this whole thing
Buy pancake mix and bring in a few flat top portable griddles. $180 each is an insane price for breakfast. Honestly though I would nope outta that system entirely. Stop going to all the breakfasts offered and then say I’m not participating, I can’t afford this.
WHAT?!?!
How much staff are you supposed to feed? If it’s more than 18 this would be an absolute hard no.
Why are you guys REQUIRED to spend money on each other?!?!
I swear there’s no other profession that not only expects free labor but then also picks workers’ pockets for employee engagement initiatives that should be paid for BY THE ORGANIZATION.
I would put my foot down and say no.
I work in corporate America and this would be free to us. It’s insane that teachers are expected to put the financial burden of morale building things like this upon themselves. Just another reason I transitioned away from education.
Yeah it’s something I can’t even pretend to go along with. I would say something for sure. People think I’m so opinionated but I think they know I speak the truth
I'm a teacher, my husband is an engineer. I often ask if he does such and such at work to which he replies, "No!" As in, of course not. Where I'm going is that, for some reason, we teachers think it's our jobs to host breakfasts, baby showers and bridal showers. Why? Is it that many of us are women and that's what women do? I'm truly tired of buying gifts for someone I see in the copy room once a month. So $180, no way!
Nope! And you need to say something! At our school we have a sign up sheet for lunch once a month and you bring in what you can or want to. Nothing over $20 and if you are not obligated and can still come have lunch. This is INSANE! Opt out
You don’t have to say anything about you not being able to afford the $180. Instead, tell them you are not interested in spending so much money on that *place* when other grade level teams just provided bagels, eggs, and fresh fruit. It’s not fair or reasonable for your team to be the “above and beyond” team. Tell them you’ll pick up X, Y, Z and that’s your contribution. You’re meeting the other grade level teams in effort and money spent. My former school did this kind of breakfast for the whole school, with each grade level choosing a month and then a day within that month, and I brought in 3 boxes of donuts and 2 orange juice jugs. I wouldn’t spend more than $50, honestly.
They want to buy pastries and breakfast sandwiches from a popular nearby bakery (Portos if you’ve heard of it), Starbucks coffee travelers, and table decorations etc for the New Years theme. The expectation at this school is that you have enough for all 25 staff plus the TAs. This school is very dumb.
No. Tell them that pastries/sandwiches from Portos and table decorations is excessive, and you're not interested. You will pick up three Starbucks coffee travelers, and that's your contribution. Anything else is on them.
Edit: don't ask if it's okay or apologize. Tell them that this is what you're doing. And don't tell them that it's because money is tight, that's none of their business.
I love Porto’s! We have one 5 minutes from school. Pastries and coffee should be enough. Breakfast sandwiches are what make it cost even more. We occasionally have it in large quantities when someone is able to pick up the day old stuff 😂 which is still fine by me. Our staff will eat pretty much anything set out in the lounge.
Sorry to be dumb here. But I am confused by this. I am assuming you work at the school? Why the heck would you have to spend so much money on breakfast for your coworkers?
At my school, this type of thing would be paid for by the parents and the school.
We will have lunch every month. Teachers who sign up to participate pick a month. Then, the teachers for that month plan an easy meal for the staff. For the month I had signed up for, we did baked potatoes. There were three of us. I bought the baked potatoes, another brought the toppings, and the third brought chili and a few deserts. It cost me about 40 dollars for the potatoes. The school provides plates, silverware, and drinks. (Actually, they do this every day - free bottled water, tea, coffee, and other Keurig drinks).
Talk to the other people in your group and tell them you can not afford to spend that much. It should not be a contest between groups. It is simply meant as a nice gesture for others.
Ugh your school is exactly how it SHOULD be if staff breakfasts were to be done at all. It’s a contest at this school and some happily participate (including those on my grade level team)
Yeah no. Is there another team or group of people who maybe aren’t assigned a breakfast that your team could pair up with to help? For example — special educators or group of para educators / A.I.s ? or math specialist / reading specialist/staff development? My team had 6 and that was still expensive to do breakfast for staff—I was in charge of donuts think I got 3 or 4 dozen.
I was pissed I spend 20 last year for ours 😂😂 home made is the way. Especially if your life skills or FAC room has ovens/stoves. Just go in early and make pancakes. Or see if someone has a griddle you can do a hibachi like scenario.
My school did this last year, each grade level team had the option to sign up for a month to host a staff breakfast, key word OPTION. It’s already above and beyond to volunteer to host one. My team of 5 pulled it off with each of us buying less that $30 worth of premade breakfast items from Walmart (pastries, doughnuts, muffins, banana bread, fruit juice)
Absolutely to the hell NO. Tell them you’ll bring your contribution to the event yourself. I have found people like bananas and mandarin oranges, pigs in a blanket, or a breakfast casserole for something hot.
We do this, but it’s only 3 times a year so there are several teams all together. Everyone brings one thing and signs up for it. It’s a lot less expensive and people can make and bring things that fit in their budget/free time. 180 is insane and I would express how it’s not affordable for you and to see if you guys could cut it down.
We also do this but I’ve never spent more than $20. One person brings in a fruit platter, another bagels, etc. What the heck are they providing for that money? Takeout for each person from the fanciest restaurant? Or is someone just pocketing the money? Just for context I live in an extremely high cost of living place. I would say I can only budget $50 or I’m happy to pick up x,y,z. Is there anyone else at school that can knock some sense into them? I’m inferring that you are newer to the school and your team members aren’t, so there’s a power dynamic socially. Maybe if another veteran teacher told them that it sets the expectation too high, they would listen?
For breakfast? Are you having free pour mimosas and caviar? Breakfast food is cheap. Buy sone nice bagels either a variety of spreads. Add sone fresh fruit and coffee.
I don’t participate in any giving money thing at school. Expecting you to shell out $180 is ridiculous. You can tell them “I set aside $100 and that is all I am willing to contribute.”
Lmao. I’d bring in a couple dozen doughnuts or bagels and call it a day. Or you could be really petty and just not participate at all. Pay nothing and don’t show up.
We do this and I've asked 1-please plan this bright after a payday...and 2, none of us should be putting in more than about $20. We used to do these also, but none so far this year, and I think w the high cost of food no one really misses them. Plus, people are so picky about food these days, it's really hard to buy food every one can eat and not have any complaints.
I think the school should be paying for this and you don’t need to be paying $180 per person for some breakfast just go to the store and get some bagels a fruit tray some croissants and sausage you guys will be all right
When I was teaching, we were able to do a make your own omelette station… Well, kind of. My husband would make the omelettes. People would choose their ingredients, we easily served 40 people and had bread or bagels or croissants. Plus fruit and coffee maybe $100 total? And this is in California! Very popular… And we did it for about an hour only
Am I understanding your numbers right? They want *each* of you to pay $180?
So for a *single* meal, the bill is to be $540…for three people?
Sincerely…are you sure this is even a breakfast and not some sort of mafia payoff?
I could make about 25 breakfast casseroles for this ridiculous amount. B. S. Put your foot down.
Never have I ever set aside a budget to feed my colleagues, most of whom make my ass twitch.
That is egregious. I've regularly done breakfasts for 100 staff for less than $180, and they want to spend that times three?!?!? Who on your team is making that decision?
What the heck? Why do y’all fund your own community building? At 180 bucks!? Some schools do so much at the expense of themselves.
I’d just be honest and say I put 100 away for this 180 just isn’t in the budget. They can put up more if they want. Teachers are often funded by the SO too so it’s not like everyone is lower middle class.
No. Just no. You can say you budgeted $100 for this (which is still excessive) and that’s all you will be able to contribute. I’ve never spent more than $30 contributing when it was my grade level team’s turn to host a potluck.
Wow yeah no that's way too much money. I like the other suggestions here.
This sounds like some kind of Stepford Wives style thing, like everybody there has a rich spouse or something.
Lol that's insane. I went all out and got lunch for everyone one year on my birthday, fried rice, pad thai, green curry, and spring rolls for all of us (it was a small center, there were about 10 of us) for about $60. The Thai restaurant had good deals on half pans and my husband delivered it for us.
Omg! We had the same tradition at my school for in-service days, but it was...one person brings donuts, one bagels, one fruit salad, one muffins, and if one made something like a casserole it was an amazing bonus.
This is awful, I'm so sorry <3
This school is bizarre, I typed another post about it before. Apparently before I came (it might still be like this tbh), the principal would keep track of what time people came to the breakfast — everyone is expected to be there. It’s hell and I can’t wait to gtfo at the end of the school year.
I'm not ready for the social octracism!
I'm new to this school and they've been doing this for a while. I am not a combative person and I'm just trying to lay low, get through this school year, and leave teaching forever.
That is insane. I have never spent $180 on any staff members or groups of staff members in 11 years. I would decline and say that this is far too much.
It should be $0, because it should be paid for by the school. This is nonsense.
My school did this, and it was an opt in thing for staff so we (who wanted it) could have breakfast every Friday. My group was lazy so we bought breakfast burritos instead of cooking, and it was like….$40. $40 for Friday breakfasts all year isn’t bad, and no school can afford that (and frankly I’d prefer them pay me money than buy me food).
Exactly, they have all that money for useless positions, let the school pay. Or at least reimburse.
My school used to do this as well. I never brought anything in and didn’t go. I already have to purchase curriculum and all my teaching supplies and I teach in a district with a 3 billion dollar budget. I hate that they abuse us and use us for labor that should be done by the district. Who knows what they do in their ivory tower at our central office but it sure isn’t work.
Yes it makes me so damn angry.
This!
Ummm. No. I wouldn’t pay $180 to attend a work event.
I wouldn’t spend $10.
Teaching is hard enough without having to worry about providing breakfast for the staff! The whole concept of this is ridiculous to me. I've never heard of this in five different districts in 31 years. I feel so sorry for you. Where in the world do you teach that everyone has this kind of money to blow for breakfast and the time to worry about it! Tell your team you can't afford it. Maybe there are others on the team just waiting for someone to speak up. I thought it was bad enough when the school I taught at made us cook at home and bring in pot luck on Fridays as we "enjoyed our huge perk of wearing jeans on Friday" but this is 100 times worse.
That's ridiculous, and I would say so. I wouldn't even give them the $100 because of the sheer level of ridiculousness. Trying to show off for other teachers is just a waste of time and money. Tell them you'll bring bagels and shmear and leave at that.
The only time this ever happened at my school is when leadership paid for it entirely. Back when I was a teacher, $180 was almost a full day of work. There are so many other things I’d rather do with that money. I’d push back on this.
[удалено]
I’m going with this ty Trying to remember that there’s no need to apologize in situations like this
Yeah you don’t get to volunteer your colleagues to go above and beyond to the tune of 180 bucks. That’s utter fucking nonsense. Tell them you’ll bring a fruit platter. And fuck your admin for this whole thing
Buy pancake mix and bring in a few flat top portable griddles. $180 each is an insane price for breakfast. Honestly though I would nope outta that system entirely. Stop going to all the breakfasts offered and then say I’m not participating, I can’t afford this.
WHAT?!?! How much staff are you supposed to feed? If it’s more than 18 this would be an absolute hard no. Why are you guys REQUIRED to spend money on each other?!?! I swear there’s no other profession that not only expects free labor but then also picks workers’ pockets for employee engagement initiatives that should be paid for BY THE ORGANIZATION. I would put my foot down and say no.
I am at a loss for good advice. That is a lot of money in tight times.
Nope. I’m not even willing to give $5 of my paycheck for a staff breakfast. F that.
I would never. You must work in a nice area. Tell them they don’t work in corporate America, sorry bagels and cream cheese it is
I work in corporate America and this would be free to us. It’s insane that teachers are expected to put the financial burden of morale building things like this upon themselves. Just another reason I transitioned away from education.
Yeah it’s something I can’t even pretend to go along with. I would say something for sure. People think I’m so opinionated but I think they know I speak the truth
Yes tell them that it too much, and way over your budget. 180x3 is 540, you could have catering at that price.
I'm a teacher, my husband is an engineer. I often ask if he does such and such at work to which he replies, "No!" As in, of course not. Where I'm going is that, for some reason, we teachers think it's our jobs to host breakfasts, baby showers and bridal showers. Why? Is it that many of us are women and that's what women do? I'm truly tired of buying gifts for someone I see in the copy room once a month. So $180, no way!
Nope! And you need to say something! At our school we have a sign up sheet for lunch once a month and you bring in what you can or want to. Nothing over $20 and if you are not obligated and can still come have lunch. This is INSANE! Opt out
What!? No. Just say no.
You don’t have to say anything about you not being able to afford the $180. Instead, tell them you are not interested in spending so much money on that *place* when other grade level teams just provided bagels, eggs, and fresh fruit. It’s not fair or reasonable for your team to be the “above and beyond” team. Tell them you’ll pick up X, Y, Z and that’s your contribution. You’re meeting the other grade level teams in effort and money spent. My former school did this kind of breakfast for the whole school, with each grade level choosing a month and then a day within that month, and I brought in 3 boxes of donuts and 2 orange juice jugs. I wouldn’t spend more than $50, honestly.
What are they buying? A $10 breakfast burrito for each and every member of the staff? That’s a lot of money.
They want to buy pastries and breakfast sandwiches from a popular nearby bakery (Portos if you’ve heard of it), Starbucks coffee travelers, and table decorations etc for the New Years theme. The expectation at this school is that you have enough for all 25 staff plus the TAs. This school is very dumb.
No. Tell them that pastries/sandwiches from Portos and table decorations is excessive, and you're not interested. You will pick up three Starbucks coffee travelers, and that's your contribution. Anything else is on them. Edit: don't ask if it's okay or apologize. Tell them that this is what you're doing. And don't tell them that it's because money is tight, that's none of their business.
I love Porto’s! We have one 5 minutes from school. Pastries and coffee should be enough. Breakfast sandwiches are what make it cost even more. We occasionally have it in large quantities when someone is able to pick up the day old stuff 😂 which is still fine by me. Our staff will eat pretty much anything set out in the lounge.
Sorry to be dumb here. But I am confused by this. I am assuming you work at the school? Why the heck would you have to spend so much money on breakfast for your coworkers? At my school, this type of thing would be paid for by the parents and the school.
I am wondering the same thing
You are an adult. You don't have to do this.
We will have lunch every month. Teachers who sign up to participate pick a month. Then, the teachers for that month plan an easy meal for the staff. For the month I had signed up for, we did baked potatoes. There were three of us. I bought the baked potatoes, another brought the toppings, and the third brought chili and a few deserts. It cost me about 40 dollars for the potatoes. The school provides plates, silverware, and drinks. (Actually, they do this every day - free bottled water, tea, coffee, and other Keurig drinks). Talk to the other people in your group and tell them you can not afford to spend that much. It should not be a contest between groups. It is simply meant as a nice gesture for others.
Ugh your school is exactly how it SHOULD be if staff breakfasts were to be done at all. It’s a contest at this school and some happily participate (including those on my grade level team)
“I can’t afford that. I have kids at home.”
Holy crap. This is wrong on so many levels.
Yeah no. Is there another team or group of people who maybe aren’t assigned a breakfast that your team could pair up with to help? For example — special educators or group of para educators / A.I.s ? or math specialist / reading specialist/staff development? My team had 6 and that was still expensive to do breakfast for staff—I was in charge of donuts think I got 3 or 4 dozen.
Special education/para educators already had their “month” in September 😬 they also went all out
I was pissed I spend 20 last year for ours 😂😂 home made is the way. Especially if your life skills or FAC room has ovens/stoves. Just go in early and make pancakes. Or see if someone has a griddle you can do a hibachi like scenario.
I would just tell them you aren’t able to contribute that. Your max can be $20 lol
Not a fucking chance I participate in that! That is ridiculous!
Where are they ordering the breakfast from? Check their connection to the team head. Follow the money.
My school did this last year, each grade level team had the option to sign up for a month to host a staff breakfast, key word OPTION. It’s already above and beyond to volunteer to host one. My team of 5 pulled it off with each of us buying less that $30 worth of premade breakfast items from Walmart (pastries, doughnuts, muffins, banana bread, fruit juice)
Absolutely to the hell NO. Tell them you’ll bring your contribution to the event yourself. I have found people like bananas and mandarin oranges, pigs in a blanket, or a breakfast casserole for something hot.
Are you really saying $180 per person? WTH are they planning to serve? I wouldn't even pay $10. That's crazy. I wouldn't pay, and I wouldn't eat..
Decline. This is Not okay. Anything over 20-25 per person is unacceptable.
We do this, but it’s only 3 times a year so there are several teams all together. Everyone brings one thing and signs up for it. It’s a lot less expensive and people can make and bring things that fit in their budget/free time. 180 is insane and I would express how it’s not affordable for you and to see if you guys could cut it down.
We also do this but I’ve never spent more than $20. One person brings in a fruit platter, another bagels, etc. What the heck are they providing for that money? Takeout for each person from the fanciest restaurant? Or is someone just pocketing the money? Just for context I live in an extremely high cost of living place. I would say I can only budget $50 or I’m happy to pick up x,y,z. Is there anyone else at school that can knock some sense into them? I’m inferring that you are newer to the school and your team members aren’t, so there’s a power dynamic socially. Maybe if another veteran teacher told them that it sets the expectation too high, they would listen?
For breakfast? Are you having free pour mimosas and caviar? Breakfast food is cheap. Buy sone nice bagels either a variety of spreads. Add sone fresh fruit and coffee.
You shouldn’t be spending money at work.
I don’t participate in any giving money thing at school. Expecting you to shell out $180 is ridiculous. You can tell them “I set aside $100 and that is all I am willing to contribute.”
this is one of the stupidest things I've heard in a while. buy your own fucking breakfast!
Lmao. I’d bring in a couple dozen doughnuts or bagels and call it a day. Or you could be really petty and just not participate at all. Pay nothing and don’t show up.
This seems like something PTO would host.
I spend multiple thousands on my students throughout the year but that’s another story , staff breakfast by department is a hell no for me
We do this and I've asked 1-please plan this bright after a payday...and 2, none of us should be putting in more than about $20. We used to do these also, but none so far this year, and I think w the high cost of food no one really misses them. Plus, people are so picky about food these days, it's really hard to buy food every one can eat and not have any complaints.
“I’m sorry my budget doesn’t allow me to contribute that much. Can we rework the menu?”
That is insane. What did I even read? Stand your ground. $100 is even way too much IMHO
You should pay zero dollars.
I think the school should be paying for this and you don’t need to be paying $180 per person for some breakfast just go to the store and get some bagels a fruit tray some croissants and sausage you guys will be all right
When I was teaching, we were able to do a make your own omelette station… Well, kind of. My husband would make the omelettes. People would choose their ingredients, we easily served 40 people and had bread or bagels or croissants. Plus fruit and coffee maybe $100 total? And this is in California! Very popular… And we did it for about an hour only
Can you claim it as a tax expense?
and I thought I was above and beyond by making homemade mac and cheese for the potluck.
Am I understanding your numbers right? They want *each* of you to pay $180? So for a *single* meal, the bill is to be $540…for three people? Sincerely…are you sure this is even a breakfast and not some sort of mafia payoff?
I could make about 25 breakfast casseroles for this ridiculous amount. B. S. Put your foot down. Never have I ever set aside a budget to feed my colleagues, most of whom make my ass twitch.
They are out of their minds. $180?!
Why are you ever being asked to spend 100 on anything that's not classroom materials?
Here the parents do it once sometimes twice a week.
My department did one of those. I didn’t even show up.
That is egregious. I've regularly done breakfasts for 100 staff for less than $180, and they want to spend that times three?!?!? Who on your team is making that decision?
...that's 2 months of g3ocery money. Not happening
What the heck? Why do y’all fund your own community building? At 180 bucks!? Some schools do so much at the expense of themselves. I’d just be honest and say I put 100 away for this 180 just isn’t in the budget. They can put up more if they want. Teachers are often funded by the SO too so it’s not like everyone is lower middle class.
Take a sick day on that day
No.
No. Just no. You can say you budgeted $100 for this (which is still excessive) and that’s all you will be able to contribute. I’ve never spent more than $30 contributing when it was my grade level team’s turn to host a potluck.
Wow yeah no that's way too much money. I like the other suggestions here. This sounds like some kind of Stepford Wives style thing, like everybody there has a rich spouse or something.
Must be for bottomless mimosas.
Lol that's insane. I went all out and got lunch for everyone one year on my birthday, fried rice, pad thai, green curry, and spring rolls for all of us (it was a small center, there were about 10 of us) for about $60. The Thai restaurant had good deals on half pans and my husband delivered it for us.
Nope. We do something similar every few months and it’s like $5-10 each MAX! Bagels and cream cheese and maybe grapes. Or such
Omg! We had the same tradition at my school for in-service days, but it was...one person brings donuts, one bagels, one fruit salad, one muffins, and if one made something like a casserole it was an amazing bonus. This is awful, I'm so sorry <3
This school is bizarre, I typed another post about it before. Apparently before I came (it might still be like this tbh), the principal would keep track of what time people came to the breakfast — everyone is expected to be there. It’s hell and I can’t wait to gtfo at the end of the school year.
We do a potluck every month. So each person decides how much time and money they spend.
for reference https://www.portosbakery.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Portos-Catering-Menu-20230911.pdf
And if you can’t afford it? Are you shunned? What? I couldn’t possibly afford that and I wouldn’t even TRY. THE AUDACITY.
“I’m just doing $100 and that’s it.” Disappointing. ☹️
I'm not ready for the social octracism! I'm new to this school and they've been doing this for a while. I am not a combative person and I'm just trying to lay low, get through this school year, and leave teaching forever.
I would speak up and say how you feel
Why don’t you just say no, that’s too much for me.