Fundraising Campaigns At Work!!!

You know what I really hate?  I hate when my company hassles me and wastes my time in their damn money raising campaigns every year.  EVERY year I’ve been working for this company, which dreadfully just passed 10 years, I’m hit with the

United Way

campaign AND the Let’s Go Arts campaign.  I don’t really have anything against both charities, well I shouldn’t say that because I strongly dislike the Let’s Go Arts program, but the way my company tries to extort money out of me is frustrating to no degree.

Not only do I get 2 to 3 e-mails daily about these fundraisers but I also get print-outs, posters, “contests”, and sometimes other methods of mayhem I can’t even fathom to explain.  For instance, one year we had a “silent auction”, and I put that in quotes because basically we had a tag sale with crap people didn’t want anymore and instead of throwing it away brought it into work and decided to try and peddle it off on us.  Sorry co-worker, I don’t want your used Foreman Grill or baby clothes from your demon offspring that I have to hear about everyday.

I wonder how much it costs for these fundraisers.  We always hear we raised this much money but did they take out what they actually spent?  How much paper did you use to print out those materials?  How much time did you waste writing up those terrible e-mails or meeting with the committee to come up with those awful ideas and “contests”.  I doubt it but I’m sure our shareholders are happy that we’re wasting company time to try and raise $400 bucks for the

United Way

.  (By the way, I’m fully aware that using company time for the blog is probably not what the shareholders want me doing.  Stop pointing that out d-bag.)

How about the Let’s Go Arts campaign?  Not only do I hate being bothered and hassled about participating but could we pick a sadder campaign?  It’s for the Greater Hartford Arts programs.  I’m sorry but unless it’s going to the artists that graffiti the terrible city of Hartford, CT I don’t really care about the Greater Hartford Arts community.  In fact, instead how about we just take the money we raised for the “arts” and give it to the city to help take down old abandoned buildings or clean up the once historic North Side of the city.  Nope, instead let’s give it to the Arts and not be able to walk in a once great part of the city.

Sorry, I got off track there, back to these horrible campaigns I’m bludgeoned with every year.  It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even read the e-mails or print outs, nope, I just hit the delete button and file the print outs in the recycle bin.  As for the “contests” and other great ideas they come up with, I do my best to be “busy” on a fake phone call or avoid the “temptations” of the cookie sale in the lunchroom.  I don’t want to buy a home-made cookie from my co-worker who I know most likely doesn’t wash their hands in the rest room and smells like they bathed in perfume because they got up late and couldn’t take a shower for $1.  Seriously, one cookie for $1?  I can get a whole box of Entenmanns’s or Chip’s Ahoy for that amount.

Maybe it’s me, but if you want my money for your fundraising campaign, stop hitting me over the head with it and stop with the unnecessary and very unwanted bullshit.  Just tell me what we’re doing and if I decide to drop some change your way, good, if not I don’t want you at my desk asking me about it.  I’m all for giving to charities but I’ll be damned if I ever do it at work again.