I agree with you, completely.
I also suspect we're in the majority.

In 2004 I was put in charge of an office with about 40 employees. There were 3 or 4 women who had taken it upon themselves to arrange birthday cards, cakes and presents for everybodys birthdays. Times 40 that's once every week or two, which seemed to me to be a lot - each time the lights would go off, a cake with candles would be trundled in, singing etc, bringing the place to a halt for 15 - 20 minutes each time.

The first time one of them came over to me to ask for a quid, or whatever it was, I very publically and loudly refused to get involved.

Fully expecting a bit of a backlash, I was quite surprised to see half the other people in the office do the same, which as far as I could see they had never done before.

I think there were 2 or 3 half hearted attempts to do it again, but the whole tradition pretty much stopped dead.

Only proved to me that nobody really wanted it, they just felt obliged because everybody else did it.
(username failed moderation, Fri 24 Feb 2012, 16:36, 1 reply)

Haha, well done.
Someone had cakes for a birthday the other day. It's a new one here, I'm 100% sure nobody knows when my birthday is. My boss might be able to work it out based on my holidays but then I take the odd event off every year anyway. I'm not even sure if anyone even knows how old I am come to think of it.

No wonder my appraisal suggested I raise my profile in the office eh?
( Slippery Mick ‏, Fri 24 Feb 2012, 16:55, closed)

Did someone
say something?

Hello . . .?
(username failed moderation, Fri 24 Feb 2012, 16:59, closed)

'oh the tall miserable one that works over there'

( Slippery Mick ‏, Fri 24 Feb 2012, 17:06, closed)