Company Christmas parties

[firemanjim]

So, do you guys have good Christmas parties? My boss goes all out. We have contests for stupid stuff, and win cash! Then we have a pinata filled with money (last year it was $3000 in $1-$5-$10 and $20) candy, and a host of other goodies.... There is an open bar full of the good stuff. Lots of great food. This year's we are having a ugly sweater contest..... I'll post pics of what I can....
For Halloween, we had a costume contest. Everybody who dressed up got $100...... Yeah, I'm gonna wear me a sweater......
We have 1 or 2 live bands, and the party goes on till around 5-6 in the morning.... The last band don't stop till 2am..... And this is held in my boss's garage. Over 100 peeps..... We have a blast....
So, what do YOU guys do?

 

[ML-TOYS]

My last employer gave a small bonus and chinese food for lunch. Yep thats right, 4-6 employees tops making the company millions.

 

[firemanjim]

That sux....
My uncle is pretty generous at this time of year. We all get GREAT bonuses. And I was wrong about the pinata. This year, there is around $5000 ......
It's a mad scramble when it breaks open.... I came out of the pile last year with close to $250..... and a sore back and left hand was stepped on a couple times. It was a blast. It's just us shop guys throwing elbows in this mess.... You can imagine 20 plus guys rooting through all the other "crap" looking for cash. Some times it's rolled up, some times it's folded into a small square..... LoL harder to find...
We have other games and stuff. And the Santa comes and gives us presents and our bonuses.
It's a shame more employers/company owners don't do this. All of our staff is loyal to the company. We are treated like family. If "they" do good $$ wise, then we do too.... Companies should look into it. A happy worker is a productive worker. A productive worker makes a company happy..... See how they work together? LOL they will never get it. They are soley looking at the bottom line. My boss does too, and the way he sees it is, we got him there...... And he shows us that he appreciates it......

 

[Poboy kartman]

So, do you guys have good Christmas parties? My boss goes all out. We have contests for stupid stuff, and win cash! Then we have a pinata filled with money (last year it was $3000 in $1-$5-$10 and $20) candy, and a host of other goodies.... There is an open bar full of the good stuff. Lots of great food. This year's we are having a ugly sweater contest..... I'll post pics of what I can....
For Halloween, we had a costume contest. Everybody who dressed up got $100...... Yeah, I'm gonna wear me a sweater......
We have 1 or 2 live bands, and the party goes on till around 5-6 in the morning.... The last band don't stop till 2am..... And this is held in my boss's garage. Over 100 peeps..... We have a blast....
So, what do YOU guys do?

Ummmmm.....sounds like I'll be crashing your Christmas party........

 

[machinist@large]

We'll have a combined company supplied main course lunch with a potluck desert selection.. Seeing as this is a Union shop, there's no bonuses in the contract.

Our current CEO retires some time next year; his successor wants to try to end the feuding...?? We'll see how it goes.....

 

[DeathMachine]

Pizza this week, beers next week, no details yet.

One year we went go kart racing!

 

[mckutzy]

Im also in a union shop and no bonuses. We also dont do any bigger things anymore, now just luncheons.

Apparently a few years ago, we would have quite the show going on.
Lots of drink, very good food, a good time. Until one day when a few of the ladies and a couple of dudes got a little too into parting and a little out of control, they starting scrapping out in the yard. a bit of a brawl.
People were sorted out and the ladies seperated.. Eventually it got canned having a alcoholic nite, and switched to the dry luncheons.
Now we get a nice catered lunch...with pop/juice/fancy water. We also get to have a draw for some stuff, and free giveouts of company brand apparel. Nice jackets and other clothing(hats/toques/shirts). All the stuff they dont sell out for the year, they just flog it off to the Christmas event.

This will be my first year end to see, this time. Im kinda interested to see what happens.

 

[jeeperjoel]

won a killer makita li-ion impact driver at last job's xmas party last year!, unsure of new job, small place, 5 people including me, i'm the only one that's not family, they don't seem to really celebrate holidays all that much... (strange huh?)... they are closing shop however from the 25th-2nd... my xmas wish is that they pay me for a couple of the days off!

 

[firemanjim]

Still recuperating from the company party Friday night. Got my knee hyperextended in the first couple seconds of the pinata maylay began. Then kneed in the ribs. The sudden loss of breath and extreme pain from my knee, caused me to black out, after pulling myself free from the bottom of the pile. My wife found me a few minutes into it, passed out about 15' from the pile of people. My ribs are ok now, but my knee is kinda shot at the moment. Can't walk good, extreme pain. To add insult to injury.... The 6 $100 bills I DID have, were fake.
So I came out with $1 and a fruit roll up...... I think I'll pass next year.... Maybe I'm getting too old..... (not)
I'll post pics of what I can, and a short video of the beginning of the pinata maylay. If you look closely, you can see when I get hurt, then try getting out of the pile..... Good times.....
I did end up winning a new bbq pit! Needed one.....

 

[n3480h]

Maybe you should trade the bbq pit for some hockey goalie's protective gear for next year. It'd be a real shame to finish the 32 and not be able to get in it.

 

[Badot]

If it makes up for the injuries I could send you a whole box of fruit rollups, all to yourself!

 

[firemanjim]

I do very much enjoy the "orange cherry wildfire" flavor fruit roll ups......

 

[supermanotorious]

I've been at the firm for 7 years and have always had a warm holiday party and bonus, this year our party was cancelled and I got no bonus, they're trying to do a get together in the office on Wednesday but I say bah humbug...... if this wasn't the biggest bag over my head, punch in the face I've ever got, God d*** it!

 

[jeeperjoel]

no xmas party this year, no presents, nothin... fired. never late, don't miss days, worked my butt off for that place, i rarely make a mistake... 2 holes i drilled were off, no way to measure where they were, it was like 1/8"... boss flipped out, not like it was all that hard to fix... he got so mad yellin, and slamming his expensive tools around, looked at me like he was about to get violent, finally he went away, then came back, told me he had to let me go, think he went to far with the anger this time to look me in the eye everyday anymore.... did pay me through the holiday, kept telling me how great of a guy he is lol, must have been trying to convince himself of that... i guess he didn't have to pay me through xmas, that was ok, did have to sign a resignation letter to get the $, means no unemployment... figured it better to take the $ i could get now than wait for months for $ i might not get ... job hunt's on.... not goin so well though... worried about paying bills right now.

 

[landuse]

no xmas party this year, no presents, nothin... fired. never late, don't miss days, worked my butt off for that place, i rarely make a mistake... 2 holes i drilled were off, no way to measure where they were, it was like 1/8"... boss flipped out, not like it was all that hard to fix... he got so mad yellin, and slamming his expensive tools around, looked at me like he was about to get violent, finally he went away, then came back, told me he had to let me go, think he went to far with the anger this time to look me in the eye everyday anymore.... did pay me through the holiday, kept telling me how great of a guy he is lol, must have been trying to convince himself of that... i guess he didn't have to pay me through xmas, that was ok, did have to sign a resignation letter to get the $, means no unemployment... figured it better to take the $ i could get now than wait for months for $ i might not get ... job hunt's on.... not goin so well though... worried about paying bills right now.

That sucks...

 

[Badot]

2 holes i drilled were off, no way to measure where they were, it was like 1/8"...

So uhh... do you work on airplanes, or rockets or something? Hard to imagine a situation where one messed up part means you get fired unless they were looking for a reason to do so, regardless of how incompetent the management is.

 

[jeeperjoel]

he went way too far with his temper tantrum, had to be pretty embarassing for him i'd think, he said he had plans of letting me go after the holidays anyway, said he's going back to a smaller crew, i think that was b.s. too, i think he was too ashamed of his ridiculous behavior... not management, he's the owner

 

[DeathMachine]

Is there a buddy of the owner working there who you may have made look bad?

I got fired for repairing a machine in 8 hours that the boss's buddy usually took 24 hours to do.
He told me it was because I did not clean a radiator 'according to procedure'. I did a quick clean to get production up for the 15 minutes they needed to make it to a die change, when I would have had 4 hours to do a complete r&r.

 

[supermanotorious]

That does suck and puts things in perspective for everyone including myself. Sorry to hear about that. I envy people who get to work with their hands for a living and a friend who welds for a living was just written up for a casing he welded that was .5" off the face of a home. He actually followed the instructions he was given but written up since he did not question the material. I do not envy that.

no xmas party this year, no presents, nothin... fired. never late, don't miss days, worked my butt off for that place, i rarely make a mistake... 2 holes i drilled were off, no way to measure where they were, it was like 1/8"... boss flipped out, not like it was all that hard to fix... he got so mad yellin, and slamming his expensive tools around, looked at me like he was about to get violent, finally he went away, then came back, told me he had to let me go, think he went to far with the anger this time to look me in the eye everyday anymore.... did pay me through the holiday, kept telling me how great of a guy he is lol, must have been trying to convince himself of that... i guess he didn't have to pay me through xmas, that was ok, did have to sign a resignation letter to get the $, means no unemployment... figured it better to take the $ i could get now than wait for months for $ i might not get ... job hunt's on.... not goin so well though... worried about paying bills right now.

 

[n3480h]

Jeeperjoel, sorry to hear that. I was once fired because of a lie told by a jealous coworker. It was devastating. Later, the boss figured out the truth, got a confession from the culprit and fired him, and called my house to get me to come back. I was not home, and the person who took the call intentionally failed to relay the message. She's gone, I found a better job, (after a couple of so so jobs to pay the bills), and I was able to recover well.

Sometimes it takes a while, but if you have a good work ethic and skills, you'll rise above the BS. As for the people who screw us over . . . karma sucks. Then you can just sit back and grin. It all works out in the end.