Just as quick question - How many here get a christmas bonus?

[old mark]

I started working at age 14 after school, and retired at 59 - I NEVER got a christmas bonus in all that time...
How about you - do you get a regular bonus, have you had many in the past or just an occasional bonus - or none ever?


Just curious - I keep reading about people getting huge amounts of money and I wonder if I'm the only one who never got anything...


mark

[WVRICK13]

1. LOL, What Is A Christmas Bonus?

Never saw one.

[Turbineguy]

8. I think he's

a Roman General in the Asterix and Obelix series.

[hobbit709]

2. What is this thing you speak of?

[rucky]

3. I got a pink slip!

does that count?

[Uben]

7. It should.....

....because if a company would lay you off at christmas, it's a bonus to not work there anymore!

I worked for an asshole back in the early eighties who laid off half his employees at christmas! They turned him in for tax evasion and he spent a couple of years in prison. Sweet!

[customerserviceguy]

4. Sort of

My company is officially open on Friday, but we're having a Christmas party where employees bring in their under-11 kids for a present and a picture with 'Santa'. The phones will be off, and there's no work scheduled for the field, and I'm sure we're all going to get off in the early afternoon, with a full day's pay. That's followed by a day of holiday pay for Dec. 25th, which is not a workday for the vast majority of us.

It's way more than I've gotten for many years at other places.

[Uben]

5. Usually less than $1 million

Usually less than $10K

Usually less than $100

Usually nothing!

I have my retirement set up to where I get a year end bonus if the market does well that year. If not, I don't get squat, and that has been the case the last two years. This year looks good, may get $20K extra! Over the years, I have received a few Xmas bonuses, usually $100 or less.

[redirish28]

6. I've never gotten one. My wife has worked a few placed where she has

gotten one. But it has only been like $50 dollars and the taxes are taken out of it.

[Kolesar]

9. A frozen turkey every year

I also get a "profit sharing" bonus that is based on sales growth: 9% this year.

[blueamy66]

10. My fiance just got a check for $700

I should get about $2500 before taxes.

But I gave birth to 10 children 2 weeks ago, so I should see the whole check. :-)

7 years ago, I got 5 grand.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. I got one when I worked in a bar

but nowhere else.

[Codeine]

12. My boss usually puts a $100 bill in with my deposit slip.

Used to be $200, but times are not what they used to be.

[SoCalDem]

18. My husband always gets ten $100 bills in a card before Xmas

and after the first of the year he gets a check for 15-30K..taxes taken out..

We are blessed:)

[Codeine]

28. Indeed!

I'm local -- please adopt me! :evilgrin:

[SoCalDem]

29. Last year they had a crappy year so we did not expect anything

but he got $20K...the year before he got $30K.. Don't know what to expect this year.. Even if it's nothing, we would be happy..He has a great boss, and loves his job:)

We use it every year to buy a CD & to fully fund my IRA..and of course my husband grabs some for his new hobby...ebay :rofl:

[Kat45]

65. Wow! People get bonuses larger than my entire annual income.

That's when I had a job. It's another clear illustration of the income disparity in this country.

[spinbaby]

13. My husband has, sort of

In the past, he's worked in sales and his employer owed him commission at the end of the fiscal year, resulting in a "Christmas bonus." Felt kind of like a Christmas bonus, but really wasn't.

[old mark]

14. When I worked in a PA state mental hospital, we got to eat Christmas dinner

with the patients for free, if we were working on Christmas on the day shift. Second shift got tuna sandwiches, night shift got cold pizza.

I did get a frozen turkey once, but it was on thanksgiving-a gift from my union when I was out recovering from several heart attacks and bypass surgery. My employer didn't even bother to send a card.

FWIW, most bonuses are tax write offs for the employer.


mark

[HughBeaumont]

15. I've never received a bonus of ANY kind, Christmas or otherwise.

Always wondered how high up on the totem pole you have to be to get these jobs that have "bonuses" attached to them. Yeah, that just never came in the territory with me. It probably never will now that the plutocracy has been exposed in all it's wrinkled, sagging nudity and we just watch it like a train wreck and do nothing at all about it.

[lunatica]

16. Hahaha! I just got a $50 gift certificate for Target!

[madrchsod]

17. i used to but with social security i do`t

my wife does

[dkf]

19. I get a present from my boss, usually a couple hundred, and then I get taxed on it.

He gets all the bonuses, not me.

[TBF]

20. Law firms are kind of like banks - you bill hours and then often the bonuses

are dependent upon those hours. In legal support in the 90's I made some great bonuses (thousands of dollars). I don't know if firms are still doing that for support given the downturn. My husband is an attorney and has gotten very big bonuses the past few years, but they now come in the spring (more clearly tied to hours than they were before the crash, and they used to come right before Christmas but they changed that when they didn't want to pay in 2008).

[Lochloosa]

21. Yes. They are fairly common in the construction industry.

[ET Awful]

22. When I used to work for law firms in the early 90's, I'd get them

I believe the biggest one I ever got was $1,000.

I haven't gotten one since '95 or so.

I used to get annual bonuses based on the performance of the company but my current employer has kind of quit doing that quietly.

[Statistical]

23. My previous job gave qtrly bonuses and the 4th gtr was done early to come right before Christmas.

Still don't get too worked up by bonuses.

What is the difference between:

$40K salary + $10K bonus

AND

$50K salary

Companies decide total compensation. It isn't like they are accidentally giving away too much money.

[pitohui]

55. well this is the difference...

yah the company spends the same $ either way BUT we found that you naturally live on what you're earning all year, so the bonus (even after taxes) doesn't get dribbled, instead it can go directly into the IRA, vacation, or whatever else we have planned

so this method of doing things works for us

if you get $50K a salary and no bonus, there is nothing "extra" at the end of the year, just when you are looking to fund the IRA

doing it this way, we fund the IRA, then almost always get back a large tax refund to pay for our vacation

this keeps the money from just disappearing and being dribbled away and you wake up wondering where the hell did it go?

[FSogol]

24. My company has profit sharing but they distribute it around mid Dec so, everyone calls it a bonus.

Mine was much larger than normal this year, about 1.5x a normal monthly check. We've been pretty busy the last couple of years.

I also do part time consulting and my main client usually gives me a $500 bonus.

Bonuses really depend on what industry you are in.

[LiberalEsto]

25. Since I don't have a job

I won't be getting a bonus.

My husband is unlikely to get anything from his employers.

Back in 1972 or 73, when I worked at a weekly paper, I got a frozen turkey one year.

When I worked at a large newspaper in NJ in the 1980s, they not only threw a wonderful holiday party for employees and spouses at a great Italian restaurant, they also gave people a weeks' pay for every year they had worked there. Times have changed and I doubt they do that now.

[Iggo]

26. Every year.

Nothing huge. I'll have to check. But I think it amounts to an extra half-a-paycheck. (So about one week's pay.)

[Arkansas Granny]

27. I get a Christmas bonus at my current job and I have every year.

It's a cash bonus and varies from one employee to another. No one but the boss knows who gets what amount, but mine is always a few hundred dollars. We also get a ham and/or turkey and sometimes another personal gift. In the past those have been fleece jackets, Leatherman tools or something else that strikes his fancy that he thinks we might enjoy. I work for a very generous man.

[sharp_stick]

30. Not Christmas but annual

they used to provide us with 80% of our estimated annual bonus at the beginning of December and the rest when finalized at the beginning of March.

A few years ago they switched it so that we get 100% of the finalized amount at the beginning of March to simplify the accounting.

[JackintheGreen]

31. My wife *used* to get one

but not for the last two years for sure (and three years ago I was overseas, so I can't say).

I used to get a 10 lbs. turkey every year.

[bigwillq]

32. Have never gotten one (nt)

[GoCubsGo]

33. Never.

When I had a job, I worked 20 years for a state university. Not only did we never get any sort of bonus for anything, we were lucky to even get raises half the time.

[old mark]

35. Yeah. People think state employees get all the gravy, but mostly we got treated

like retarded criminals who should be thankful to get shit on by such wonderful superiors.

Sorry - I'm still bitter several years after I retired...


mark

[seabeyond]

34. hubby will get a bonus. amount varies... on company good will. mentioned 10k.

could be 500. first yr was 10k. next two years i cant remember, so little.

seems to be a wait and see.

when hubby owned business would give a bonus depending on profits. up to 500 one yr

dad owned business, would hand out turkeys and ham

[pokercat999]

36. My wife has usually gotten something for the holidays as

she has always worked in an office. Having managed auto repair shops for years I usually didn't get anything, maybe a turkey or grocery store certificate. In the past I have gotten my employees something for Christmas. One year when I was managing a small engine replacement shop (part of a franchise chain) I bought my employees, their spouses and children all Christmas gifts, the company gave us Christmas off but since we all worked on commission it wasn't much of a "gift".

[negativenihil]

37. Christmas bonus?

Isn't that something you see in a lot of really old movies and tv shows? Seemed pretty almost like a plot point in some Christmas Movies i remember watching as a kid.

[Nikia]

38. Everyone gets a bonus where I work

It is a privately owned company with about 50 employees. This is my 5th Christmas. During that time, we have always got a food related gift pack and some money that has varied from $50 to equal to about 1.5 weeks pay.
At my previous company, which was also privately owned, we got a big ham or turkey and 2 weeks pay. Unlike my current company, we got this bonus even the year that we lost money. The owner thought that it was the right thing to do regardless.

[uncommon]

39. $200.

It buys some gifts at least. But considering how hard I work and how much my boss makes off of that work, it's pathetic.

It's better than nothing though.

[blockhead]

40. usually about a weeks pay

but I don't know about this year because he's taking the whole crew to Vegas in January.

[Javaman]

41. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!

:spray: !!!!

:rofl: !!!!

>wipes tear from eye<

oh you crack me up!

[LWolf]

42. I've never gotten a xmas bonus, and I don't know anyone who has.

My oldest son, who worked as a sales manager for a decade, used to get quarterly bonuses based on the numbers his store produced. That ended when the recession hit and he was laid off, of course.

[jtown1123]

43. I used to get Target giftcards! haha

[montanto]

44. lol. I got a christmas pay cut!! But I still have a job.

That's a bonus.

[slackmaster]

45. I haven't gotten any kind of Christmas bonus since 1987

I started there in the summer of 1983 as a contract technical writer. They hired me at the end of December.

My first year there, I got zero because I was a contractor.

Second year, zero because I hadn't completed a full year.

Third year, $500. Not bad, but people with more seniority were still getting a full week's pay.

Fourth year, $100 because the company was starting to have financial problems. The S&L crisis was starting to unfold.

Fifth year (1987), $50 because the company's financial problems were deepening.

Sixth year, zero.

Seventh year, zero.

I was laid off the following January. Since then, the closest I've come to a bonus was that my previous employer closed its doors every year Christmas through New Year's Day, although not all of the days were paid (we could use our vacation pay, work, or get nothing for the unpaid days).

[riderinthestorm]

46. I give out Christmas bonus' to my employees.

It's not much - a token really - but I want them to know I appreciate them.

But I've never gotten one myself.

[uncle ray]

47. my employer used to.

it used to be one weeks pay. then they cut it to half a weeks pay. then they decided that our christmas bonus would instead go into our 401(k) accounts, execpt that they did not inform anybody about this policy until after everybody was wondering where their bonus checks were so they could buy gifts. it's now been a few years since we've been given anything.

[IcyPeas]

48. one of the perks of working in a big law firm. We get a decent bonus.

[Skidmore]

49. In my entire life, I have never held a job that gave a bonus

to me.

[aikoaiko]

50. No christmas bonus since working for the State.

[geardaddy]

51. "b o n u s?"

What is this bonus you speak of?

[justiceischeap]

52. I received an Amazon Gift Card (eom)

[pitohui]

53. my husband does

he works as a key figure in a rather low paying industry, the bonus started when the firm didn't even have a retirement plan, so peeps would have $ to put in their IRAs each year, and even tho they do have a simple retirement plan now, the bonus still comes, i think to keep the key folks from abandoning the entire industry

also i've known lots of people in sales who get bonus based on the $ amt of their annual sales, while hubby is NOT in the sales end of it, a lot of sales get made by people asking for his programs by name, so that helps

if you really want the best shot at a bonus, be a good salesperson is my humble opinion

[FLPanhandle]

54. $750 this year.

totally unexpected too so it was like Christmas morning.

[OhioChick]

56. Never have, probably never will n/t

[marmar]

57. We get to leave an hour early Thursday.

nt

[Hell Hath No Fury]

58. I have regualrly gotten a Xmas bous --

when working for companies, 25+ years. I have not received one the last two years due to the economic downturn.

[old mark]

59. Interesting thread - thanks for your responses - I am surprised so many have

had bonuses...several places had people exchange gifts, but never a real cash bonus of real gift...


mark

[JuniperLea]

60. My bonus usually comes in March or April...

Not tied to a holiday.

I used to get a bonus just before Xmas at my last long term job. It was merit based and could be up to 25% of my salary... I almost always got the top amount.

[TheKentuckian]

61. The last semblance of one was probably 2001 or so.

It used to be normal but could be anything between a $20 gift certificate and a few hundred bucks.

I think the biggest I ever got was like $350 (which was damn near a paycheck at the time) and the least would be an ornament or maybe a $20 Wallyworld card.

One place I worked it got worse as we made more money starting at the $350 and eventually ending at the ornament, with a step down each year.

I appreciate whatever but it is interesting that some folks get tighter and tighter the more resources they have.

[Vickers]

62. Once I got a turkey, and once I got $250.

That's over a 31 year career.

[Mudoria]

63. I get a 50 hour bonus for Christmas and the same for the 4th of July

[eShirl]

64. once, sort of... employer (drug store) took us out to a nice banquet at the Holiday Inn

most of us were cashiers

[IMATB]

66. Yes

$1500 check, 4 30lb. hams we gave away, 4 $50 gift cards we gave away, a box of assorted sausages and cheese, a turkey and someone made pralines and banana bread. All contractor gifts so I call it a bonus.

A $75 gas card was given to everyone in the company as a safety award.

We gave that away too.

[Cleita]

67. I did get a month's salary once. But the company

stopped giving bonuses the following year because they said they couldn't afford it anymore. Occasionally, I got small amounts of cash in an envelope, but it was never a regular thing and often a surprise.

[fascisthunter]

68. I Might.... after three years of stagnant wages though