Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The devolution of our office Christmas party


Mid-'90s: Country club; open bar

Late '90s: Nightclub; orgy rooms featured gold tubs filled with champagne to soak in

Early '00s: Lower level 2 of the parking garage; punch

2009: No party, but there's a rumor we may get stockings filled with coal and sticks


CLARIFICATION: For satirical purposes, the excesses of the dot-com era have been exaggerated. The orgy-room tubs were merely gold-plated and filled with a (non-vintage) California sparkling wine.

9 comments:

Mark said...

You can't complain too much, you still get punch... oh, wait, that says you get "punched." My bad.

Jim Donahue said...

After the last round of layoffs, they've requested we punch ourselves. It's more efficient.

Dave said...

Back when I was with a firm, the only thing that I hated more than the Christmas party (which evolved to the Holiday party) was the Spring retreat where I was expected to bond with my partners and our associates.

I do have to say that neither event ever varied much from the country club model, we are lawyers after all, not crazy media people.

Sabrina said...

I am still reeling from my own office holiday party that was held today. Nominally, it's a media company (do book publishers count?). Pizza was provided, but people brought it homemade desserts, and moreover there was lots of wine and my boss brought her homebrew sangria. The party took place in one of our conference rooms. At one point, people were dancing polkas and singing aloud. But then another group had to use the room for a meeting at 3:00, and we had to stop singing and go back to work. Sigh.

Jim Donahue said...

Sabrina! You finally left a comment!!

JohnnyB said...

How can you guys afford coal and sticks?

This year I think I'll take my laptop and party from home.

Jim Donahue said...

It's coming out of the heating budget--we have to burn them in the office.

punkinsmom said...

Holiday party? What's that? Other than an extra half-day off, we get the words "HAPPY HOLIDAYS" typed on the comment section of our most recent paycheck.

(But at least I get a paycheck!)

Knatolee said...

Damned crappy economy!! Is nothing sacred?

Of course, my office Christmas party consists of me sharing pizza crust with the dogs while the cats walk back and forth in front of my computer screen, agitating for kibble. The downside to self-employment. That and the dog farts in my office.