Company Holiday Party

Let me start by saying that I know how truly lucky I am to not just have a job, but to have a kick ass job at the best company in the world (not officially...yet. But we were named the #1 company to work for in Oregon so I'm not just making stuff up here people). Our boss is seriously the best and before you assume I'm sucking up in blog form, read about our company holiday party and then try to tell me I'm a liar face.
For the first time we were all allowed to invite our spouses, partners, or friends (I invited K of course) to come to our holiday party. We all met at the office after 5 to watch a slide show of pictures from different company events throughout the years. You could feel the excitement in the room as we all waited for the ok to head downstairs. Boss had planned this party for us as a surprise and no one (aside from Boss and her helpful assistants) had any idea what was going on. They had been trying to get information from me for weeks. Too bad for them I am a master secret keeper. Muh ha ha ha!
Er...
After the slide show (which by the way is on Facebook so if you know me there, you can check it out), we were herded out of the office to hitch a ride....on a double decker party bus!! Seriously, this thing is the COOLEST! We all bypassed the lower level as we climbed on and headed straight upstairs. We squeezed ourselves into the seats and settled in for our ride to dinner. They plugged in Boss's ipod and the party was officially on. There was some serious sing alonging happening. The bus took us around the square so we could check out the Christmas tree. We oohed and ahhed and every restaurant we passed caused a burst of excitement while people tried to figure out where we were headed.
We pulled up to Saucebox and there were actually screams of excitement. For good reason. They have a 4 page cocktail menu and the tastiest food. K started off with a Zombie and JB & M debated on ordering a pineapple. We were on a tight time constraint so we all ordered drinks and appetizers and entrees and ate as things came out from the kitchen. Boss had sampled some cocktails and appetizers and deserts before the party so there was some delicious sushi on the tables for us to eat while we waited for our drinks (I got a cucumber lemonade). When our end of the table ended up having some problems choosing drinks we sent a drink menu with a note on it to Boss to find out which sampled drinks she would recommend. We had to send a note. Her end of the table was too far away to yell to. She agreed about that apparently, but chose to get up and come talk to us instead of playing note games. Fine, fine.
Drinks and food started to come out and the next half hour or so was kind of a blur of waiters with drinks and food and empty plates and glasses going back and forth. As JB & M continued to contemplate the pineapple drink, a waiter came up the stairs (which were lined with tea lights for us by the way) carrying a whole pineapple with a bow tied around it. It wasn't for JB though. It was for our employee of the year (as voted by the employees)! We applauded as he opened his present (not the drink silly people) because the look on his face was truly priceless. It was an ipad. Something he has most definitely been wanting. I've never seen such a big smile. Or such bugged out eyes.
With that, JB decided a pineapple was indeed needed. K ordered a hurricane, and I got a blackberry lemonade. The pineapple came and was apparently tastetastic. Suddenly, a coconut drink was being placed next to the pineapple. We have no idea why, since no one at our table ordered it...but we kept it. And then JB decided we should see her teeth. Say what? With a lime wedge and knife and a couple minutes of preparations JB had us all in hysterics. Seriously...Funny stuff.
We scarfed down our food (delicious, super tender ribs for K, crispy quail for me) and suddenly it was time for desert (chocolate cake with pistachio gelato) and we were ready to get back on the bus. After transferring our delicious cocktails (virgin drinks for me of course) into some party cups (giant soup cups were needed for the pineapple drinks) and swaddling our pineapple in a napkin and then throwing a coat over him to smuggle him out, we clamored back into the bus to head to the next secret location. The music was turned up (that bus really has a sweet set up) and with everyone pleasantly loosened via cocktail magic there was much more singing and dancing for this trip. And thanks to the pineapple, which left a mess all over K's jacket (dirty pineapple!) we had a new cup cozy. T snagged the awesome flower that came with employee of the year's drink and was wearing it tucked behind his ear. It was having a hard time staying put with all his dancing though. Many pictures were taken.
It didn't take us long to get to our second location, Harvey's Comedy Club. We were however late, and the show had already started. We made our way through the lounge entrance and started to filter into our seats. Or, we tried to. Remember when my purse got stolen? Right, well I still have no ID. Boy, they sure are sticklers for ID rules there. I walked up to the bar, where the guy was checking IDs (after trying to sneak by him with a group of people...but he noticed and made us all come back) and rummaged through my purse. I had just received my replacement birth certificate (I'm awesome at losing things) in the mail a few days ago so I still had it on me. When he looked at me I was just pulling it out of my purse and I dove straight into my explanation.
"My purse was stolen with my ID in it, but I just got my birth certificate in the mail..." I started to unfold it and he cut me off.
"You need picture ID. That won't work"
"Are you serious?"
He sure was. K looked super worried. I started to think, well, I could just wait in the bus I suppose. At least I would be comfy and not cold. Boss walked up to see what was happening.
"She's with our group. It's our company party. She doesn't even drink." She said to Grumps Mcgrumperston.
A manager walking by came over to see what was going on. Again, I explain and try to show my birth certificate.
"You need picture ID. Do you have anything with a picture on it?"
"Do you have a Costco card?" one co-worker suggests.
No.
"Bank card with your picture on it?" Another suggests.
"Student ID?" Manger man asks.
Nope. I don't have anything with my picture on it. I'm not a student, and a single girl in a tiny house doesn't really need Costo proportions of anything, we don't have ID badges for the office. So basically without ID I'm screwed.
As more of our group gathered to see what the hold up was the manager gave in. "I'll ok it. This time."
We thanked him profusely and stared to walk to our table.
"You really need to get an ID" the manager guy said to me.
"Uh...I know. That's why I have my birth certificate on me. Because I'm trying to get that done." Like I don't know that I need an ID? Seriously guy... thanks for the helpful advice but how about we just leave the obvious to be obvious alright? I'm working on it.
Side note: I realize that there are laws and they were protecting themselves by accepting nothing less than picture ID, however, knowing that we are here in a large group (24 of us I believe), here for our company party, and having 10 or so people around me all vouching for my being of age (Boss pulled out the "She's worked for me for 5 years" bit), I feel like they could have been a bit more friendly about the whole situation. It ended up working out, but sheesh, what an ordeal for a minute!
Since the show had already started we had to sneak in, which was slightly terrifying becuase a lot of comedians I've seen there will make a big deal about people coming in late. Luckily our table was right by the door separating the lounge and the show area so I grabbed the seat right by the door.
We missed most of the first act, who was really just the host so I don't feel like we missed out on too much. The second was a girl from Wisconsin, Lang Parker, who was pretty funny. The headliner was a seriously funny man who writes (and does voices) for Spongebob and Family guy so I knew I would be laughing a lot. I was right. Tim ORourke is a riot. And he can certainly handle hecklers.
I have been to Harvey's more than a few times and I have never seen people act the way that these people were acting. From what I gathered there was another company party there, all in the front rows near the stage. One guy in particular was being pretty obnoxious. Yelling to the performers and when he made a bad joke about being a beaten by his wife (who was sitting right next to him) I thought, I can certainly see why.*
At one point K and I both had to run out to the bathroom (again, skipping the bathroom in the same room and going to the one in the lounge to avoid walking in front of people and possible comic harassment) because we were laughing so much that there was no way we could continue to hold it until after the show. Best pee of my life. (Ok, maybe not but it was damn good. TMI? I don't care.)
I was continually surprised at how ok these people were with interrupting the performers, trying to make themselves part of the show, and being just outright rude a couple of times but I was way impressed with how both Tim and Lang handled the interruptions. We all definitely laughed a lot. Enough so that when the show was over and we were making our way back to our party bus, Boss was rubbing her cheeks that hurt from laughing so much. So was I. And K.
I decided to try out the bottom half of the bus this time. I sat on one of the cushioned seats (upstairs is just one long bench that wraps around the entire top level but downstairs there are 2 smaller, loveseat sized cushioned seats and then 2 swivel-rocking bar stools at the BAR(!!!) that is on the bottom level of the bus. After a few pleas, we talked Boss into getting a few extra minutes with the bus so we could drive around just a little longer. As soon as the music was on, the upstairs level burst out into song. JB came (oh so gracefully) down the stairs to control the ipod. She put on Katy Perry's Firework and ran back upstairs. More voices than before joined in for this one. There was some stomping along with the beat. I had to see what was happening.
I didn't even make it to the top of the stairs and I had a huge smile on face. Everyone had a huge smile on their face. Those that didn't were in full on karaoke mode, with fake mics in their hands and everything. There was dancing and laughing and picture taking. I couldn't go back downstairs. Besides, that song is one of the only Katy Perry songs I like. And I happen to like it a lot. E and T pulled me up the rest of the stairs, offering me a seat between T and M. Just like that it was group karaoke. C held up an umbrella as a mic for us and we belted our hearts out. K came up to join in the fun (only not the singing and dancing cuz she's not into that stuff, but laughter is definitely her thing) and we drove around looking at twinkling lights downtown for a little bit.
As we pulled up outside our office there was a collective moan of sadness, mourning the end of a fantastically fun night. We made our way out of the bus and onto the sidewalk. Boss made sure everyone knew that she would happily call (and pay for) a cab for anyone that needed it, and a couple of people took her up on the offer. And then we said our goodbyes, some of us heading up to the office to pick up things left behind from earlier, and some directly to our cars to go home.
With a boss like ours, who genuinely cares about us and who wants us to be happy, not just at work but outside of it as well, doing things like this to show us her appreciation and love (because, it's true, we are a family, and there is a lot of love here), how could we not be the best company in the world?
Boss has figured out that happy people make happy workers, and happy workers do better work, and better work means more money, not just for the workers but for the company as a whole. Boss has always made sure that the people she hires are a good fit for our (work)family. We are all good people.
Wait...rephrase.
We are all AMAZING people, who do great work and are always looking for ways to better ourselves and the world. We are sustainable, caring, giving, happy, funny, honest people. We are true to who we are and make no apologies. We accept people as they are with no judgment. We work together to help each other and the community. We are awesome and I am one of the (13) luckiest people in the world because I get to work for such an awesome company. Without this place I wouldn't be the person I am today and I am so thankful for that every day of my life. I love who I am and I have found that love for myself thanks to this company. I can't believe I'm getting teary while writing this. I think that means I need to stop.

Thank you, Boss, for the best company holiday party ever for the best company ever!

I'm pretty sure that damn Firework song is going to make me smile every time I hear it now, just because of this awesome night. Oh darn.

*I do not ever endorse anyone hitting anyone else for any reason other than self defense or for a professional fight such as boxing or MMA.