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We could all go out and follow some generic advice (generic = terrible) about how to throw a birthday party for a co-worker. Or we could break every etiquette rule about how to buy a gift for a co-worker. But I am not into that.
I want to help you make the most of your office birthday party, because if yours are like mine have been, they really need some work. And for something that happens at least once a month like in my office, its just too often to ignore.
How Do I fix an Office Birthday Party Fiasco?
- It’s only awkward if you make it awkward: If you are in a situation, or approach one thinking it will be awkward then it will be. Its time to change your attitude.
- In lieu of standing around waiting for someone to be the first one to go pick a cookie or a piece of cake off the table, pick up the cookies/cake and pass them out. It’ll help change everyone else’s attitude since I have changed mine after step number one!
- Have an action plan for the dreaded song: I look at people in the eyes when singing happy birthday - even if I’m the birthday boy. It lets everyone know that I am appreciative of their less than stellar vocal abilities.
So those are a few things I do to end the terribleness that is an office birthday party. If you are still a debbie downer on office birthdays I suggest that you celebrate all your office birthdays on one day a year. Think about it. Way less calories, and way less of the awkward effort you put towards choosing what to do while people sing happy birthday to you.
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Comments
05.13.09
Personally, I'm not big on celebrating my birthday. But I know I'm in the minority, so I deal.
In our office, we celebrate the birthdays on a monthly basis. Once a month, we have a catered lunch, and a birthday cake for everyone's birthday that month. It's more like a department lunch with a birthday cake added for dessert. And yes, we do sing happy birthday.
Seems like a good compromise to me.
05.13.09
@Scott Having lunch with it is a great idea. It puts everyone at ease and places less stress on the group! Hope next months lunch is a good one for you!
05.13.09
We just don't celebrate them. It's surprising how much we don't need to, yet we have good relationships.
01.26.10
or just take the day off!
04.13.10
I am not big fan of office parties, but I am quite happy with the cake. I previously worked at quite big organization and there was a tradition to collect money for a birthday person. As the office was quite big, it didn’t feel like celebration at all. We were not allowed to sing happy birthday during working hours and it felt more like a collection of money followed by a slice of a cake as a reward. I think a lot depends on corporate culture, whether we like it or not. Kate from conveyancing fee.
05.18.10
It's a classic situation - you meet someone new, and then moments later you've forgotten their name! Names, passwords, pin and telephone numberthe list is endless - with so much to memorize is it really possible to improve how much you can remember?
world economy
The good news is "yes"! Just like every muscle in your body, the adage "use it or lose it" applies, so the more you exercise your brain, the more you will remember.Mnemonic’ is another word for memory tool. Mnemonics are techniques for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall: A very simple example is the ‘30 days hath September’ rhyme for remembering the number of days in each calendar month.
seo
The idea behind using mnemonics is to encode difficult-to-remember information in a way that is much easier to remember.
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