Holiday Sweaters

Put all your coworkers and their significant others together in a room, throw in some tacky red sweaters with christmas trees on them..give them a couple tickets and what do you have....An awkward Holiday Party. I know that companies do this to give back/thanks for all our hard work throughout the year. However, I hangout with the people I like from work all the time. You are forced into going (and dragging your even more unwilling to go partner) to these annual parties because you want to be a "team player".

No one acts like themselves, 2 drink "tickets" only last you for an hour, and you have to stare at tacky holiday wear. Now granted, this holiday wear gives plenty of ammunition on those that don the sweaters for everyone else to type/talk to each other about the next day on the chosen office-approved instant messaging tool.

Why don't companies figure out how much they want to spend on the holiday party and divide the amount evenly and hand that out as a check to all the employees. I would get much more statisfaction out of that and I could have my own fun holiday party with the people I enjoy spending time with. I wouldn't be in an enclosed room locked in torture with only 2 precious drink tickets, forced to overt my eyes from the awful, glittery mess that people wear to feel "festive".....ugh

Testing, Testing, Oh why bother with testing

I start working on a trip well before the attendees know who is going on the trip. In that time I do a lot of pre-work which is always sent to my contact to review, revise, approve, test, etc. Here's what I don't understand....Why don't people communicate amongst themselves?? I mean if person A had a problem that I solved for them and person B (person A's boss) has the same problem why doesn't person A say "oh yeah that happened to me, this is what you do" OR "Call Jenn, she helped me with the samething". Another thing, why did I send out everything for people to look at and test and they didn't before telling their attendees? Then they don't even bother coming to me for help once they experience these problems, yet they complain to other people?? I don't get it. I can't fix something I don't know is a problem.

Maybe the bigger question is...why do I care so much (about clients, attendees, solving problems, etc.)? I mean this is just a job and they obviously don't care or they would have tested and looked at everything.

Well since your the organizer.....

So I had a great week on the Carnival Cruise to Cabo. It was 2 days at sea and one day in Cabo. Pretty boring unless you like to gamble...which I did a lot of but not exactly what I find fun. Thank goodness Joe was there to keep me entertained.

There was one attendee who that I was a miracle worker and could grow money on trees. Since I was the "organizer" of the trip, he felt I should be able to get him everything he wanted for free. So it became almost a game for Joe and I to dodge him at all costs. He wanted me to get him free excursions, free drinks, trade in his Welcome gift from my client for something "better" Isnt there always someone like that in a group????

Things that make you go hmmmm....

I always loved Arsenal Halls segment, The Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm..... I used to watch his show as kid. Probably not the best show for a middle school kid to be into. However, I loved it. To this day, I tend to take particular notice to things that make me go Hmmmm.... Well I had one of those moments today when I was shown the design for my companies new biz cards. They are not bad but there are definately some things about them that make me go hmmm..... I can tell you that tonight I will be going through every suit jacket, regular jacket, suitcases and purses to find as many of my old cards as possible. Again, the are not BAD but they hit to high on my Hmmmm....scale.

I'm gonna have to get back to you on that

Nothing is better than going above and beyond only to have it slap you in the face. Earlier this month, we had a client in NYC that hired celebrity look a likes for their farewell dinner. In order to make the event extra special we hired a professional photographer to take candid pictures of the attendees with the look a likes. Well, in order to save on budget. Jen paid my boyfriend with a 24 pack of Blue Ribbon PBR to make copies of the pictures onto DVD's. If you dont know, Joe, my boyfriend is professional photographer. We like to use is talents often. Here's the issue...none of our attendees can view the photos because they are to high res. We love to say "I'm gonna have to get back to you on that"

It's about time....

About time has been my current theme. "It's about time...." Well, its about time that I started this blog that I have been promising everyone that I meet while traveling. Originally, I was going to start this blog only for my fellow TRAVELING TOE RING gals. However, I often meet many amazing people that work within the travel/event planning industry that I decided it would be more fun to open it up to everyone. I want to use this blog to stay in touch, tell each other about our adventures and what crazy things we see and go through in this industry.

To all my ladies whom I adore, let the blogging begin!