Office Bah Humbug

[TassieKiwi]

Happy holiday, what ever you believe in, may the peace and love of another person touch you, and may you touch another person.

OOooooooh I can think of lots of people to touch.

[outback]

Think yerselves lucky you have a staff or department xmas party . The bustard I work for is too tight to spring for one.

[oges]

our work is moving in 2 weeks so cant put deco's up .. hooray.

had a dept party last week on the harbour which i couldnt attend, but the company one is coming up soon apparently but the genius over in the US has banned alcohol from it so they arent liable ... not that I have ever attended a company one but the alcohol would make it bearable atleast.

[oges]

A friend of ours was in the Sydney Telegraph the other day - you may have seen him. He enters the Christmas lights competition every year. He starts hanging lights in July. He asks for donations to the Make a Wish foundation when people come to see them and he raises thousands every year. They have to make his street one way for 3-4 weeks leading up to Christmas.

Was he also on tv the other day? saw some guy whose house was covered and filled with lights and stuff. He was donating to make a wish also. One of the light setup was a champagne glass with a bottle tipping champagne into it.

[craigb]

A friend of ours was in the Sydney Telegraph the other day - you may have seen him. He enters the Christmas lights competition every year. He starts hanging lights in July. He asks for donations to the Make a Wish foundation when people come to see them and he raises thousands every year. They have to make his street one way for 3-4 weeks leading up to Christmas.

I wonder which he finds more satisfying; spreading xmas cheer or being a very very minor celebrity for a couple of weeks a year?

Craig McScrooge

[silentC]

Brett, that's the one. In Lugarno.

Craig, I would say, knowing the guy, that being a celebrity is low on his list of priorities. It's more likely to be motivated by a desire to win the competition - at least it would have started that way. The prizes aren't that great (overseas holidays etc) but it would be the challenge to beat the competition that drives him.

We lived in Lugarno a couple of years ago and they had a local council meeting to discuss his lights. A lot of people wanted them shut down because of the disruption caused by the traffic. We are talking queues that are more than a kilometer long. People wait for more than an hour to drive past his house. An absolute bugger if you live there and you're trying to get home from work. The council put up signs: "if you are here, delay is 30 minutes" etc. They make his street one way and the council sells vendor permits to Mr Whippy vans. Riverwood police station have a copper on duty there every night. The council put restrictions on the number of nights and the duration of each 'show'.

I would say that now he is motivated more by the fact that people are telling him a) you can't possibly make it bigger than last year and b) your neighbours want you to stop. Never tell him he can't do something

[jackiew]

Think yerselves lucky you have a staff or department xmas party . The bustard I work for is too tight to spring for one.

I was quite bemused to find that the company pays for the christmas party here. Everywhere I worked in the UK they let you take the time off for the party for free ( although they might encourage an evening event to get out of this ) and the staff pay for their own party.

you guys don't know where you're well off. The same deal went for tea and coffee - usually a group of workers got together and chipped in to buy the stuff for the group's use only. The company provided the water.

[silentC]

I think this very much depends upon who you work for. Here's an example of some of the companies I've worked for:

Commonwealth Bank:
Pay into a fortnightly Social Club - this subsidises the Christmas Party
Pay into a weekly coffee fund - this pays for the tea, coffee, milk and biscuits.
Both organised by the staff.

AMPlus (Andersen Consulting/AMP):
Christmas party and weekly drinks paid for
Tea, coffee, milk, biscuits provided

AVCO (now GE Capital):
What Tea room?
What Christmas Party?

Westpac Institutional Banking:
What Tea room?
What Christmas Party?

[AlexS]

Work Christmas parties went downhill with the loss of typing pools and the inclusion of security doors on fire stairs! :mad:

Seriously, it seems that the quality of work parties is directly proportional to morale during the year and the quality of the employer. I'm off to SWMBO's work do tonight - at the boss's home, all food & drinks supplied, all spouses invited. Going on it's record, this will be a good one.

[Sturdee]

Jackie,

My experience is as follows :

Bank - Branch office party paid out of the tellers under/over tins. Statewide party heavily subsidised by the bank leaving us to pay an entry fee equivalent to the cost of a beer.

Restaurant - Everyday meals and drinks provided as per package. No christmas party, as we were to busy, but instead we were given a 2 weeks boating holiday on the Murray all expenses paid. I knew every pub and boat mechanic along that river.

Accounting firm - Dinner , with spouses, at a restaurant.

Golf club - Statewide combined golf clubs office staff party paid for including taxi fares. Regional office staff breakfast paid for and staff golf day and party with the committee fully paid for.

And at no place have I ever had to put in for coffee.


Peter.

[LineLefty]

I;m always confused by hte annual talk of shenanigans that go on at Xmas parties and how to avoid it. All of my Xmas parties (3 employees) have been so unearably boring. If only someone would photocopy their jatz crackers or abuse the boss.......................

[barnsey]

Thank God I'm out of all that.

Did have one boss who sprang for most functions throughout the year - even perfume for the missus An Ozzie co privately owned. Still I used to have to avoid the dickheads you knew had a shortage of neurones to synapse.

The balance of companies didn't worry about morale - there wasn't any so no problem People had to bring their own and the hangers on would steal everyone else's :mad:

Now my Norwegian wife prepares a traditional Norwegian Christmas meal on Christmas eve and we sit around the tree afterwards and swap presents. Christmas Day is leisurely and the family sit around a long lunch - prawns, cray, ham, more prawns, this year it looks like it might be on the Tweed in the old Mustang Cruiser

Bah Humbug to the good old days :eek:

[bitingmidge]

So when and where is the Woodwork Forums "Do" this year???

:confused: :confused: :confused:

P

[barnsey]

Ooohh I can't wait :eek:

The 10 year old got out his hard earned $25.00 today and started his Christmas shopping. He knew exactly what he wanted and asked his way around Target, Crazy Clarks etc leading SWMBO a merry dance, had all the staff bristling with "Isn't he cute" and at the checkout in Target he asks for a brown paper bag to put the item in so Mum won't see what he's bought :confused:

What's more he flamin got it - haven't seen brown paper bags in department stores since Santa played Full Back for the eskimos :eek: :eek: :eek:

[ozwinner]

As an employer for the best part of 25 years, if I thought someone wouldn't be an assett at a Christmas Party, I'd fire 'em.


P

Ho ho frekin ho.

Al