Does your job have a summer picnic/barbecue/gathering?

I work from home, so yes, all the time! ;)

Can class’s occasional social gathering count?

Yes. Next week actually. HR throws an all-school barbecue. Employees volunteer to man the grill, pass out drinks, etc. they do it during the workday, like a lunch-time event.

I’ll probably grab a hot dog and keep moving. I’m not a big fan of socializing at work.

We used to take all the employees and their families to Disneyland every couple of years until business got cut way back. Now we“re down to two employees and the little business barely pays for itself. Thank goodness we have other investments! One of the two employees is near retirement age and probably couldn’t get another job if we folded the business. The other one has som major medical issues and someone else might not take a chance on him. We need to keep the business together for them.

My boss is in the hospital so I am having my own summer fun, no work til they get better, or die. One can hope. lol

Most places I’d worked at usually had barbecues for certain times of the year, or for production and safety achievements. As far as company picnics go I usually avoid them since I have little interest in seeing the same people again while I’m not at work. When I’m not at work I like to keep my mind, or anything that reminds me of it, away from my job.

My former job sort of did. They just grilled hot dogs and hamburgers right outside in the employee area next to the store. It wasn’t really a big picnic, but rather a July 4th acknowledgement and a free lunch for us.

Many of my husband’s companies that he has worked for had picnics at Paris where they rented the picnic space. Some of them not only did a picnic, but they also had games at the picnic.

I love being outdoors, but I am not a big picnic person. I am not so keen on being out in the hot weather, with no pool nearby, and the food attracting bugs. When you picnic on a small scale those things are not as big of a concern, but on a large scale the food sits longer, so more flies make their way over; and it is planned way in advance, so it might be a 95 degree day, I know that all probably sounds ungrateful to those who plan these parties with all the right intentions and spend a lot of time in the planning. I do appreciate the intention of the company and the time spent on it.

@Judi Neither of your employees sound like good candidates for a trip to Disneyland anyway.

@GloPro, the one who’s sick has kids. :-) the older one brought a friend. It’s true though that if the company were as flush as it used to be we would probably be doing a cruise instead.

Mine doesn’t. We do get treated to lunch outside of the office a few times a year, but not during the Summer. My husband’s job does a “family day” toward the end of the Summer, though. The first two years he was there, they took us all to Carowinds, an amusement park. It was awesome. Last year they cheaped out and did family day at the zoo. We were there for like twenty minutes. Yes, I’d love to walk around in 110 degree heat with 100% humidity, sweating like a pig, smelling animal shit all day, and eating your horrible catered food. No, I’d much rather be on a roller coaster.