Yes, it is acceptable for you to be hounded if you owe your colleagues money

There are many tricky situations we may find ourselves in that places relationships on the line at work.

One wrong move, a question worded wrongly, a follow-up question that comes across as annoying, and everything could come crumbling down.

And one of the perhaps most common scenarios is asking your colleagues to pay what you are owed – after all, this is an environment where you are expected to be professional and courteous.

How hard exactly should you chase your colleagues for money?

Money and manners maketh the relationships

Sometimes,  it simply feels more polite to pick up a meal’s or group order’s tab first when you are eating together with your colleagues.

This was something I used to do as I thought I was being a good person in the office.

But then you are stuck with the bill, left with the potentially awkward task of deciding how to split it, reaching out to each person, and sending chasers when they ultimately forget to pay you back.

Or you take charge of a group gift for a birthday party and your colleagues have promised to pay you back.

But some time has passed, and now if you start asking for money back, you seem like a cheapskate or petty fellow, especially if the colleagues whom you shared with are those you work closely with on the same team.

Pay up

And I’m tired of feeling this way.

If you keep paying first and people “forget” or take their time to pay you back, it can really add up.

By far, the biggest bane for me is organising the Grab rides for my colleagues back home after work.

While we don’t live right next to each other, sometimes we would take a Grab with multiple drop-offs for those who live nearby for convenience.

Sure, we tell ourselves it is cheaper to split the fare on Grab when you share a ride.

But when people don’t pay you right away, it leaves a pit in your stomach where you have to send the dreaded message to people to get them to pay you money.

You carefully craft the message to show you are paiseh about asking for the money back, and play it cool like it is not a big deal.

And people would still forget to pay me, despite numerous reminders.

Thankfully, Grab has now found a way to make things just that much easier for all of us who used to be the ones who always paid first.

Group Ride

While we might not be able to change people’s habits of not paying back immediately or being forgetful, at least we won’t have to ask for our money back awkwardly.

Grab has rolled out a new feature called Group Ride to save us the headache of chasing people down for the money they owe.

The fare can be split equally or proportionally among riders based on the distance and traffic of each member’s route.

Simply key in your pickup and dropoff, send an invite link to your colleagues/friends, and they can input their own postal code, and the Grab app will automatically optimise the route so you can enjoy the best fares.

Plus, the more people you share the ride with, the more savings you get to enjoy, up to two more members per ride.

There’s the base savings of up to 40 per cent you can enjoy on a Group Ride, compared to taking an individual ride, plus an additional 10 per cent when you invite one more person for the ride and 15 per cent off when you invite two.

The best part? Each passenger will be automatically charged after the ride, saving you the trouble of splitting the bill and sending follow-up messages.

Thank you, Grab.

Sincerely,

all those who paid first and felt bad for chasing our friends/colleagues for money.

This article makes the writer want to hang out with her friends more.

Top photos via Grab