A party or a gift

[Cadiewampus]

Luckily I don't have to choose. We get both every year.

 

[Micca]

I worked at an office for about eight months, and we were given a similar choice. Everyone chose a gift, which turned out to be a gift certificate for a discount on a spiral ham.

A discount??? They couldn't give you a gift card for a ham???

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Gift is also my vote.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

A discount??? They couldn't give you a gift card for a ham???

I can see why she only worked there 8 months.

 

[Micca]

I can see why she only worked there 8 months.

I worked for a real down home mom&pop place in the 70s but at the Christmas party they gave us all a whole turkey and a gift certificate for groceries.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I remember we were given a vote for a "company picnic" or a bonus day off. They put it to a vote. It was an overwhelming vote for bonus day.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

A discount??? They couldn't give you a gift card for a ham???

And *that's* why I eventually quit to be a full-time artist. We also got coffee mugs with the company logo printed on them, as I remember.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The dreaded company logo "gifts". Does anyone really want that stuff?

My husband has always gotten so much better logo'd gifts than I ever got. Most recently he got a really nice golf ball tee marker. I'd say the clothing is actually the most useful especially jackets but he's gotten really nice hot/cold travel mugs (higher end ones it seems like). And a bunch of other stuff.

Oddly enough one of the most popular ones was these key chains that had the words "jet fuel" stitched on it and another word I'm forgetting on it plus the name of the company on the other side. His newer company he's with does airline fueling systems. That ran out super fast on the days they gave those out.

But paper weights and random other stuff is not so useful.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My husband might choose a company party because they will always do those well. I would have chosen the gift card because the insurance company would have cheaped out and done a crappy event.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I worked at an office for about eight months, and we were given a similar choice. Everyone chose a gift, which turned out to be a gift certificate for a discount on a spiral ham. This should tell you what kind of people were running that office, so nobody wanted to party with them.

Assuming the office is not as cheap as the one I worked for, a gift.

Are we talking, like, 10% or 50%?

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Neither. The Jelly of the Month Club. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[kymom99]

Some of you all describing work parties and gifts, and I’m over here as a teacher thinking about the Christmas ornaments with school names on them and snappy tomato pizza supplied by the PTO.

 

[mumto3girls]

Not having to attend a work function would be gift enough.

Exactly

 

[tcufrog]

My husband's company gives an Omaha Steak box and you get to pick what goes in the box. They also give company swag and a performance-based bonus. The Christmas meal at a restaurant and all of the parties are during office hours although the office parties often extend to after hours by choice. I went to the last one and witnessed the engineers playing drunk Jenga with a giant Jenga set and employees playing foosball and air hockey. One of the employees is a DJ in his off hours and he always brings his gear to the office parties and lets his coworkers try it out. Those parties are actually fun. My husband takes employee satisfaction seriously though so his company has very low turnover. Most of the employees like working there and feel valued.

 

[barb969]

Gift

 

[BlueStarryHat]

Are we talking, like, 10% or 50%?

I don't remember, Lol...I do remember I didn't use it.

 

[Karin1984]

Are team dinners a thing in the US? At all the companies I have worked for here in NL it is not uncommon to go out for dinner/lunch with your team once in a while. Either as a special occasion (because someone is leaving the team/company) or we used the budget we had for team building.

One company had a Christmas party, each year, huge event in a great location, entertainment, lots of food etc. And they raffled free airplane tickets (it was an airline, so those easy gifts ). It was in addition to our annual Christmas bonus.

 

[disneychrista]

Are team dinners a thing in the US? At all the companies I have worked for here in NL it is not uncommon to go out for dinner/lunch with your team once in a while. Either as a special occasion (because someone is leaving the team/company) or we used the budget we had for team building.

Before COVID my department had potluck lunches for birthdays. The birthday person picked a theme (salad, tacos, sandwiches, etc) and everyone brought a few things. Someone brought a cake or other dessert. We also all chipped in $10 that was given to the birthday person. These stopped and haven’t started up again. I didn’t mind the lunches but hated the $$$ part. I recycled mine. Kept it in my drawer at work and used it for the next birthday.

We do still do a Christmas luncheon. We all chip in and order pizza and salad. They do a white elephant (with good gifts) exchange as well. I don’t participate in the gift exchange. It’s a little awkward but I don’t need a random gift nor do I want to buy one.

 

[_19disnA]

Are team dinners a thing in the US?

I think it is hard to generalize since it varies by company. A small company with 5 employees will likely do something different from a very large company where it is probably only practical to do things by department.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

My husband has always gotten so much better logo'd gifts than I ever got. Most recently he got a really nice golf ball tee marker. I'd say the clothing is actually the most useful especially jackets but he's gotten really nice hot/cold travel mugs (higher end ones it seems like). And a bunch of other stuff.

Oddly enough one of the most popular ones was these key chains that had the words "jet fuel" stitched on it and another word I'm forgetting on it plus the name of the company on the other side. His newer company he's with does airline fueling systems. That ran out super fast on the days they gave those out.

But paper weights and random other stuff is not so useful.

DH has a zip up, hoodie jacket that he received as a Christmas gift from a previous company. It's a thick, soft, very warm jacket. Ironically, this company is based in South Florida. He never had a reason to wear it, when he worked for that company. It has come in handy over the last two winters, when he's up north working for a different company. The same jacket with no company logo would have been much preferable, but at least he's getting some use out of it. Everything else we've ever gotten with a company logo ended up in the trash. You can't even give that stuff away.