Don't make me go all psycho-crazy-white-girl on your ass.

So, last night my job started it's annual United Way campaign. Normally I'm more than happy to participate in the events that interest me, donating a few dollars here and there. However, this year, money is a lot tighter than usual, and I'm on a pretty strict budget, with very little wiggle room. I was even going to make a pasta salad for last night's "Build you own salad bar" event, but I didn't have enough money to purchase all of the ingredients. It's not something I make usually, so I don't really have all the ingredients on hand. I told the head guy for the campaign the issue and he had no issues with it, he understood. I did offer to help at the bake sale in a couple weeks as I always have stuff on hand for baking because I prefer baking to cooking any day.

If only management understood like everyone else did. (sigh)

So last night was the "Build your own salad bar", and you could pay $3 or $6 for small/large salad things, plus byu raffle tickets. Now, most people would say, "I can handle $3!" And yes, I can handle that, but I'm very picky about my money these days. I went to lunch before the salad bar opened, and ate in the car in case they started it and started hounding me to participate. I come back and that's when it starts. I hear on the intercom that it's now open. I stay in the lab, working away. My boss comes back in and asks if I'm going to go eat, and I said, I didn't have any extra cash until payday. She says, "We take IOU's". Really? You want to take IOU's for a charity???? I really don't want to "donate" via IOU and not have the cash when you come to collect in 8 weeks. Besides, this thing is going for 8 weeks. I'm not giving money every single week. Towards the end of the night, the other department's supervisor walks up to me and says, "You can draw the raffle ticket since you didn't want to participate."

Excuse me?

I draw the raffle ticket, giving my apparently lame-o excuse, and she repeats what my supervisor said, "We take IOU's". I simply stated I'll have money come payday, and that's when I'll donate.

This just continues to bug me for the rest of my shift. Are they trying to imply that I'm a bad person for not donating money I can't really part with at the moment? I'm sorry, my rent and car payment is way more important to me that United Way. I'm sure United Way would understand. Times are tough. But they shouldn't make me feel bad. Even though I can't give money, I give in other ways. I volunteer on Fridays for a Golden Retriever Rescue, helping feed and clean the kennels. On Saturdays I volunteer for a Therapeutic Riding organization called Saddle Pals through UCP for disabled children. I can't afford to give money, but I can afford to give my time and little bit of gas. So, just because I can't afford a few bucks every week for 8 weeks, does not mean I'm a bad person. I work hard, and I give back to this community.

So back off, bitch.