Reason 692 Why I Am Thankful to be FIREd

[Brat]

A former neighbor had a party at their home after passing out the Christmas bonuses. One of the guests thought they should have been more generous, got drunk and danced on their couch.

No more Christmas parties!!

 

[FUEGO]

Come to think of it, screwing around and not working is actually my favorite part of working. Besides lunch, long coffee/watercooler breaks, vacations, "sick" days, and a decent pay check, there is really nothing redeeming about work.

 

[Nords]

Come to think of it, screwing around and not working is actually my favorite part of working. Besides lunch, long coffee/watercooler breaks, vacations, "sick" days, and a decent pay check, there is really nothing redeeming about work.

Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" claims that "good" work has a degree of autonomy while being complex and fulfilling.

I manage to do that every day in the comfort of my own home...

 

[FUEGO]

Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" claims that "good" work has a degree of autonomy while being complex and fulfilling.

I manage to do that every day in the comfort of my own home...

I just approach work as a volunteer gig where I get paid occasionally.

 

[Grizz]

This year has been exceptionally good business wise, so rather than our usual Christmas party, my business partner and I decided to charter a 6 seater plane and fly the employees to a city that is about 200 miles away. Then we'll take a limo to a nice steak & seafood joint. The whole thing is sort of a guys day/night out/staff appreciation. While the staff seems to be all for it, I wonder if by not holding our Christmas party, if we'll be disappointing the wives & girlfriends. Who knows, maybe they are relieved that we aren't having it. The employee Christmas bonuses will be quite a lot more than past years, so hopefully that'll smooth over some potential bad feelings.

 

[Brat]

Grizz I think you and your partner have the best of intentions... but your employees' contribution to your business results were not just theirs.. it was also the spouses/SOs who backstop-ed their work-lives.

My pre-retirement life was HR. We had an employee who made a huge contribution to a project. The Div HR manager contacted his wife, found out what it would take to enable the employee & wife to spend a couple weeks away. The company had a lot of 'comps' to draw on. Basically they arranged for child care, and all expenses for a vacation for the couple. He was called into the managers office, given the travel package and told all was arranged. Have a great time.

Not every company has the resources to do that but sometimes you can offer employees a 'pick one' reward for a great year at a pizza party where everyone comes out a winner.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nords
"We're gonna keep having these meetings until you can stop making excuses and explain why you're not getting any work done!!"


MAD Magazine: "We're having these meeting twice a day until we find out why productivity is down."

CLASSICS!

At one of the fundatory events I went to, I asked if it was open bar. One of the pilots replied, "It's the only way to get a-holes like us to hang out with a-holes like us!"

 

[HFWR]

I just approach work as a volunteer gig where I get paid occasionally.

And for [-]most[/-] many of us, that's dead on...

 

[emcat]

My old company tried a 3-day camping trip in the wilderness to "build team spirit."

Who would've guessed that sleeping in a tent, going to the bathroom in the woods, and not being able to take a warm shower could make people grumpy?

A few weeks later about 20% of the people quit and I left 6 months later (not because of the trip, but for other reasons).

 

[freebird5825]

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!)

Our organization had an annual event called "Heritage Day" for current employees and retirees. You could bring your parent(s) if they were retirees. Awards were given. We had a senior employee who did a "roast" routine on current management. The Multimedia Department did an excellent job with a slide presentation with music, featuring photos taken of employees and finding older photos of retirees in attendance. A volunteer DJ played music after the formalities. Attendance was not mandatory unless you were receiving an award or were hosting your parent(s).

Also, I was President of a Social Activities Committee that was allowed to hold 4 "fun only" events per year. We had a Halloween party with costumes (optional) and pumpkin carving contests; an informal Christmas party with a Santa and Elves and grab bag; a St Patrick's Day social with a contest for the Engineers to make things that could fly or float using only office supplies and a Pie in the Face event (managers competed heavily to be designated as the victims); and a Summer Picnic with families invited and softball + volleyball + horseshoes + dunk tank + sack races + egg toss + TugO'War. We had games set up for the kids.
Our military committee members did all of the supply shopping, and both civilians and military w*rked side by side to plan and host these parties.
The CGOC hosted an annual Chili Cookoff and frequent Burger Burns, which my committee assisted with as needed.
My committee and the CGOC w*rked hard to make sure nobody felt pressured to attend and kept the atmosphere lighthearted (no speeches). The attendance at these events was fabulous until the repeated BRACCs of the 1990s took the wind out of our sails. So we held one more event and closed down the committee.
We continued to have informal Happy Hour format gatherings at local bars where music was being played and/or there were free snacks, but it just wasn't the same.

 

[Nords]

My committee and the CGOC w*rked hard to make sure nobody felt pressured to attend and kept the atmosphere lighthearted (no speeches).

One of the big changes in military events was the audience. Once the senior brass started showing up, the fun started disappearing.

When I was at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, the student population was mostly O-3s with a sprinkling of O-4s. The joke was that you came there to get at least one of four things: a degree, a dependent, a divorce, or a dog. Young bachelor officers would get married and start families (sometimes in that order) and everyone socialized heartily on evenings & weekends. Sometimes we even went to classes.

But the formal affairs were the best I'd ever attended-- the Navy balls and the community birthday celebrations were bacchanalia that started early, roared through the evening, and only moved to an after-party when the clean-up crews got in the way. When the NPS admiral would totter to his feet to give the introductory speech (some geezer who must've been in his 50s) we'd all patiently try to settle down and pretend to be a little respectful while he droned on. Then we'd return to the serious business of partying.

I thought this was way better than anything I'd ever attended at USNA, my school commands, or my first submarine. I thought it was the way parties were going to be from now on.

It turned out that the only reason Monterey parties were so much fun is because we were all of a similar age, background, and interests. Nobody was really "in charge" or trying to "make an impression". We also weren't burned out on overwork and had plenty of time for rest & [-]pro[/-]recreation.

Once we left Monterey to return to the "real" Navy, the "parties" returned to the scripted & stilted mandatory fun that I'd seen before. When the CO on my next submarine held a mandatory wardroom meeting to create & rehearse the humorous skit that we were going to perform at the submarine birthday ball... I volunteered to take the duty that weekend.