‘What’s the worst Christmas bonus you have received from work?’ – 21 people who discovered they worked for a real-life Scrooge

Christmas is the time of peace on earth and goodwill to men, right? Well, maybe someone should have told the bosses and line managers of the UK that, because they appear to be a stingy and parsimonious bunch when it comes to handing out bonuses at the end of the year.

Reddit user potatoherbert asked ‘What’s the worst Christmas bonus you have received from work?’ and followed it up with their own sad example:

I worked in a well known retail food shop, one year as an Xmas ‘treat’ from the manager we all received a box of Milk Tray three months past best before date and some sad looking Xmas flowers half dead that couldn’t be sold.

They weren’t the only one who found themselves living in an updated version of A Christmas Carol, as the replies showed…

1.

‘Christmas bonus? What even is that? Laughs in local government.’
–zoobatron__

2.

‘The only ‘bonus’ we got was finishing at 2pm before Christmas. But the new HR head didn’t agree so it got removed.’
–CarlMacko

3.

‘Oh just remembered that yesterday I got an email from the leadership team saying to thank us for our efforts they were giving us a £150 voucher. Yes you’ve guessed it, it was a phishing test.’
–vientianna

4.

‘Five or six years ago, I was working as a courier, and we got an email telling us we’d be paid one day early Christmas week so we could get some last minute Christmas shopping done. We got paid at 11pm on Christmas Eve. So probably that.’
–DickSpannerPI

5.

‘£200 Argos gift card. I found out later that it was a gift to the team and we had to split it between 15 people.’
–dragonb2992

6.

‘I got given an envelope. I was so excited, thinking it was a cash bonus. It was genuinely full of tat.

A single teabag (not individual packet) for when I needed a break. A gold paper star – for being a star. A pair of matchsticks to keep my eyes open when I’m tired. A single puzzle piece, because I’m part of the bigger picture. There was also a paper clip, but I couldn’t tell you what bullshit that represented.

It went straight into the bin.’
–Possible-River6825

7.

‘We used to get a lovely hamper in the post every year. Included a bottle of red wine amongst some other nice bits; fancy nuts, some nice jam etc. Two years ago people complained about the contents for some reason and now we get sweet FA.’
–jurwell

8.

‘In one company, vouchers to buy two drinks at the Christmas party, that you had to pay to attend, and the vouchers only covered non alcoholic drinks.’
–SpookyMorden

9.

‘I used to work as an asbestos surveyor and we all got a mini torch for Christmas. A few months later it was added onto our kit list that we were supposed to have with us if we were ever audited.’
–tradandtea123

10.

‘In the NHS your Christmas bonus is Flu/Adenovirus/Norovirus/Coronavirus…etc.’
–Wooden_Astronaut4668

11.

‘Some office suck up arsehole would always ‘do a collection for the managers’ and a minimum of £10 was expected from everyone. They’d end up with hundreds of pounds.

Our reward? This is how miserable the managers were. They’d buy a couple of tubs of Celebrations or Miniature Heroes with some plastic bags. And they’d put maybe a dozen chocolates in each. Sometimes not even that. And give them out to the staff. Weren’t we blessed?’
–Both-Trash7021