Yesterday was our annual "Employee Appreciation Day". Each year, one of our agency's divisions "hosts" a 2-hour program combining lunch and presentation of service awards, plus providing some entertaining things like door prizes. There is, traditionally, a theme.
Two months ago, the designated division dropped out saying it could not prepare the event as it is being transferred, on July 1, to a different agency within the County.
My division was selected to cobble together a program in two months when the norm is four months.
The theme chosen by my division's committee was "Mardi Gras." While it did not fall on me to do any planning, I was approached about emceeing the event. I agreed to do this, and I was subsequently asked to attend committee meetings.
Things I couldn't let pass: Butcher paper for table coverings (for feeding 250-plus people). I went online and ordered 22 Mardi Gras tablecloths (purple, yellow, green). I also ordered some confetti plus sufficient "fringe" strips to adorn our registration tables as people come in and the awards tables that are seen from the stage. The reception table had green mylar and the awards table had gold mylar. (And it looked extremely beautiful at a small cost).
I also suggested a "Mardi Gras Mask" competition, encouraging divisions in our agency to design/construct/create Mardi Gras masks (from scratch, the only concession being they could buy a plain mask and then decorate it) and submit them for "Braggin' Rights". We had 11 submissions! We asked our Arts Commission (not part of our agency) to judge and come up with a winner. They judged, but they insisted on four categories...three honorable mentions and a 1st place winner. The masks were uniformly creative and beautiful, including one done by our Grounds division...it was a "green man" mask made of grape leaves and vines (adhered to a full-face mask). (It did not win in any honorable mention category or 1st prize, but it was indicative of the creativity coming from unexpected quarters). Our director was so impressed, he has insisted they all be put on display in the main administrative space of the agency.
I am writing all this because it has been a very time-consuming project during regular work hours and it ate my entire day yesterday which began at 5:30 a.m. We only had access to the building (a veterans building) from yesterday a.m. We were able to stage all we needed to haul from our offices on Wednesday afternoon, but we all believed (there were about 10 of us) we'd be hard-pressed to get all done by 11:30 a.m. yesterday when the event started.
Things needing doing: Set up the food service room (tables for service lines, chafing dishes for hot foods, baskets and cloth towels for bread service, etc.); set up the ballroom where tables had been put out, laying out the table cloths, putting banners up, putting pictures of the service awards nominees up, and decorating the tables with beads and fleur-de-lis, etc.
Balloons had been ordered and they arrived fully inflated. We only needed to tie weights (we used washers) so they would rest on tables or floors. A Zydeco band (three men) were hired at a nominal fee to perform from 11:15 - Noon. The committee chairwoman is a phenomenally connected person in the Bay Area. She knows everyone worth knowing, apparently, and she was able to do some amazing things.
The menu was fried chicken, red beans and rice, pasta salad and green salad, rolls, cornbread and cake for dessert. We were set on everything five weeks ago except the red beans and rice. Everyone local who prepared the dish wanted a minimum of $3 per serving. Our budget was "extremely" limited and most of it paid for the chicken.
I suggested to Linda, the chairperson, we needed a donation from Zatarain's because that label's red beans and rice is pretty authentic and tastes great. She fired off an e-mail that day. The next day, Zatarains' confirmed they would provide food service-sized packets of red beans and rice (low sodium!) for 400 people. And they came through. She also contacted Aunt Sally's in New Orleans and requested a donation of pralines (possibly as a door prize). What Aunt Sally's did, at our cost for shipping, was provide pralines to give to everyone attending.
Thus, added to all that needed doing yesterday was to have folks in the veterans building kitchen prepare the rice and beans. It was several hours of work, but it was mostly "wait time" and it was PHENOMENAL. The chicken, fried that morning by a local Lucky's grocery store, was still warm when they started serving, the red beans and rice were hot and prepared to perfection. The rolls were freshly baked that morning as was the cornbread (by another committee member).
I'm telling you, I've never been part of an event that came together as beautifully as this one. And the teamwork yesterday morning was unbelievable. We had up to 24 people doing things without supervision and doing them to perfection. One of my pet projects was decorating a "bead tree"...an upside-down Christmas tree covered with 72 dozen mardi gras beads (6 colors). We placed it next to our Mardi Gras mural (painted by one of our architects) used for our "photo ops". Everyone got to have his or her picture taken. Another plus was that one of our people had a collection of Mardi Gras masks/head pieces which he donated so that people could wear them for pictures.
When it was all over and we had cleaned up, we had delivered the most memorable "Employee Appreciation" event I've experienced in my 17 years with the County.
A number of the committee members had donated hundreds of dollars worth of decorations and we're now being told we'll likely be reimbursed for most of it even though we never had any thought of reimbursement.
A point was made, as well: For some reason, this was the most heavily attended event EVER. We had so many people we ran out of tables and chairs, but the ones standing were content to eat standing up. We did not run out of food, and the food was excellent. I tried to keep things moving at a faster pace than previously experienced by me and we ended on time and with a hearty round of applause. The point? This event, to be done right, needs to be done with a creative budget. In years past, our "department heads" contributed to make the event sustainable. Last year they paid $180 each. The food last year cost $900, and the total event cost about $1,800. The County only pays $2.50 per employee (typically, a $500 budget for everything) for this type of event each year. This year, we fed everyone for under $600. And we haven't asked the department heads to fork over anything.
I went back to work and worked later than my normal quitting time because I am taking today off. Last night, I came home and collapsed on my bed for an hour. The only reason I got up was because I was so sore I needed some Ibuprofen. I stayed up until 10 p.m. and then retired for the night. I woke up only once for a quick trip to the loo.
This morning, I'm moving in semi-slow motion...going to make the day last as long as possible so that I'm refreshed for the weekend.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
