My coworkers have implemented a 'cancellation fee' for backing out of lunch plans.
By @yara · Work
A few people in my department started a spreadsheet to track who cancels lunch plans last-minute. If you back out within 24 hours of the reservation, you have to Venmo the 'organizer' $10 for the 'inconvenience'.
The full story
I work in a pretty standard corporate office, and a group of us—maybe 8 or 10 people from different teams—have a recurring calendar invite to go out for a 'team lunch' every Friday. It started as a nice, informal way to catch up and not eat at our desks for once. The person who picks the restaurant and makes the reservation changes each week. Over the last few months, however, a couple of people have gotten really intense about it. they complained that when people cancel last-minute (which happens, because we have demanding jobs), it's 'disrespectful of the organizer's time.' One of them, the main instigator, created a shared spreadsheet. It has our names, the date of the lunch, and checkboxes for 'Confirmed' and 'Attended'. Last week, he announced the new 'cancellation policy' in our group chat. If you cancel your RSVP within 24 hours of the lunch, you owe the organizer $10. they says it’s to 'create accountability' and compensate the person for the 'emotional labor' of adjusting a reservation. He was dead serious. A few people have already paid it. On Monday, I had a client meeting run late, and I knew I wouldn't be able to make Friday's lunch at a new place that requires a credit card hold for large parties. I cancelled on the spreadsheet, and within minutes, the organizer DMed me his Venmo handle. I feel like this is insane. We're coworkers, not a dining club with membership dues. It's a casual lunch, not a binding contract. I told him politely that I wouldn’t be paying the fee, and now things are incredibly awkward. He’s acting chilly toward me, and a few others in the lunch club are treating me like I'm the one being unreasonable. I'm starting to dread Fridays.
How people voted
- Side A — 28% (33 votes)
- Both — 37% (44 votes)
- Side B — 36% (43 votes)
Readers are split: “Both” leads with 37% — 120 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@yarasorta — A man's word is his bond, if you said you were going, you should have gone.
@inesfr — I'm guessing people were cancelling constantly and making it a huge pain for the organizers.
@rose — I would start a competing lunch club and make the cancellation fee $11 just to spite them.
@alsotbh — The main instigator clearly has some control issues he needs to work on.
@maeyk — Pay the man.
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