OFF TOPIC: Office holiday parties, anyone?

TraciInLA
TraciInLA Member Posts: 1,994 Member
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
Our office holiday party is today, and it's truly one of Dante's levels of hell....hours upon hours of forced socialization and meaningless, because-we're-supposed-to rituals.

Anyone else have a hellish office holiday party to endure this season? Any words of advice? I know I'll be escaping back to my computer as often as possible to "work," and I could use some support today!

(I'm actually wishing for last year this time: "So sorry, can't stay for the party, have to go to radiation." I have to admit, sometimes it was useful to have cancer as an excuse to get out of things!)

Traci
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Comments

  • susie09
    susie09 Member Posts: 2,930
    #2
    Could you fake being sick?
    Could you fake being sick? You know the flu is going around. You could just suddenly not feel well and have to leave! LOL

    We went to my husband's office party, but, they are pretty fun. But, it is a small group and we know each other pretty well.

    Hope you get through the day and the party. Give us some feedback.

    I always love what you write Traci!
  • missrenee
    missrenee Member Posts: 2,136 Member
    #3
    susie09 said:

    Could you fake being sick?
    Could you fake being sick? You know the flu is going around. You could just suddenly not feel well and have to leave! LOL

    We went to my husband's office party, but, they are pretty fun. But, it is a small group and we know each other pretty well.

    Hope you get through the day and the party. Give us some feedback.

    I always love what you write Traci!

    Oh, Traci--you are too funny!
    I love your description of the office party--so true. I used to work for a large group of attorneys back in the day. I was a single mom, so I had to work where I could make the most money--even if it meant putting up with a lot of bs. I so hated those "command performance" holiday parties. So much fake talk and smiling. Yuk! Thankfully, now I'm home and can party all I want with my Vizsla, Jake!

    Hope you got through it!

    Hugs, Renee
  • TraciInLA
    TraciInLA Member Posts: 1,994 Member
    #4
    missrenee said:

    Oh, Traci--you are too funny!
    I love your description of the office party--so true. I used to work for a large group of attorneys back in the day. I was a single mom, so I had to work where I could make the most money--even if it meant putting up with a lot of bs. I so hated those "command performance" holiday parties. So much fake talk and smiling. Yuk! Thankfully, now I'm home and can party all I want with my Vizsla, Jake!

    Hope you got through it!

    Hugs, Renee

    And we're at the halfway point...
    So our party's from noon to 2:00, and it's now 1:00. I made it through polite chit-chat, lunch, and watching a video of our 2007 holiday party -- not sure why we want to sit around and watch people who used to work here 3 years ago open presents, but to each his/her own holiday traditions....

    I was eating my dessert when I was asked to get up and sit somewhere else because I was apparently sitting too close to the Christmas tree, and people wanted to take pictures around the tree.

    That's when I decided it was time to take a break. Dessert wasn't THAT good.

    Traci
  • fauxma
    fauxma Member Posts: 3,577 Member
    #5
    TraciInLA said:

    And we're at the halfway point...
    So our party's from noon to 2:00, and it's now 1:00. I made it through polite chit-chat, lunch, and watching a video of our 2007 holiday party -- not sure why we want to sit around and watch people who used to work here 3 years ago open presents, but to each his/her own holiday traditions....

    I was eating my dessert when I was asked to get up and sit somewhere else because I was apparently sitting too close to the Christmas tree, and people wanted to take pictures around the tree.

    That's when I decided it was time to take a break. Dessert wasn't THAT good.

    Traci

    Traci,
    Your descriptions are
    Traci,
    Your descriptions are so great. When I was working we had a party but it was really nice. A really great catered lunch and lots of nice prizes at a drawing. No stupid videos to watch. We mostly spent the time, eating and seeing if we won something. I won really nice luggage with $100. cash inside it the first year and $150. cash the second. Most everyone got along really well where I worked so it was fun. Den's company always did a weekend party that you could go to or not. Mostly we went but sometimes we didn't because it would conflict with our extended family party. His were okay parties and they also did drawings for prizes. We never won anything at those. They usually only had 3 prizes, usually 2 trips and $500 cash. Great food though, but it was so large and each division tended to sit together so it was being with the same group you always saw. They did a strange thing though. When you sent in your response you had to include $25 cash for each person that was attending. When you got there you got your money back. If you were a no show, you forfeited the money. I guess in the past, they had a lot of people who said yes and then just didn't show up. Like I said there were a lot of people at these parties (150+) and it was always a catered sit down dinner so I am sure it was very expensive and why would they want to spend money on meals that were wasted. It was still strange to do that. Well, your ordeal should be over soon and I say next year, you have an unavoidable check up on that day. LOL Do you do a gift exchange, secret Santa, white Elephant exchange? That can be tedious. Well, let us know how it ended or just that it ended.
    I know, give me your cel phone number next year and I will call you minutes before it starts with a "family emergency" like Santa just got stuck in the chimney and needs you to come haul him out. HaHa

    Stef
  • roseann4
    roseann4 Member Posts: 992 Member
    #6
    fauxma said:

    Traci,
    Your descriptions are
    Traci,
    Your descriptions are so great. When I was working we had a party but it was really nice. A really great catered lunch and lots of nice prizes at a drawing. No stupid videos to watch. We mostly spent the time, eating and seeing if we won something. I won really nice luggage with $100. cash inside it the first year and $150. cash the second. Most everyone got along really well where I worked so it was fun. Den's company always did a weekend party that you could go to or not. Mostly we went but sometimes we didn't because it would conflict with our extended family party. His were okay parties and they also did drawings for prizes. We never won anything at those. They usually only had 3 prizes, usually 2 trips and $500 cash. Great food though, but it was so large and each division tended to sit together so it was being with the same group you always saw. They did a strange thing though. When you sent in your response you had to include $25 cash for each person that was attending. When you got there you got your money back. If you were a no show, you forfeited the money. I guess in the past, they had a lot of people who said yes and then just didn't show up. Like I said there were a lot of people at these parties (150+) and it was always a catered sit down dinner so I am sure it was very expensive and why would they want to spend money on meals that were wasted. It was still strange to do that. Well, your ordeal should be over soon and I say next year, you have an unavoidable check up on that day. LOL Do you do a gift exchange, secret Santa, white Elephant exchange? That can be tedious. Well, let us know how it ended or just that it ended.
    I know, give me your cel phone number next year and I will call you minutes before it starts with a "family emergency" like Santa just got stuck in the chimney and needs you to come haul him out. HaHa

    Stef

    I'm lucky.
    I own the business so my husband and I treat the staff to a yummy lunch at a fancy restraunt overlooking the water. I just got home. Good food, great view and wonderful friends. It doesn't get better than that!

    Roseann
  • TraciInLA
    TraciInLA Member Posts: 1,994 Member
    #7
    roseann4 said:

    I'm lucky.
    I own the business so my husband and I treat the staff to a yummy lunch at a fancy restraunt overlooking the water. I just got home. Good food, great view and wonderful friends. It doesn't get better than that!

    Roseann

    LUST
    So then we had the gift exchange.

    Our Office Assistant (aka Supreme Dictator of the Holiday Party) decided that our Director should give gifts to everyone at the party. He found someplace "downtown" (aka the back of somebody's truck) selling "designer" fragrances at cheap prices, so bought cologne/perfume sets for every employee.

    Turns out the sets are left over from promotions for the last Sex in the City movie, and the women's sets say "LUST" in big huge bold letters on the box. Very appropriate for workplace gifts from our male Director, no?

    Traci

    (I'm SO giving you my cell phone number next year, Stef.)
  • sbmly53
    sbmly53 Member Posts: 1,522
    #8
    Mine was tonight
    but here I sit (with my first glass of wine since January). Need I say more?

    Sue
  • Bella Luna
    Bella Luna Member Posts: 1,578 Member
    #9
    Traci... I have to say. I
    Traci... I have to say. I am glad you went to the office party. Your stories alone are classic! They give us much needed comic relief. Have you opened up your perfume? At least you can say you now know what lust smells like. A suggestion... be careful where you decide to wear it.
    BL
  • TraciInLA
    TraciInLA Member Posts: 1,994 Member
    #10
    Bella Luna said:

    Traci... I have to say. I
    Traci... I have to say. I am glad you went to the office party. Your stories alone are classic! They give us much needed comic relief. Have you opened up your perfume? At least you can say you now know what lust smells like. A suggestion... be careful where you decide to wear it.
    BL

    What to do with the perfume?
    Funny you should mention that, Bella Luna...my girlfriend may have come up with a solution:

    She was telling me her grandmother swore that the alcohol in perfume was good for keeping ants out of the house. So, whenever her grandmother got perfume as a gift that she didn't want, she would take it outside and spray it around the cracks in the house.

    Trace said after Christmas or a birthday she'd find her grandmother out in the backyard, spraying Charlie or Poison on the outside of the house....her grandfather said it made "the outside smell like a French wh_rehouse"!

    I think "Lust" would fit right in with that tradition, don't you think?

    :-) Traci
  • fauxma
    fauxma Member Posts: 3,577 Member
    #11
    TraciInLA said:

    LUST
    So then we had the gift exchange.

    Our Office Assistant (aka Supreme Dictator of the Holiday Party) decided that our Director should give gifts to everyone at the party. He found someplace "downtown" (aka the back of somebody's truck) selling "designer" fragrances at cheap prices, so bought cologne/perfume sets for every employee.

    Turns out the sets are left over from promotions for the last Sex in the City movie, and the women's sets say "LUST" in big huge bold letters on the box. Very appropriate for workplace gifts from our male Director, no?

    Traci

    (I'm SO giving you my cell phone number next year, Stef.)

    Traci,
    Lust perfume. Oh,
    Traci,
    Lust perfume. Oh, the regifting possibilites are endless. The minister's wife, a 30 year old virgin(there must still be some left), the pompous **** who denouces others while cheating on his spouse and oh, there must be many others that would so appreciate this gift. LOL My feelings on office gifts are do them well or not at all. At my company, we all got $100. visa gift cards. Would it have been so hard for him to have gone and bought some nice $10. restaurant cards? And I love the Supreme Dictator of the Holiday Party. We had those types of parents in the music program where I worked. They would just take charge the devil be damned or anyone else. And they were usually so off the mark. Well, at least it is over for another year, except for the director expecting all you gals to come in smelling of lust. Oh, now that sounds like fun. Come in on Monday and tell everyone you hope you don't smell of too much lust. Tell them that you had lust all weekend. Work the word into every conversation. Tell others how you wish you thank your director properly for his gift of Lust. I'm really liking this.
    And yes, I will call you next year. In fact, give your cell phone to all of us and we will all call.
    Your post has been laughing so hard. I am certainly a bad girl for enjoying your misery so much. Sorry!! ROFLMAO!
    Stef
  • fauxma
    fauxma Member Posts: 3,577 Member
    #12
    TraciInLA said:

    What to do with the perfume?
    Funny you should mention that, Bella Luna...my girlfriend may have come up with a solution:

    She was telling me her grandmother swore that the alcohol in perfume was good for keeping ants out of the house. So, whenever her grandmother got perfume as a gift that she didn't want, she would take it outside and spray it around the cracks in the house.

    Trace said after Christmas or a birthday she'd find her grandmother out in the backyard, spraying Charlie or Poison on the outside of the house....her grandfather said it made "the outside smell like a French wh_rehouse"!

    I think "Lust" would fit right in with that tradition, don't you think?

    :-) Traci

    Suppose it doesn't kill the
    Suppose it doesn't kill the ants, just makes them, you know. lusty. All you need is a population explosion and the outside smelling like the French cathouse. LOL
    I am so loving this.
    Personally I have never had so much at an office party.
    Stef
  • New Flower
    New Flower Member Posts: 4,294
    #13
    fauxma said:

    Suppose it doesn't kill the
    Suppose it doesn't kill the ants, just makes them, you know. lusty. All you need is a population explosion and the outside smelling like the French cathouse. LOL
    I am so loving this.
    Personally I have never had so much at an office party.
    Stef

    We went last Saturday
    first time in the last three years. I had to go since I am still new
    Had a good time, tired and still recovering
    Good that you a a party too
  • Jean 0609
    Jean 0609 Member Posts: 2,462
    #14
    TraciInLA said:

    What to do with the perfume?
    Funny you should mention that, Bella Luna...my girlfriend may have come up with a solution:

    She was telling me her grandmother swore that the alcohol in perfume was good for keeping ants out of the house. So, whenever her grandmother got perfume as a gift that she didn't want, she would take it outside and spray it around the cracks in the house.

    Trace said after Christmas or a birthday she'd find her grandmother out in the backyard, spraying Charlie or Poison on the outside of the house....her grandfather said it made "the outside smell like a French wh_rehouse"!

    I think "Lust" would fit right in with that tradition, don't you think?

    :-) Traci

    You are too funny!
    Glad your office party is over until next year. Any possiblity of scheduling a doctors appointment the same time as the party? LOL
  • cats_toy
    cats_toy Member Posts: 1,462 Member
    #15
    sorry Traci
    so sorry your office parties aren't the bomb, we had ours on Wednesday, I wasn't really looking forward to it, but figured I could leave in an hour because we were heading out to Vegas and wanted to miss the "rush hour" traffic. One of the attorneys kept filling my champagne glass every time I took a drink, I had to tell him I had to drive home, but he kept filling it up. And since I was going on business, I could use that as an excuse. Had to try soaking up some of the alcohol with food, and try hiding my champagne glass...haha. Not to bad after all, but no LUSTy perfume came my way.

    BTW: love your pic, brings back memories of our great meeting at the Yardhouse!

    Cat
  • Ritzy
    Ritzy Member Posts: 4,381 Member
    #16
    sbmly53 said:

    Mine was tonight
    but here I sit (with my first glass of wine since January). Need I say more?

    Sue

    Thanks for the laugh Traci!
    Thanks for the laugh Traci! Glad you survived your office party! lol


    Sue :)
  • disneyfan2008
    disneyfan2008 Member Posts: 6,583 Member
    #17
    end of year party
    for school-It was my last day or radiation-mandatory breakfast party..even knowing I had to leave...(party a distance) to get to radiation ON TIME...i was not allowed to MISS the event..."so compassionate huh?"
  • disneyfan2008
    disneyfan2008 Member Posts: 6,583 Member
    #18
    I am receptionist
    SO can't leave my desk often (even for bathoom break) much less parties so sometimes that cna be good thing right?

    everyone at party so no one to cover the phones..
  • sal314
    sal314 Member Posts: 599 Member
    #19
    LOL! One Thing I Don't Miss
    about working outside the home anymore! I feel for ya! Not very healthy advice, but I'd probably have one too many drinks and come up with some excuse to leave! LOL.

    Just be glad the "holiday" parties are only once a year! :)

    Sally
  • Heatherbelle
    Heatherbelle Member Posts: 1,226 Member
    #20
    Ha! I'm reading thru this
    Ha! I'm reading thru this post just laughing my butt off here Traci....they seriously just keep getting better & better the farther down I read :)
    LUST perfume, oh my!
    *hugs*
    Heather
  • cahjah75
    cahjah75 Member Posts: 2,631
    #21
    TraciInLA said:

    What to do with the perfume?
    Funny you should mention that, Bella Luna...my girlfriend may have come up with a solution:

    She was telling me her grandmother swore that the alcohol in perfume was good for keeping ants out of the house. So, whenever her grandmother got perfume as a gift that she didn't want, she would take it outside and spray it around the cracks in the house.

    Trace said after Christmas or a birthday she'd find her grandmother out in the backyard, spraying Charlie or Poison on the outside of the house....her grandfather said it made "the outside smell like a French wh_rehouse"!

    I think "Lust" would fit right in with that tradition, don't you think?

    :-) Traci

    Traci
    I laughed out loud at your story. I think the perfume will do just nicely outdoors, don't you!
    {{hugs}} Char

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