I hate office parties!

[David1961]

One thing I will definitely not miss when I RE is the office Holiday Parties. Where I work, it is also the “a** kissing event of the year”. Pitiful. One mistake I think a lot of managers make is assuming that everyone is motivated like they are. Not all of us what to be the director, or even a manager, and it doesn’t mean we are lazy. I was talking to a buddy of mine who believes he is on the track to upper management. During the course of our discussion, I said something like having personal boundaries is important and I have better things to do on Saturday night than check a blackberry. I don’t think he got what I was saying. If people want to move up the corporate ladder, more power to them, but personally I don’t think it is worth it.

 

[Sarah in SC]

David, gawd I'm glad I've never worked anywhere like that! I've prized the non @$$ kissing environments around me. Keep up the strong front!

DH's office party: drinks at the beachfront home of the boss where the folks can admire what their hard work produces , then a fancy dinner, then open bar at the nightclub he owns, including hip-hop dance music. Recipe for disaster!
We got to see some drunken inappropriate behavior from salesgirl, the "little bit too familiar with the pole" former stripper wife of a technician, and the vomit hurling by one of the prize saleguys. Miss it when DH gets out in five yrs? Not so much! But we do get a free hotel room up at Myrtle Beach for the night to enjoy the "festivities". And actually, the boss is a pretty decent guy, despite not having a 401k this year due to "irregularities" in the accounting of the former 401k plan.

My office? The boss, his wife, my DH and all four ladies (2 part-timers are 65+) have an early dinner at a fairly nice restaurant and exchange presents. Infinitely civilized.

 

[FinanceDude]

DH's office party: drinks at the beachfront home of the boss where the folks can admire what their hard work produces , then a fancy dinner, then open bar at the nightclub he owns, including hip-hop dance music. Recipe for disaster!
We got to see some drunken inappropriate behavior from salesgirl, the "little bit too familiar with the pole" former stripper wife of a technician, and the vomit hurling by one of the prize saleguys. Miss it when DH gets out in five yrs? Not so much! But we do get a free hotel room up at Myrtle Beach for the night to enjoy the "festivities". And actually, the boss is a pretty decent guy, despite not having a 401k this year due to "irregularities" in the accounting of the former 401k plan.

If you can get me an invite next year, I would be glad to go........other than the vomiting thing........

 

[W2R]

One thing I will definitely not miss when I RE is the office Holiday Parties. Where I work, it is also the “a** kissing event of the year”. Pitiful. One mistake I think a lot of managers make is assuming that everyone is motivated like they are. Not all of us what to be the director, or even a manager, and it doesn’t mean we are lazy. I was talking to a buddy of mine who believes he is on the track to upper management. During the course of our discussion, I said something like having personal boundaries is important and I have better things to do on Saturday night than check a blackberry. I don’t think he got what I was saying. If people want to move up the corporate ladder, more power to them, but personally I don’t think it is worth it.

I stopped going to office parties about five years ago, when I was absolutely sure that my supervisor would never promote me no matter what I did (she had a 100% consistent history of hiring friends from outside into upper level positions rather than promoting people).

Then, a year ago I got promoted. Will wonders never cease! Maybe she was forced into it by upper management. With ER less than two years away and a relatively recent promotion under my belt, there will be NO holiday parties for me, ever again!

 

[Moemg]

I hate the big impersonal office parties but I 've been to some great ones that were just our group .Plus in the early 70's we had some real wild & crazy office parties in the Operating Room suite .Food warming in the autoclaves and wine flowing .Think Mash !

 

[maddythebeagle]

We have some good ones in the past since we were a smaller office without a lot of career climbers but I stopped going to ours a couple of years ago simply because I like to take nearly all of Dec. off...

 

[MooreBonds]

Well, this year will be my first 'real' office party.

Previously, my 7 years post-college working years (plus some years as a summer intern) were spent working for a relative's construction company. Since over half of the office people are immediately family members, I never really considered it a 'true' office party (although, the 30-50 plumbers that showed up sure added a different spice to the mix ).

This year, my new career with a 25-person engineering firm's satellite office will be my first unbiased taste of what an office party is like.

I signed up to bring dessert - will probably make a batch of baklava and a cheesecake. Other people signed up for different categories. Will be interesting to see what people bring. I don't think it will get too wild and crazy, since it will start at around 11am, and it's at the office. There will be a little beer, but probably not any hard liquor (I do have a 6-pack of Grey Goose Vodka that I got as a corporate gift last year, but might save that for next year.....combine that with some punch and things might REALLY get interesting. ).

 

[jazz4cash]

Makes me appreciate working from home. I can do drive by visits to my client places of business as the parties are during working hours. My visits can be as short as 20 min (got more people to see!) or I can take favorite clients for a holiday lunch.

 

[clifp]

We got to see some drunken inappropriate behavior from salesgirl, the "little bit too familiar with the pole" former stripper wife of a technician, and the vomit hurling by one of the prize saleguys. Miss it when DH gets out in five yrs? Not so much! But we do get a free hotel room up at Myrtle Beach for the night to enjoy the "festivities". And actually, the boss is a pretty decent guy, despite not having a 401k this year due to "irregularities" in the accounting of the former 401k plan.

.

Ah now the truth is revealed about the stripper pole exercise club. Did we a see a picture of the technician wife. Your parties sound more interesting than most of mine.

Still my first two years out of school really spoiled me for corporate Xmas party. In the early 1980s AMD put on terrific Xmas parties (kinda of like Google benefits today), they hired hot bands I remember "Chicago" playing one year (circa 80s they were big), rented out big venues in San Francisco. Good food , tons of booze, and amazing door prizes. New cars, Hawaii vacations, and the grand prize of a $1,000 a month for life.

 

[haha]

If you can get me an invite next year, I would be glad to go........other than the vomiting thing........

Invite me too! Sounds just about perfect. I'll bring a garbage bag with armholes for when the vomiter gets going.

Does that stripper gal have a sister?

Ha

 

[haha]

they hired hot bands I remember "Chicago" playing one year (circa 80s they were big),

Really good band!

Ha

 

[FinanceDude]

Invite me too! Sounds just about perfect. I'll bring a garbage bag with armholes for when the vomiter gets going.

Does that stripper gal have a sister?
Ha

Ha, I'd be glad to be your wingman........I wonder if DW would mind........

 

[REWahoo]

Ha, I'd be glad to be your wingman........I wonder if DW would mind........

I'm pretty sure Ha's wouldn't, but I'd have some serious doubts about yours.

 

[Goonie]

I never much cared for the 'office' parties. But I occasionally went for the free dinner and would visit with friends for a little while, then I'd bail out before the 'higher ups' started making the rounds to 'glad hand' everybody.

Instead of a party this year, my former employer is only having a holiday breakfast instead. My former boss called a few minutes ago to invite me. Hey, a free breakfast.....sure, I'll be there!

 

[Miss_Lala]

I just came back from attending the potluck/gift exchange office party. We all had to bring a gift that was $20 or less. I spent $18. I got a stress ball and a personal mustache and sideburn trimmer.......I"M A GIRL!!! Also from the looks of them, they each came from the dollar bins at Target. This is why I don't like these parties.

 

[TickTock]

I got a stress ball and a personal mustache and sideburn trimmer.......I"M A GIRL!!!

Good thing you got the stress ball!

 

[tryan]

In the early days (micro vs. mega corp) we had some wild parties ... Bud truck, live music, great BBQ food. Stories circulated about people hooking up in the conference rooms and fire escapes. Halls were monitored via security cameras so they were seen "in the act". Then the company grew and such activity was seen as a liability ... all gone now. Even the Christmas party (catered dinner with a cash bar) was cancelled about 3 years before I left.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Ah now the truth is revealed about the stripper pole exercise club. Did we a see a picture of the technician wife. Your parties sound more interesting than most of mine.

Nah, but the pole class I took helped me to identify those who were more ~ahem~ professional (not that there is anything wrong with that) at it than we naive girls were in our class. I'm sure she was a nice girl, but since DH told me that when he went up to make small talk with her and the guy, that she happened to be showing off her cha-cha, so he hurried away.

Cha-cha AKA hoo-haa (ask the medical folks for more exact terminology).
Y'all are welcome to come to the party--maybe instead of us next year!

 

[REWahoo]

Y'all are welcome to come to the party--maybe instead of us next year!

I probably can't make it but it would be nice if you would post some pictures...

 

[TickTock]

Cha-cha AKA hoo-haa (ask the medical folks for more exact terminology).

Thingie.

 

[SingleMomDreamer]

At least it was a party! We had ours last Friday and it consisted of a catered lunch and the President giving awards to the top ass-kissers of the year. And when we got back from the "party", we were told we could bill 30 minutes to overhead! WhooHooo! So we had to spend an hour of our own lunchtime and since the "party" lasted 90 minutes, the company picked up a whole 30 minutes of our time. That's our "bonus" too by the way. I was feeling pretty depressed the entire afternoon. Then a divisional meeting followed by pizza on Monday. There is definitely NO FUN in this workplace.

 

[FinanceDude]

At least it was a party! We had ours last Friday and it consisted of a catered lunch and the President giving awards to the top ass-kissers of the year. And when we got back from the "party", we were told we could bill 30 minutes to overhead! WhooHooo! So we had to spend an hour of our own lunchtime and since the "party" lasted 90 minutes, the company picked up a whole 30 minutes of our time. That's our "bonus" too by the way. I was feeling pretty depressed the entire afternoon. Then a divisional meeting followed by pizza on Monday. There is definitely NO FUN in this workplace.

30 minutes to overhead is better than the "fruit box" I used to get for managing a sales team that increased bottom line revenues 50% a year for 5 years in a row...............

 

[Nords]

On one of my submarines I used to take the duty so that I wouldn't have to go to the command Christmas party.

The junior officers thought I was cool for helping them out, the other department heads were jealous (I wrote the duty roster), and the XO was just annoyed by my behavior. Luckily the CO had already given up on me or was too involved with inviting VIPs to [-]raise his profile[/-] give everyone a chance to talk to the brass.

I thought the gag gifts were borderline. But when people had to put on skits, I was done.

 

[bssc]

Our Megacorp party was interesting. They brought in gaming tables. I realized that I don't know anything about craps or Texas Hold em. I watch my friend lose her $1000 funny money stake. They also had drawings for prizes and stuff. I didn't win anything but a lot of people did. It was pretty fun.

 

[Robert the Red]

I kind of like our office parties (Fed Govt / scientists and support staff). The best every year is funded by the principal investigators in a particular lab, and they get in about $1000 of shrimp, sushi, etc. Relaxed conversation (except for the occasional technical question that comes my way) and good food. Alas, no wine allow on Federal property.