Holiday Office Parties

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Sectoid
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by Sectoid »

The Meal wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:48 pmRatings on my company's holiday party.
That'll learn them to have a holiday party on a Thursday. I just wish there would have been more eligible ladies there. I'm smooth when I'm drunk...and not puking...there's a thin line there.
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

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I can vouch for that thin line! :lol:
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by gilraen »

I missed my company's holiday party this year, since it was on the Saturday that I was leaving on vacation. But I know they did the same thing as last year: rented out the clubhouse at an Omni golf resort. Not quite open bar, but the arrangement where you get 2 (3?) free drink tickets, and if that's not enough, then you can start paying for your own booze.

My coworker told me she was disappointed in the food, as they served full prime-rib & potatoes dinner, and she would have preferred finger foods and appetizers (boo-hoo :) )
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by El Guapo »

Government holiday parties are the worst. We have to pay to go to ours, and it's in the office. There'll be food and whatnot, possibly alcohol, but not likely to be the most thrilling thing in the world.

Holiday parties at my old big law firm were a little bit better. They usually rent out a DC museum and have an open bar and whatnot. Apparently they loosened the ethics rules recently to let people go to holiday parties of former employers under some circumstances, but in any event I'm not in DC at the moment so wouldn't work logistically anyhow.
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by YellowKing »

My current place of employment doesn't do holiday parties, so I don't have any experiences to share.

My last employer though - oh man. I worked for a construction labor company, and it was an extremely laid back environment. I happened to come on board at a time when the company was really starting to grow and take off financially, so our Christmas parties just kept getting progressively bigger. When I started, we'd do a fancy local restaurant. This then transformed into a booze cruise on a party boat at the beach, By the last few years I was there, they were renting out condos at Myrtle Beach for the weekend.

EVERY party had an open bar, and my co-workers liked to drink. I had a ton of crazy stories from those celebrations. One time my boss nearly got evicted from our hotel because he got drunk and was throwing silverware at people in the pool from the third floor balcony. Another time hotel management got called because an impromptu wrestling match broke out in one room with loud cheering and body slams off the bed, etc. :lol:

I never heard of any scandalous hookups, but I'm sure they occurred. I was married at the time and spouses were invited, so I had to behave myself.

Part of me misses those days, and part of me is glad they're behind me. It was a damn fun time in my late 20s/early 30s. I doubt it would have the same appeal at 43. :csmile:
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by Smoove_B »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 5:36 pmGovernment holiday parties are the worst.
Generally speaking, yes. However, the greatest government holiday party I've ever attended was held at the former international headquarters of an insurance company - a party that was specifically provided as a "thank you" to all the local officials. It was movie-level over the top food and drink along with music and decorations in the grand foyer of their main building. I attended in 1997 and was told it was a few steps down from what had been done in years prior, and I'm having a hard time imagining it dialed up a few more notches. I've been to less formal weddings, that's for sure.
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

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I worked at the local public library when I was in high school, and an annual highlight was the city Christmas party. No IDs were checked, and we teenaged library workers took full advantage. One year I ended up dancing with a female police officer who was wearing a tight green leather dress.

After that year, they stopped letting people under 21 attend the city Christmas party.
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

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The Meal wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 3:20 pm I can vouch for that thin line! :lol:
Yes. Yes you can.
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by Smoove_B »

ImLawBoy wrote: Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:53 pmAfter that year, they stopped letting people under 21 attend the city Christmas party.
But they'll never be able to take away those memories!
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by Kraken »

YellowKing wrote: Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:22 pm
My last employer though - oh man.
We went to some epic holiday parties in the '90s. I worked for a museum that swapped venues with other museums each year, so one year we had the run of the New England Aquarium after hours; another year it was the Museum of Fine Arts. Open bars, live music, and lots of fancy food were normal. I can never get enough scallops wrapped in bacon...although those instilled a bit of guilt at the Aquarium with all the fish watching.

Wife worked for a series of large media companies that rented out fancy venues. One year she won third prize in a raffle -- a two-week trip to Italy. That was third prize. OK, actually it was supposed to be a Caribbean cruise, but we were able to take the cash equivalent and add a little money of our own to turn it into a vacation that we actually wanted. Still...third prize.

Of course, things turned downright grim in the 00's, and subsequent employers never approached that level of excess.
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by RMC »

The IT department had a holiday party at a local restaurant. All the managers and up have to throw in X dollars, with it being X+X for Directors, and X+x+x for VP's. And the CIO makes up the rest I think. :)

Luckily I only had to do X, so that was the best thing in my book.

It was on a Thursday, and my kids had basketball, so I didn't go, and I knocked off my staff early that didn't want to go.

But it was employees only, and it was almost 45 minutes away from where my one office is located at. Only 15 minutes from where my other 'corporate' office is.
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by Z-Corn »

My wife has also had Real Jobs in the past that had great parties. There was a software house where she worked from 1997 to 2000. They had a deal where every Friday they (and spouses, I used to meet her there) could go to the pool of the fanciest hotel downtown for an open bar. Shit got nuts on the regular. Holiday parties were of similar caliber...

She went back there two years later after a French-Canadian firm bought the company. The Frenchies took it next level. Holiday parties after that included belly dancers...food fights...many, many employee hook-ups. Just nuts.

One time an after-work party was thrown when a manager was leaving the company. I walked downtown and met my wife at the bar where the party was. We drank 32 Rusty Nails between us plus other drinks. Her manager called her into his office on Monday and said we were "Animals!", but in a good way. We left after the party broke up and stumbled up the hill to home and passed a fancy tapas restaurant where my friend was a chef and just getting off work. We called us in for a pitcher of sangria while we waited for his server girlfriend to finish the night to give us a ride home.

We went back to our apartment and kept going. A couple other friends came over and we drank an entire 5-gallon keg of my homebrew IPA.

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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by The Meal »

The Meal wrote: Fri Dec 08, 2017 12:24 pm we're doing a simple sit-down dinner at a fancy restaurant on a Monday evening (significant others invited — I've already got my date, though).
We have sat down, and ate dinner at a fancy restaurant on a Monday evening. It was a good time. With about 15 people in the office, each of whom brought a +1, we couldn't all huddle around the same table. Fortunately MHS and I ended up at the cool kids table, with our Electronic Documentation Support dude, our Marketing guru, a fellow developer (who was in from Virginia just for the party), and one of our new Project Managers. We also had a different developer's wife sitting with us (though my coworker did eventually come over and join us as well). The booze was a-flowin' and the eats were remarkable. If any drama was playing out, it happened at one of the other two tables.

It'd only have been better if MHS didn't have this killer yuletide crud in her system. That was night 5 in a row for her going out, and we're some Danny Glover line anymore.

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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by em2nought »

We had a good year, I might place an extra coal on the fire for poor Bob. :wink:

It's hard work keeping that carbon footprint so tiny. :mrgreen:
Technically, he shouldn't be here.
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by hitbyambulance »

i purchased a mechanical gaming keyboard (with LEDs) for the white elephant gift exchange at work - im glad it made the recipient and the former recipient well-happy with it. a lot of the other gifts were pretty decent things, surprisingly. of course, i got screwed over (an extra-large ugly Christmas vester that made my skin break out and a squirrel-wearing-underpants tree ornament - and i don't put up trees. gave both away)
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by Madmarcus »

It must be hard to do that type of gift exchange at work. Both of them that I attend have turned into alcohol swaps.
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by RMC »

We do a secret Santa, for like 25 bucks. You don't have to do it if you don't want too. But we put in a wish list of items, and it usually works out.

I just participate, because it is fun. We give out gifts over the 5 days and then reveal who had who on that Friday. So it's fun more than what we actually receive. :)
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

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One of my jobs did a Secret Santa thing. I received typical girly stuff- hand lotions, hair doodles, some peppermint body wash. On the "reveal" day, my Secret Santa, who turned out to a very lovely, somewhat large older woman I was friendly with, told me that "If you wash your lady parts with that peppermint body wash, it tingles in fun ways." Alrighty then. :shock:

Our office holiday potluck is today. I blocked out the calendar from 11-1. In true form, my boss just came in and said he thought that was too long and could we keep it to an hour, or 90 minutes tops. :csmile: Merry Christmas!
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

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MHS wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:11 pm One of my jobs did a Secret Santa thing. I received typical girly stuff- hand lotions, hair doodles, some peppermint body wash. On the "reveal" day, my Secret Santa, who turned out to a very lovely, somewhat large older woman I was friendly with, told me that "If you wash your lady parts with that peppermint body wash, it tingles in fun ways." Alrighty then. :shock:

Our office holiday potluck is today. I blocked out the calendar from 11-1. In true form, my boss just came in and said he thought that was too long and could we keep it to an hour, or 90 minutes tops. :csmile: Merry Christmas!
Never understood bosses that did that. I am a firm believer that giving people mingle time for a potluck pays back 1 million fold. Heck, I am telling all my staff today, that they can leave early Friday, before the 'official' leave early time from the big boss. It's Christmas, get out of here early..
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by naednek »

I had planned a lunch (team building) gathering where we all chipped in and bought our supervisor some gag gifts. He's been stressed out lately so we bought some stress balls, some stress relief aroma therapy, and a dart board. Reserved some tables at a local restaurant. Confirmed he can attend. Lunch is today, he just cancelled. GRRR
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by Smoove_B »

MHS wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:11 pm In true form, my boss just came in and said he thought that was too long and could we keep it to an hour, or 90 minutes tops. :csmile: Merry Christmas!
Was this before or after he asked you all to stop putting coal in the stove to keep warm?
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

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Smoove_B wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 1:39 pm
MHS wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:11 pm In true form, my boss just came in and said he thought that was too long and could we keep it to an hour, or 90 minutes tops. :csmile: Merry Christmas!
Was this before or after he asked you all to stop putting coal in the stove to keep warm?
I know you meant it as a joke, but my office was always freezing, to the point where my hands would get so cold I literally couldn't type. I'd be huddled under a blanket I brought from home, and I finally brought a space heater in despite them being against our rental contract rules. He would come in and see me like that and laugh about how funny I looked. We recently hired a new person and had to shift offices around and I'm no longer in that cold office. It's been some sweet validation listening to my co-workers who got moved there complain to him about how cold my old office is, but I really wish my boss had gotten it instead.

It's all par for the course. Combine the manager from Office Space with the cluelessness of Michael Scott and throw in just a smidge of pre-ghosts Scrooge and you might come close to the ridiculousness level.
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by The Meal »

MHS wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:11 pmOur office holiday potluck is today. I blocked out the calendar from 11-1. In true form, my boss just came in and said he thought that was too long and could we keep it to an hour, or 90 minutes tops. :csmile: Merry Christmas!
I had a conversation with a 60-something coworker in Connecticut yesterday, where he explained he had a doctors visit today and a few other things on his plate and wouldn't be able to help me out with my issue until next Tuesday. I thanked him and wished him good luck with the doc and to enjoy his long weekend. "Long weekend? When are we off?" I explained that Monday is a holiday.

I also felt justified (having never met this coworker) in not following through with traditional Christianity-based assumptions and knowledge of historical holidays in generating my thank-you message. But what 60-something Connecticutter is justified in being surprised at a late-December company holiday coming up on the calendar?
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by Punisher »

MHS wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:11 pm One of my jobs did a Secret Santa thing. I received typical girly stuff- hand lotions, hair doodles, some peppermint body wash. On the "reveal" day, my Secret Santa, who turned out to a very lovely, somewhat large older woman I was friendly with, told me that "If you wash your lady parts with that peppermint body wash, it tingles in fun ways." Alrighty then. :shock:
I don't have any lady parts to tingle, but I LOVE Peppermint Body Wash. Softsoap makes one, but only releases it around Winter, so I stock up whenever I see it..
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Re: Holiday Office Parties

Post by Zarathud »

Cheeto lotion and peppermint body wash. A little something for everyone here on OO.
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