I recently had a strange occurrence at my place of employment regarding sending out corporate birthday cards. I am a new manger at a fairly large company. I have about twenty people under my guidance who are all skilled professionals, so, in order to help keep spirits up, I decided to start a monthly celebration for all birthdays occurring in the month. We would meet at a predetermined time each month and have some sort of dessert, like a cake or ice cream. So, the first month I tried this I had everything planned, and I called my team over to the meeting area, it seems that almost everyone was pleasantly surprised, please note, that I said almost everyone. There happened to be three birthdays to celebrate this month and I had three separate birthday cards ready to go.
Now, as I started to welcome everybody and explain that this would be a monthly celebration, and I saw a employee slowly start to back away and appear to hide, I didn’t think anything of it. When it was time to announce the birthdays, I call the first and second one without a hitch, and when I call the third, there is no response and I find out that this was the woman that was sneaking away. Well, I didn’t want to push the issue, so I let it go. We ate cake, talked and returned to our work area. I took this time to call the employee into my office where the woman laughed nervously and said, “I’m turning 40 and I’m having a hard time celebrating!”
Aww, that poor employee! Hitting that milestone is hard for lots of people. Luckily, I haven’t yet reached an age when I’ve cared about the number of candles on my birthday cake…and I hope I never do!
Makes me wonder how she would have felt if she wasn’t invited to participate in the Birthday celebration.
As far as I’m concerned, age is a state of mind. You’re as “old” as you feel ….. and think.
Makes me wonder how she would have felt if she wasn’t invited to participate in the Birthday celebration.
As far as I’m concerned, age is a state of mind. You’re as “old” as you feel ….. and think.
As someone who does not like being the center of attention, I can relate to the employee turning 40. Cards and well wishes I can appreciate, but not in front of a group of people!
Here’s hoping I make that next milestone birthday without a struggle!
As someone who does not like being the center of attention, I can relate to the employee turning 40. Cards and well wishes I can appreciate, but not in front of a group of people!
Here’s hoping I make that next milestone birthday without a struggle!
That’s a bit extreme. No one cares about your age more than you do. You should celebrate it with the people you work with everyday.