Friday, September 3, 2010

Working Hard Or Hardly Working?

One busy afternoon, the week before I was scheduled to leave town for my wedding, a colleague summoned me to her office in a panic. Our boss, she said, had just discovered some major damage to the stately wooden table in one of our conference rooms, where a huge meetings with VIPs was scheduled to take place the following morning.

Feeling anxious and nervous about scheduling repairs at such late notice, I quickly followed her down the hall so that she could show me exactly where the problem area was, kicking myself for not doing a walk-though on my own earlier in the day. What if I couldn’t get it fixed and the boss was furious?

“I’m so sorry about this,” she said, shaking her head as she pushed open the door. It was dark, but I could immediately tell that something wasn’t quite right. There were shadows lurking throughout the room. They looked like people…

SURPRISE!


The lights came on, and I couldn’t stop laughing as at least 20 of my coworkers – both guys and gals – looked on with cheers and smiles. A cake sat on the table, along with refreshments and appetizers. I was touched and truly shocked, especially since I am usually a tough person to surprise. But with all the craziness of my final wedding preparations, plus my colleague’s very believable story, at least in our workplace, everyone caught me completely off-guard!

The next hour was a complete blast, with everyone wishing me well and asking for all the up-to-the-minute scoop about our upcoming day. The one thing I regret? That we were all having too much fun to snap any pictures!

Did your colleagues throw you a work shower prior to the wedding, or do you expect them to? Have your colleagues ever surprised you by playing a great joke the way mine did?

(Photo Credit: Google Images)

12 comments:

  1. Aww...that is so sweet.

    I had only been at my office for about a month before the wedding, so they didn't do anything special. The dean of our college did send us a wedding present though, which was very generous of him

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  2. Very sweet!

    My last day in the office when I was running around crazed of course they surprised me with a cake. I work in a really small office (there's only 6 of us) so for me not to notice a cake being carried right by my office just shows how nuts I was. They didn't give me presents or anything but the cake was very sweet.

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  3. So fun and thoughtful! I work with 90% male colleagues, so I don't think this is something that will happen for me. I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them take me out for a celebratory lunch or something, though :)

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  4. Fun!!! My coworkers threw me a surprise shower/party also and it was a blast. It's the nice thing about working with almost all women!

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  5. That is so awesome and thoughtful! That is one of the things I truly miss out on with my job. I work as an executive assistant to a real estate investor and I am his only employee. Half the time, I am in the office by myself all day long...he rarely comes in as he is out at meetings and job sites. So I don't have any co-workers :( But glad yours did this very special thing for you to celebrate!

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  6. Actually yesterday one of the fellow ladies stopped by my office (there are 6 women in a department of 40ish) and asked if they could book me for next Friday. They had heard me mention that I need a new purse so they are taking me purse shopping and out for drinks as a mini-shower and gift from the department! I'm super excited!

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  7. How sweet of your coworkers! I had just started at a small company and had no shower, but they were nice to tell me to take some time off for the wedding.

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  8. What a great surprise. It is always nice when co workers celebrate a special day with you.

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  9. AWW!! Thats such a sweet story! I love how they got you to come into the room by telling you something was wrong! I even believed that something was wrong! What a great surprise and a nice thing for them to do for you! ♥ Happy Holiday Weekend!

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  10. That was lovely of them!

    I had already left my work before my wedding but they did surprise me with champagne and balloons after we got engaged!

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