Company Christmas Party

[jollystomper]

I have always enjoyed them. In my first Megacorp office they found out I DJ'ed as a hobby, so I ended up DJing or mixing music for several of them. Since this was the time of Megacorp rapidly expanding, there were a lot of young people in the Megacorp office some for us it was a good time, and to my knowledge nothing bad ever happened.

Maybe 10-15 years ago in different office they shifted the party to a luncheon at a local Dave & Busters and would also give us free access to the games and rides. Being a kid at heart, I enjoyed that. Free lunch, play games all afternoon, and sometimes evolve into getting together with friends for dinner as well.

The nice things about the offices I was in was that the management kept any business speech/year in review/skit to a minimum, and accepted that folks wanted to socialize in their individual ways so their was little "formal" structure to the events, which was good.

 

[Moemg]

I have always worked in medical areas and all I can say is some of our Christmas Parties were legendary especially in the 80's .Later they became more sedate but they were never boring .

 

[savory]

While not an official Christmas Party, the company would close from the 23rd to the 2nd. On the 23rd, every employee received a profit sharing check following a morning get-together in the department (that covered many departments). Then a full company meeting, where the company results were reviewed as well as employee awards.

With thousands (perhaps millions) of dollars in hundreds of peoples pockets, the local bars and restaurants would open in the fairly small town. I looked forward to Profit Sharing day every year for the comradeship and the money. I do not miss it but I really liked it when I participated. And, I think it is unfortunate that more companies do not follow this approach to pay and celebration, especially during the winter festive season.

 

[RobbieB]

Oh yes, raises and bonuses were handed out before the Christmas party so everyone was especially happy. Pool tournaments, no limit (with dealer) hold'em tournies, arcade games and dancing.

 

[rodi]

I worked for the same(ish) employer for 2 decades. ("ish" because our corporate overlords changed due to mergers, acquisitions, spinoffs, sell offs.) For the first 12-15 years the formal Christmas party was a nice affair. What was nice was that it was an event you could meet the spouses of your coworkers... gave some insight into them. It was usually at a hotel banquet room with a nice sit-down dinner and a live band for dancing.

There was usually a department potluck/secret santa type thing as well- kind of an extended lunch.

Then in 2008 Christmas parties and the famiy summer picnics were cancelled... supposedly temporary due to market conditions - but they never came back. From that point on all work events were employee only - as if we didn't have families/significant others. I think management prefered it that way... didn't have to think of us as people with lives outside of work. Cheaper for them... but something was lost.

yeah... I'm a bit bitter about the change in attitude at megacorp through the years.

 

[DrRoy]

My working group always had a party and I was happy to attend. I just went to the first one since RE earlier this year. It was nice to see everyone but I do not miss the day to day crap.

 

[Tree-dweller]

Long time ago, when the kids were very young, my company hosted daytime Christmas parties geared toward families. Pictures with Santa and his elves (all volunteer employees), finger food, soft drinks, lots of fun for us, but I suspect young singles were likely bored. All ended when the ceo retired, new one thought it was frivolous.
Not a Christmas party story, but when I was 20 or so I worked unloading 40 footers at a new very high-end department/furniture store. For the store grand opening, they hosted an after hours party for employees ...in the furniture department! Open bar, fat buffet, frisky coworkers, all enjoyed while reclining like Caligula on very expensive furniture. After at least one employee kissed a tree on the way home that night, no more parties like that mid-70s bash, but it was an eye-opener for this youngster!

 

[street]

I didn't mind going to my wife xmas party. It was new people and different atmosphere that made it more fun. Being around the same people everyday then having to spend more time around and have work talk was more then I cared for.

 

[target2019]

Most of my working life, I was not a captive employee. Christmas parties were few during that era. Then I transitioned to full-time lackey. I avoided 7 years of megacorp parties, and listened to the stories as they leaked out. Evidently, there is a custom where some drink heavily, and start to flirt with others?

In my half-kilo corp, I went to the first party, which was good fun. Skipped the next. And now the company has stumbled. The 401k match was hacked, the Xmas part is no more, and I find out about "where we are" this week. LOL, if Santa would only put a layoff coupon in my stocking...

 

[gamboolman]

Offshore West Africa..... - Galley does there best to try to put on a good feed in the galley where we eat in shifts.....get the fattest expat to put on a crappy Santa suit.....

Everybody wishes the FN Hell they were home......

Lets hope we are not in a major Turnaround......... which we are....so not even a 1/2 day off for the men....

In the Oil Patch every day is a GD FN A Holiday.....

For the last 40+ year I have missed so many FN GD holidays that the honest to God truth is that I did not even realize it was Thanksgiving this year.....

And on Pearl Harbor Day.....I made mention to the local african staff and all I got was blank stares.....I'm the only American in my location....

Benefits of the glamorous international oilfield expat ......

And on 16-Dec-17 when it is 73 years to the day when my father in law was told to stand by his hole at Bastogne....none of these American hating SOB's has a FN clue as to what Bastongne was

Same thing every GD 6-June anniversary - the young Brits....not a FN clue....so sad......However the old basturds....and surprisingly the French men who are old have nothing but gratitude to the Americans....

It's time for gamboolman to go to pasture and chase Ms. gamboolgal around our old 4 poster Ethan Allen bed we bought near to 40 year ago........ 2 X more years God Willing and then I will never touch my FN passport again....

Merry FN A X-mas....from Port Harcourt, Nigeria...

 

[growing_older]

Generally I've enjoyed work parties, except for most Christmas parties. Usually the food, drinks and venue are pretty nice, but for some reason at Christmas work parties they play music so loud you cannot hear someone sitting right next to you. It's virtually impossible to carry on any kind of conversation, so there's no meeting or interacting with anyone except people you already know well, and even then you can hardly say anything to them without shouting. I have no idea why the Christmas parties need such loud music, when other work parties don't.

 

[bigcmagor]

So much for the company Christmas party being the dilemma of the day.


Mine is tonight and I don't enjoy these events. I'll go anyway and drink one for gamboolman.

 

[Scrapr]

Don't go to your Christmas party without these guidelines. From the NYT:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/09/...ight-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region

 

[gayl]

2 different types of employers:

County = potluck @ work usually during lunch and expected to still hold down regular duties

Private = lunch at a local restaurant on company time

Guess I missed our?

 

[JoeWras]

2 different types of employers:

County = potluck @ work usually during lunch and expected to still hold down regular duties

Private = lunch at a local restaurant on company time

Guess I missed our?

No, you did not miss out. This is very standard.

My DW is at a non-profit and it is worst than govt. They had an offsite, pay-your-own party once, and it was a disaster, so it is the potluck as you describe. Keep working.

In my 30+ years I've only been to 2 offsite parties where you could bring family and alcohol was served. One at a smaller company (and the CEO footed the bill) and the other at go-go tech during the bubble years.

After the bubble, Megacorp now has a lunch at a restaurant for the department, no family, no alcohol. You do get an extra hour off or so. Oh, and the boss will ask you status of your project.

We hear all these stories but I think a lot of those are sales stories. A lot of "office parties" are really "sales office parties," and I include finance in a lot of that since much of that is sales anyway. Widget making companies tend to keep it conservative.

Just my opinion...

 

[Amethyst]

Government offices would catch heck with overseers if they were seen to be spending taxpayers' money on Christmas parties. They can spend it on all sorts of other foolishness, but not on fun!

Actually the administrative leave for morale-building events does come out of an agency's budget, but somebody managed to convince Congress that it is similar to the budget for achievement awards.

2 different types of employers:

County = potluck @ work usually during lunch and expected to still hold down regular duties

Private = lunch at a local restaurant on company time

Guess I missed our?

 

[tmm99]

I used to go to department-level Xmas parties, but I skipped the company-wide Xmas parties held on Saturday nights. Everyone evidently dressed up to the nines. Putting on a show like that would be totally out of my comfort zone, and I saw no fun in it whatsoever. I would have felt like a puppet all dressed up. I didn't see much fun in chumming around with people I barely knew from other departments either (and their spouses!). Once I became a manager, my boss told me participating in something like this was important, but I didn't care.

I actually felt a little resentful because they always raffled off some nice gifts, and always served high-end meals, but I just couldn't bring myself up to going.