work Christmas parties.........love em or hate em?

[Sweats]

7 hours ago, US Egg said:

Ours were ceased due to safety concerns.

 

 

 

Should i even ask why?.........i mean, the suspense is killing me, man.

 

What are the safety concerns?

[Augie]

5 hours ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

Next year, gift certificates for Wendy's, and:

I think I have a future as a holiday gift consultant. 

 

That’s what consultants do, come in and slash expenses and benefits, right? But you do have a special gift for selecting gifts. 

[teef]

1 hour ago, Just Jack said:

 

Keep doing the expensive route, your employees will appreciate it.

 

Little story, from my younger years.  Small local company I worked for, the owners treated us all great.  Our Christmas party was them taking us all to a local chinese restaurant (not counter/buffet, sit down service, think PF Changs style) where the owners of that restaurant were making us some dishes that were not even on the menu, free drinks, etc. And bonuses were equal to about a weeks paycheck.  Another year, the owners sold the company to people they knew.  Our next Christmas party was the owners wife deciding that everyone could bring in a dish and we'd have our party during working hours.  Our bonus that year was $50.  Needless to say, we all quit at some point in the next year, and that company is no longer in business.  

absolutely.  taking away something an employee was already given is a very tricky.  i would never do that unless it was necessary to the business.  my staff is great.  the clinicians we have are great taking care of what they have to, and the rest of the staff is amazing.  i never have to manage anything other than my actually work.  on top of that, we've grown considerably over the last 5-6 years, so not to share in that would be grimy.  without my staff my work life would be so much more difficult.

Edited December 11 by teef

[Irv]

My former company got bought out by an international firm.  Poof.  No company party.  No anything.  Just unpaid OT.  

[Wacka]

The last year I was at a biotech company in Alameda, CA they had laid off some people in September. The Christmas party was in the banquet room on the top floor of the Oakland Marriot. Great party with caviar and everything.  First week in February they laid off about 66% of us remaining employees including some of us who were some of the first people hired.  About a year later,company was sold to Pfizer and about 6 people got to stay with the company if they moved to NJ.

[Augie]

31 minutes ago, Irv said:

My former company got bought out by an international firm.  Poof.  No company party.  No anything.  Just unpaid OT.  

 

Unpaid OT? How much more could you ask for??? 

 

 

[Logic]

1 hour ago, Sweats said:

 

Ah, the old hotel swap..........i could ask my wife if she's into it, but there's no guarantees that she'd be for it.

It's hard to pull off without a lot of hurt feelings. 

Just shake hands with Mr President to an old Ursula Andress picture and call it a night. Way less hassle.

[Augie]

51 minutes ago, teef said:

absolutely.  taking away something an employee was already given is a very tricky.  i would never do that unless it was necessary to the business.  my staff is great.  the clinicians we have are great taking care of what they have to, and the rest of the staff is amazing.  i never have to manage anything other than my actually work.  on top of that, we've grown considerably over the last 5-6 years, so not to share in that would be grimy.  without my staff my work life would be so much more difficult.

 

@teef is not cheap! 

 

Seriously, one person can only do so much. It’s the strength of the TEAM that is built that determines what they are capable of. Well done! 

[Mike in Horseheads]

57 minutes ago, teef said:

absolutely.  taking away something an employee was already given is a very tricky.  i would never do that unless it was necessary to the business.  my staff is great.  the clinicians we have are great taking care of what they have to, and the rest of the staff is amazing.  i never have to manage anything other than my actually work.  on top of that, we've grown considerably over the last 5-6 years, so not to share in that would be grimy.  without my staff my work life would be so much more difficult.

The best way to dump the party is to say " last year the party cost 10k so i can divide that up amongst you guys this year and can the party if you guys want"

[US Egg]

1 hour ago, Sweats said:

Should i even ask why?.........i mean, the suspense is killing me, man.

 

What are the safety concerns?

Worked in a garage/shop with 20 others. Typical “friction” amongst some there. A new boss thought closing down the shop for an afternoon for an on grounds Xmas party was good idea. It was a first. Anyways, a flare up occurred after a bit of imbibing, with two doing a pretty good face to face thing, thought they were gonna go, but it was quelled. 
 

Then, the boss goes off. He’s pissed, in more ways than one(🍻)like pretty much everyone, he goes at one of the guys, kinda does the finger in chest thing, guy gets up shoves the boss, others try to break it up, more shoving, a couple over the top swings, down to the floor it goes.

 

Then it ended, it was brief, no real harm, boss was big about it, no backlash…..and no more Xmas parties.

[ExiledInIllinois]

2 hours ago, US Egg said:

Worked in a garage/shop with 20 others. Typical “friction” amongst some there. A new boss thought closing down the shop for an afternoon for an on grounds Xmas party was good idea. It was a first. Anyways, a flare up occurred after a bit of imbibing, with two doing a pretty good face to face thing, thought they were gonna go, but it was quelled. 
 

Then, the boss goes off. He’s pissed, in more ways than one(🍻)like pretty much everyone, he goes at one of the guys, kinda does the finger in chest thing, guy gets up shoves the boss, others try to break it up, more shoving, a couple over the top swings, down to the floor it goes.

 

Then it ended, it was brief, no real harm, boss was big about it, no backlash…..and no more Xmas parties.

Like my old man would say:

 

"AND THIS is why we can't have nice things in our family!"

 

😆🤣

3 hours ago, Irv said:

My former company got bought out by an international firm.  Poof.  No company party.  No anything.  Just unpaid OT.  

Which is illegal, right? Yeah... But who honors the law anymore?

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

Used to work at a local station and the parties were pretty high end affairs.  Then budget cuts came a calling and they canceled the party given the fact that a number of long time employees lost their jobs. Never had another one, but I did used to count on a day long hangover and hugging the porcelain Buddha after my volunteer fire company’s Christmas bash.  Those days are past … maybe 🤪

[Sweats]

Years ago when i was working a lot of nuclear projects, i used to save up some money here and there throughout the year and give it over to the guys so they could go out and have a bit of a Christmas party for themselves.........you know, beers and wings at the bar between about 6 guys.

 

I was a low-level boss at the time, and it actually wasn't my place to even do that for the guys, but i knew the "higher ups" wouldn't do anything for them, so i would just give the crew some of my own money out of appreciation for their hard work and we're not talking about loads of money here either, maybe about $500.

I totally understand how the "higher ups" wouldn't do anything for the guys, as they were fairly unappreciative, but i at least did my part to let them know how much i appreciated them.

[teef]

14 hours ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

The best way to dump the party is to say " last year the party cost 10k so i can divide that up amongst you guys this year and can the party if you guys want"

i've actually thought about this but have never brought it up.  i'm not sure what they'd choose.  the majority of the cost of the night is the bonuses.  if we saved the on dinner everyone may get a couple of hundred more.  it would be the price of a nice dinner out, and i think everyone enjoys the night so much, they'd likely keep the dinner.  

[Just Jack]

13 minutes ago, teef said:

i've actually thought about this but have never brought it up.  i'm not sure what they'd choose.  the majority of the cost of the night is the bonuses.  if we saved the on dinner everyone may get a couple of hundred more.  it would be the price of a nice dinner out, and i think everyone enjoys the night so much, they'd likely keep the dinner.  

 

Ask them.  But don't offer up the money for dinner to be split.  Just ask if they still enjoy the dinner out, and if they want to continue it each year.  Let the majority decide.  Make the dinner optional if that's what they choose, and still give out bonuses, but the ones not at dinner will get theirs the next business day, instead of at dinner.