Office birthday parties can help lighten the mood in a workplace filled with adversity, resentment and anguish. I’ve found that if you couple cake with something free, everyone in the building will show up. Though, most of the attendees could care less about a colleague’s birthday, an office birthday party offers an excuse to be away from your desk.
Recently, my boss decided to begin celebrating employee birthdays and offered to pay for the cake and drinks. However, after having cake for one employee, another became outraged because she didn’t get a cake.
While her birthday was about two weeks prior, she was out of the office for about five days and one of which was her birthday. Are we obligated to have cake and ice cream for an employee whose birthday occurs while they are out on vacation?
Ideally, one party per month should be held for all employees born in that month to avoid situations such as this. While, I agree with the complainant to an extent, I do not agree with the manner in which she opted to seek resolve.
Along with a colleague she conspired to adversely impact operations by calling in and leaving one employee to work along. The employee she plotted her revenge with was scheduled to be off already so she decided to call in sick, on the same day, in an effort to get even with my boss.
Our staff is very minimal, so two people being out of the office at once and unexpectedly can gravely disrupt operations. Luckily, a supervisor was able to promptly report to our location to assist the lone employee left behind to fend for herself. However, the situation could have turned out quite differently. Our clinic is usually quite busy, but it turned out to be a perfect day with minimal volume and no patient issues.
Believe it or not, this childish display of defiance is quite common. Employees feel as if they must or will even the score with co-workers and superiors by calling in sick or leaving early. In understanding how our negative behavior affects others, we might consider choosing different alternatives to contend with our anger.
In this instance, the employee could have simply spoken to the manager about how not celebrating her birthday made her feel. Communication is paramount in any relationship. Instead of talking to one another and immediately resolving issues, we generally jump to inaccurate conclusions and make rash decisions.
Instead of calling in sick because you’re upset about something, schedule some time off in about a week, if possible, so you can regroup. Being upset about something so elementary can fester and manifest itself in ways that are not characteristic of you. The last thing you need is for management to take notice because of your attendance, tardiness or negative attitude.
When life gives you lemons, make a sweet pitcher of lemonade-don’t end up in the unemployment line because you choose to get even.