This year instead of an office holiday party I did the Living Room Legends Scavenger Hunt Game with my coworkers. Which I really enjoyed despite it being something that on the surface would normally make me want to curl up and die where I stood.
I had started to lament that I wasn’t going to one this year until I thought about previous parties….
Journal entry – Thursday, December 12, 2002
There is one remote possibility for entertainment on this otherwise bleak day. It is the day of the office holiday party. Since my office is in the middle of NOWHERE, that means the party is across the street at the golf course…
They promised we get two drink tickets as well as a raffle ticket. First, those drink tickets better be for booze and not just soda. Second, I am hoping to throw my hat into the ring for another stress ball because I just love the one I got at our Halloween barbecue raffle so much.
How amusing don’t you think? I won, from my company, a stress ball that has the company’s name on it. I’m wondering if they understand irony at all.
Journal entry – December 2019
How exciting to come across the 2002 journal post at the beginning of yet another holiday party season! In one sense, I guess I’m lucky to have worked early in my career at places that set the standard pretty low when it came to parties and perks. I never came to expect much in the way of bonuses, awesome parties, end of year blowouts, free lunch, or whatever else from my workplaces. On the other hand… I have low standards still…? And I work in Silicon Valley so that I have not yet bathed in a pool full of dollar bills while being serenaded by the Foo Fighters could be considered a real gut punch by some.
This year it looks like I’ll be having drinks in some hotel conference room. There is nothing for us to do except stay in the room, eat, drink, and have our eardrums assaulted by some DJ. So, entertainment will be seeing if any of my young coworkers get too shitfaced and go home with someone or do something inappropriate. Meanwhile, I’ll be trying not to think about how much it reminds me of my dismal ten-year high school reunion. So… I guess that’s an improvement?