Reason 692 Why I Am Thankful to be FIREd

[Bimmerbill]

I used to call them "forced fun days." We had many "employee appreciation days" back when I worked for the Army. I always said if you want to appreciate me give me a raise or time off.

[M Paquette]

"Deming Award Kickoff Party"

"ISO 9000 or Bust Party"

Gah! Make it stop! No, not the five nines compliance checklist festival!

Then Steve decided that we should maybe concentrate on great products, rather than great certifications, rearranged the C-suite a bit, and ended this nonsense. I did save the t-shirts, though. :-)

(NeXT was a sort of growth experience for everyone. Someday we'd grow up to be a real live company, without magical shortcuts.)

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bimmerbill I used to call them "forced fun days." We had many "employee appreciation days" back when I worked for the Army. I always said if you want to appreciate me give me a raise or time off.

We had those too, once a year. At lunchtime went to a nearby park where, after an awards ceremony, we could eat, play baseball, and/or talk for the rest of the afternoon. If you didn't want to go, then you had to sit in your cubicle and work all afternoon.

Some people went to the park and then after an hour or so just quietly drifted away towards the parking lot (shhhh!)

[Nuiloa]

And while we're at it, let's talk about mandatory farewell parties, and retirement parties and birthday parties and on and on. They pass envelopes around for mandatory gift giving. There are mandatory luncheons and cake and coffee parties.

What bothers me most is that all this forced socializing just eats into my personal time. Far from turning co-workers into life-long bosom buddies, I believe they actually alienate them. I know I personally will never befriend anyone here and I doubt I'll even remember their names a year after I leave.

As Greta Garbo said: "I just want to be left alone".

[W2R]

I didn't like our retirement parties either, Nuiloa, especially because they were generally at a restaurant and we had to pay a flat fee of $30 in advance just for the meal. I was LBYM'ing and would never have paid that much for a meal on my own.

So, when I retired and my supervisor pushed me to have a retirement party, I finally relented but said it had to be a potluck in one of the conference rooms, so that the attendees could save the money for their own retirement nestegg. That seemed to work out pretty well. I think I was the first one ever to do that.

[Nuiloa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I didn't like our retirement parties either, Nuiloa, especially because they were generally at a restaurant and we had to pay a flat fee of $30 in advance just for the meal. I was LBYM'ing and would never have paid that much for a meal on my own. So, when I retired and my supervisor pushed me to have a retirement party, I finally relented but said it had to be a potluck in one of the conference rooms, so that the attendees could save the money for their own retirement nestegg. That seemed to work out pretty well. I think I was the first one ever to do that.

Forcing someone to pay when something is mandatory is just plain wrong. YOU want, Mr. Company Exec, YOU pay for it.

I don't even want the conference room potluck. I have a feeling I will be suffering from a fairly intense virus that will keep me home for the month before my retirement date. I can feel it coming on as we speak.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nuiloa Forcing someone to pay when something is mandatory is just plain wrong. YOU want, Mr. Company Exec, YOU pay for it.

Well, we didn't HAVE to go, but there was a lot of pressure to do so. After a while I just refused to go and made excuses ("I really have to finish writing this document and it has first priority!" etc). It wasn't looked upon kindly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nuiloa I don't even want the conference room potluck. I have a feeling I will be suffering from a fairly intense virus that will keep me home for the month before my retirement date. I can feel it coming on as we speak.

Good luck with that approach! I tried to get out of it, but was unsuccessful. It wasn't so bad. Not only was it potluck, it wasn't at lunchtime so it was just snacks (supposedly, though some seemed almost enough for a meal).

I am hoping that after breaking the tradition of having it at a restaurant, some future retiree can simplify it even further or not even have one.

[martyb]

My "outfit" is having a "team picnic" on Thursday. Since I'm located 200 miles from the "team", I won't be able to participate. At least, not with the rest of the team.

[Rustward]

Malcom Baldridge National Quality Award Competition

Quality is Free

Quality is Conformance to Specifications

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by M Paquette (NeXT was a sort of growth experience for everyone. Someday we'd grow up to be a real live company, without magical shortcuts.)

It was never clear to me whether Pixar bought NeXT or whether it was the other way 'round...

[tangomonster]

It's reassuring that so many of you would despise this type of thing-----sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who does not "know how to have fun" (as my co-workers complained numerous times when I didn't want to take a break at 3 PM for an ice cream social and deal with all the calories of not-very-good-generic ice cream in one size fits all flavors).

But----this forum attracts some unique people. What percentage of the average workers out there (the ones who don't want or can't FIRE) do you think enjoy this sort of thing? My friend who is not a FIRE type (needs the structure of work as well as the pay and hence the employment at 62) wasn't completely dreading it.

[youbet]

Special events, celebrations, and the like at work went a long way towards making my ER possible. To this day, five+ years after retirement, I'm still wearing the caps, tee shirts, polo's, sweatshifts and jackets (a couple of really nice ones) that were passed out.

Thanks MegaCorp!

Edit: I forgot to mention the key chains, ball point pens, notebooks, scratch pads, paper weights, clocks, and miscellaneous little thingies.

[tangomonster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet Special events, celebrations, and the like at work went a long way towards making my ER possible. To this day, five+ years after retirement, I'm still wearing the caps, tee shirts, polo's, sweatshifts and jackets (a couple of really nice ones) that were passed out. Thanks MegaCorp!

So you were able to retire early because you were given a closet full of clothes?

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tangomonster So you were able to retire early because you were given a closet full of clothes?

You betcha! I've got a tee shirt on that says Six Sigma on the front and MegaCorp on the back right now!

And these aren't just any ole clothes. These are "special" clothes appropriate to the "unique people" you say are attracted to this board.

[Rustward]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet You betcha! I've got a tee shirt on that says Six Sigma on the front and MegaCorp on the back right now!

. . . flashbacks to the centurion place . . .

[harley]

I used to really enjoy the "morale building" activities. It was totally a coincidence that I had to quit attending just when they started requiring you to pay for your own drinks.

[M Paquette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords It was never clear to me whether Pixar bought NeXT or whether it was the other way 'round...

Yaar! When the navy captures a band of pirates, they'd best keep a close eye on them, or the pirates may just take the fleet.

There was a part of Apple that didn't know what hit 'em. That whole process made me nervous, but it worked out well in the end.

[Blackwoodt]

Wow, I thought I was the only one that detested ‘mandatory fun’ days! We had our normal outing this September, and I guestimated what day it would fall on early in the year and put in for vacation before it was ever published.

Next year, I will be retiring in September, I may go to the last meeting just so I can watch the faces when I walk out early.

[Nuiloa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bimmerbill I used to call them "forced fun days." We had many "employee appreciation days" back when I worked for the Army. I always said if you want to appreciate me give me a raise or time off.

My sentiments exactly!

[sinjin]

I was dinged on my performance evaluation last year for not going to the "voluntary" Christmas potluck while I was on vacation.

Mrsin started boycotting his company's annual meeting years ago because it's always held the week of the 4th of July. A couple of years ago they coerced him into going by telling him he was getting an award. At the time we were camping out west coast and the meeting was on the east coast. He flew out for the meeting* and subsequently found out that "they changed their mind" about giving him an award at some point but neglected to tell him or his immediate supervisor, bastards. He hasn't gone to one since.

*leaving me alone in a campground with a BMW with a blown clutch and no one to fix it for a week. But that's another story.

It is good to be retired