sarahgrace Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 I posted this in my blog, and I'm going to copy it here for your enjoyment (if you could call it that)... I just know that you guys will have a greater appreciation for it than the majority of my blog readers. So last night was the annual company Christmas party. Every year they take us to the dinner theatre at a local church's Living Christmas Tree Production. We aren't forced to go, per se, but we're strongly encouraged to be there to show our 'company spirit' or whatever. Add to that the chance of winning $500 or at least a free pair of shoes... one would think, then, it couldn't be that bad, right? Wrong. This was my third time attending the play, and it was the worst one yet, by far. The music was awful and cheesy (par for the course) but last year at least the soloists could sing. This year they couldn't carry a tune if it were strapped to their backs. One in particular was terrible - I don't think he hit a good note in the entire song (which was more than 2 minutes long, by my recollection). Bear in mind that I launch these harsh criticisms not at a small community church putting on a cute little Christmas play for the members, but at a city megachurch who has been doing these productions for nearly 25 years. They come complete with elaborate sets, lighting, sound effects, pyrotechnics, and a hefty entrance fee ($10 for performance only, $28.50 for the dinner theatre). I knew I was going to have Jesus shoved down my throat along with my mashed potatoes, but I had at least hoped they'd do it with some style. As for the play itself, it was the same old contrived nonsense about an outsider coming to town at Christmas time (usually by an unfortunate coincidence - family tragedy, etc.) and learning all about the real reason for the season from the simple townsfolk. Barf. It's the same old emotional manipulation... Jesus is the only way to solve your personal problems!!! There's something wrong with you if you don't believe the way we do!!! Here's how to fix it!!! (There was actually a half-page of the program devoted to the 'sinner's prayer' - you know the one I mean - entitled "Here's How!" I shit you not.) And of course the smarmy pastor gets up about 3/4 of the way through the production - at this point I'm just about ready to carve out my vital organs with dinner cutlery just to make it stop - and he gives a mini-sermon on salvation. He asks the audience to then fill out a little card and deposit it in the offering baskets as they pass, indicating their relationship status with God and whether or not they want to join up with any of the church's superfab programs for broken people. They finished the play with an ear-splitting 'grand finale'... they drew for the $500 prizes... and to add insult to all of the aforementioned injury, I did not win. May I just toss out a reminder at this point that I this is a WORK FUNCTION that I am writing about? Are there not laws against this kind of thing?! I mean, the level of emotional manipulation and guilt-tripping that was going on was unbelievable. As someone who was once on the inside of these sorts of operations, I could see what was going on and I was utterly repulsed by it. It made me hate myself for ever having been a part of such a thing. It also brought back a lot of residual pain from my process of leaving the faith, not to mention irrational fears and doubts that I am still battling this very minute. I feel like I'm going nuts. All because of a stupid work christmas party and a retarded church play. *bursts into flames* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraphicsGuy Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 Excellent, humorous, to the point rant that is new for me. I take it the bosses are parishioners of this church or of another affiliated church? Terrible that they'd subject their employees to that... ...but I guess they are trying to prove that they "care." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 With that kind of music, who needs us to "preach" against religion? They're their own worst enemies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahgrace Posted December 4, 2007 Author Share Posted December 4, 2007 The entire head office attends the church in question. What I don't get is why these things have such HUGE attendance. $10 is a lot to pay for 2 solid hours of listening to people sing out of tune on an over-elaborate set. And yet, last night being the third night of the show, it was still pretty much packed out. I can only hope that so many more people are turned AWAY from christianity as a result! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decafaholic Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 This year they couldn't carry a tune if it were strapped to their backs. I freakin LOVE that quote!! Oh, I used to be part of those Living Christmas Tree's too. That's horribly wrong, yet so predictable that your boss coerced his employees into going. Talk about abusing your authority! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 I'm sorry you had to go through that. Yes, there are laws against these kind of things. Any decent-sized company with an HR department wouldn't be able to get away with it. However, smaller companies get away with this kind of thing a lot more than people would think, especially if they are privately owned. And "strongly encouraged" does sound a lot like being forced -- they may not be holding a gun to your head, but they are saying that your job is at stake if you do not go. Because if you don't, well, the next performance appraisal might just say "not a team player," and you might be "let go" because of it. Am I right? The job market is going down right now, not only because of cyclical downturns but because of the housing market. So I don't advocate quitting on the spot, but if you really are that unhappy, you might want to start looking elsewhere on the side, just to keep your options open. Just be careful so your current company doesn't find out you're looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahgrace Posted December 4, 2007 Author Share Posted December 4, 2007 I'm in a fairly good position with the company... been with them 2.5 years and goodness knows that's a long stint for retail. I was a manager for them for 2 of those years - only just recently went down to part time to go back to school. Being part-time makes me a lot more expendable though... i'm a great seller and i pull in a lot of money for them, but there's someone else out there looking for a job who's just as good or better than me. i have toyed with the idea of checking out my other options... it kinda freaks me out though. hate looking for work. who doesn't though, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 So you are "strongly encouraged". Well, that makes it a difficult situation. I think I would have up front, at the beginning said "no." It might have looked better (if not easy to do) then trying to do it later . Since you have already gone it will be more difficult for you to get out of it. You could always cut yourself a break now and then and feign illness or say you have something conflicting with the date and time. I hate all sorts of company parties. I work for a small law firm. It is a family operation. The first year my boss told me I was invited to the "family Christmas party." I told him I had a previous engagement (of course I really didn't have one). He said something like "are you sure"? and the expression on his face told me I was kind of pushing it. Still I said no and I am still there 5 years later, and have never been invited again, so you never know. Probably the worst thing I had to do was go to the boss's father's funeral (that was a different job). I hate funerals. It was a Jewish funeral and very goomy. The entire office (5 or 6 of us paralegals) had to go. I didn't know the man and had nothing to say to anyone. There was an awful kind of receiving line of people and the widow at the end of it. Everyone was hugging her. I said "screw that" (to myself) and didn't get in the line. I was fired from this job after 10 months. It sucked. The large Baptist Church in town (the one that swindeled a crazy lady out of her inheritance) puts on an annual singing Christmas Tree program such as you have described. I went to it about 15 years ago. I must have had a free ticket and i had a fundy roomate at the time who knew someone who had a part in it. It is just as you describe. Bad music, bad acting, the aesthetic of fundydom. Totally repulsive. You know, like the "Precious Moments, cutsy, trash. I think people were dressed up like giant presents or something and going down the isle into the crowd. They have put this show on for gadzillion years so a lot of people must like it. Fundys with no taste. Philistines that would not know real art if it came up and bit them on the ass. There is probably no one out there that isn't somewhat concerned with losing their job over petty stuff like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbobrob Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 I am glad I do not have to deal with such crap at my job. I am sorry your bosses do not respect other people's beliefs. May I ask, did you fill out the card, and if you did, what did you put on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Jeff Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 And of course the smarmy pastor gets up about 3/4 of the way through the production - at this point I'm just about ready to carve out my vital organs with dinner cutlery just to make it stop - and he gives a mini-sermon on salvation. He asks the audience to then fill out a little card and deposit it in the offering baskets as they pass, indicating their relationship status with God and whether or not they want to join up with any of the church's superfab programs for broken people. I would write a note on the stupid card informing them that God does not exist, so you don't have a relationship with him, and neither does anyone else, in reality. Glory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahgrace Posted December 4, 2007 Author Share Posted December 4, 2007 I am glad I do not have to deal with such crap at my job. I am sorry your bosses do not respect other people's beliefs. May I ask, did you fill out the card, and if you did, what did you put on it? I was sorely tempted to do some mischief with the card (my date did last year... he checked all the "i would like info on suchandsuch" boxes, checked the "i want a relationship with god" boxed, and filled out the head honcho's name and information. It was pretty funny. I decided not to get up to any shenanigans because... well, it's such a small company and the only people in the dinner theatre that evening were people FROM my company, and I just had this fear that it would get back to me somehow. So I let it lie. But it would have been fun to fuck around with their minds a bit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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