Company Christmas Party

We had our company Christmas party Saturday night. Last year we went to a nice restaurant and enjoyed a great meal and a few bottles of wine. This year I gave my party planners a budget and they decided to have the party in the private room of a local Irish Pub. We enjoyed a meal of traditional pub fare (Shepherds Pie, Fish and Chips, etc.) and plenty of libations. I left at 11:00 but I'm told the party went on until 1 or 2 a.m. (Everyone had a designated driver to get them home safely).

There were a couple of things about Saturday night that stand out for me.

One of our stylists gave a toast saying that a year ago she was in a bad place (unhealthy relationship) and if not for the support of her girls she would not be the happy, strong woman she is today.

Later one of our salon coordinators gathered everyone together for a "huddle". We huddle every day at the salon to discuss our goals and update everyone on sales figures, promotions, upselling opportunities, etc. When we started huddles, everyone thought we were nuts (and sometimes they still do). Well, she had our server bring a piece of paper and a marker and she drew a partially filled wine glass to represent progress to our goal.

"Come on everyone, huddle!! Now so far tonight we have spent $567 and our goal is to spend $800. That means we need to spend $233 more. Now everyone needs to do their part to help us meet our goal!"

Needless to say, everyone was willing to down a few more drinks to get us to the $800. They passed around the huddle sheet for everyone to sign and sent it home with me. They want me to frame it.

To me, these two things say something very special about our salon. First of all, we provide a caring supportive environment for our team. We help each other become stronger. Second, while we've made a lot of changes this year that have been sometimes overwhelming to our team, they've got a sense of humor and at some level they see the value in what we're doing.

I can't repeat any of the other toasts of the evening...just trust me when I say a good time was had by all! Happy Holidays!