Last Thursday my team hosted a drinks event at our office for ex-employees of the team I work with. It was really a marketing effort to get the message of our new business direction out to people in the business. I, together with two other colleagues, were in charge of organising the event.

The lead-up to the event was full of road blocks. First, after we had booked the kitchen spot, another department said they needed it and my boss conceded the space to them just ‘cos we “want to be the nice guy”. But my boss didn’t think about the other logistics involved for us when he agreed to be the “nice guy”. The older I get the more I feel it doesn’t pay to be nice – you just end up with the shorter end of the stick.

Then at the last minute we were told the other event had been cancelled and we could have our space again. But frankly there were so many other issues that had come out in the interim that I was so over the event before it had even taken place. Mentally I was also prepared for it to be a long night where everything that could go wrong would go wrong.

As I expected, a bunch of my colleagues drank themselves silly, downing beer and wine with abandon. Honestly, I don’t get this drinking culture that Aussies are so fond of. Where’s the fun in being pissed drunk and waking up with a massive hangover the next morning? Sorry, I really don’t get it. So this is where I don’t fit in with the local culture and I’ve been finding really hard to integrate into the culture here. But what I found most disgusting about my colleagues that night was that I saw senior consultants stealing beer from the fridge, to put them aside to be drunk after the event. I also discovered a bottle of champagne hidden under the sink, obviously to be consumed after the event.

Come on, that’s just not right. This is company property and not for you to take home. And the perpetrators are people who earn way above average wage. It was disgusting behaviour. Like how CHEAP can you get???

I thought about the matter that night after I got home – there’s a fine line between “frugal” and “cheap”. I’m a frugal person, but I’m not cheap. I definitely wouldn’t be taking company property like that nor be hard up for such things. I’m careful with my money because I work hard for it. I know how much work goes into making every dollar and I’m not about to let my money go to waste. That’s not to say I won’t spend on anything. I will spend on quality items so that I don’t have to keep getting it replaced. I will spend on family and good friends. I will spend on experiences.

Am I being too harsh on my colleagues? I don’t think so; this is basic company etiquette. All I know is that I can’t stand such cheap behaviour and it has really made me see my colleagues in another light.