I have not had a sensible answer to B.day cards.
One place i worked a Christmas collection went round for all the secretaries who worked so hard throughout the year. I refused to give not cause i am a tight arse but I too oddly enough worked.
We had a similar policy at my old, old place – we had to take out Admins out for lunch at Xmas and bought them a little gift. It was a bit odd in the 21st century, but we’d all been Admins before we were ‘Managers’ and there was a big gap in pay between the 2 roles, about double.
It did feel odd though, you spend all day, pretty much every day sat next to someone, working hand-in-hand and then you had to act a bit like their Dad, it wasn’t really a Boss / Sub relationship.