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My final staff meeting
The December staff meeting is traditionally the staff "white elephant" gift exchange, and the short recap of how the year was, and then we get bonuses- sometimes. In bad economic years, not so much with the bonuses.
This year the board wanted the boss to award bonuses based on our evaluations. Which... with everything else going on this year, didn't really get done until, like, this month. And yes, it included evaluating me. Which... yes, I do feel like a completely useless person now. And my score was below average for the staff. But I got almost a week's pay for my bonus. So whatever.
But this year's white elephant gift exchange was a secret switcheroo. The assistant director thought it would be fun to spring a surprise baby shower on the boss- he and his wife are expecting twins, like, MOMENTARILY. Since they already have three kids, including two girls (and the twins are girls), he stressed that they really didn't need stuff. The AD talked to his wife's sister and learned that the family had already given them a baby shower, but that, of course, they will need diapers. Lots and lots of diapers. So we all got diapers AND other little things, if we wanted. Then we wrapped our gifts in baby-themed paper, and overwrapped the whole lot with white elephant paper.
The white elephant exchange system is this immensely convoluted, complicated deal with numbered and color-coded cards; it's ridiculous. The staff person who developed it was one of the ones who retired back in February, but the AD wanted to use it again, to help sell the surprise. So we all did our stealing of packages back and forth until it was all settled, and everyone started to unwrap things. The boss was opening his and it was two toys and a gift card to Krogers. He was kind of stunned (as he said later, "it was a real gift card, it wasn't a white elephant at all!"), but it wasn't until he looked around and realized that everyone had unwrapped their gifts and brought them over to the table where he was sitting and deposited them. Aaaannd, hey, the gifts were still wrapped, but in pastel papers!
Yeah, we got him good. Gobsmacked is an accurate word for it.
Most extreme gift? That's gotta be the GIANT TON O' BABY WIPES that one person gave. It was heavy, and there was a card for it stating that this white elephant weighed almost as much as a regular elephant, so for the exchange use the card and don't try to herniate yourself moving the package.
We also had the staff potluck (downgraded from previous years, when staff was expected to provide large amounts of food for a volunteer luncheon, which last year numbered nearly 90 people when you included family and board members). I had to go straight home from the meeting and start cooking, but it turned out to be a big winner of a dish (YES, I like to live dangerously and spring new recipes on my coworkers. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. SO GLAD this last staff potluck dish was a winner!).
The downside is that I have had very short sleep for the past two nights- and since my head wound I seem to have zero reserves for coping with things like that. So tonight I will be ignoring the dishes, and putting off the laundry, and going to bed pretty soon.
This year the board wanted the boss to award bonuses based on our evaluations. Which... with everything else going on this year, didn't really get done until, like, this month. And yes, it included evaluating me. Which... yes, I do feel like a completely useless person now. And my score was below average for the staff. But I got almost a week's pay for my bonus. So whatever.
But this year's white elephant gift exchange was a secret switcheroo. The assistant director thought it would be fun to spring a surprise baby shower on the boss- he and his wife are expecting twins, like, MOMENTARILY. Since they already have three kids, including two girls (and the twins are girls), he stressed that they really didn't need stuff. The AD talked to his wife's sister and learned that the family had already given them a baby shower, but that, of course, they will need diapers. Lots and lots of diapers. So we all got diapers AND other little things, if we wanted. Then we wrapped our gifts in baby-themed paper, and overwrapped the whole lot with white elephant paper.
The white elephant exchange system is this immensely convoluted, complicated deal with numbered and color-coded cards; it's ridiculous. The staff person who developed it was one of the ones who retired back in February, but the AD wanted to use it again, to help sell the surprise. So we all did our stealing of packages back and forth until it was all settled, and everyone started to unwrap things. The boss was opening his and it was two toys and a gift card to Krogers. He was kind of stunned (as he said later, "it was a real gift card, it wasn't a white elephant at all!"), but it wasn't until he looked around and realized that everyone had unwrapped their gifts and brought them over to the table where he was sitting and deposited them. Aaaannd, hey, the gifts were still wrapped, but in pastel papers!
Yeah, we got him good. Gobsmacked is an accurate word for it.
Most extreme gift? That's gotta be the GIANT TON O' BABY WIPES that one person gave. It was heavy, and there was a card for it stating that this white elephant weighed almost as much as a regular elephant, so for the exchange use the card and don't try to herniate yourself moving the package.
We also had the staff potluck (downgraded from previous years, when staff was expected to provide large amounts of food for a volunteer luncheon, which last year numbered nearly 90 people when you included family and board members). I had to go straight home from the meeting and start cooking, but it turned out to be a big winner of a dish (YES, I like to live dangerously and spring new recipes on my coworkers. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. SO GLAD this last staff potluck dish was a winner!).
The downside is that I have had very short sleep for the past two nights- and since my head wound I seem to have zero reserves for coping with things like that. So tonight I will be ignoring the dishes, and putting off the laundry, and going to bed pretty soon.