Last week, I attended a company party. The turnout was pretty high: in excess of 200 employees were attending. The company had a party centre with three large rooms at its disposal, and there was food catering and a deejay. It started out pleasant enough; at first everyone was just drinking and catching up with co-workers we hadn't seen in a while (because of relocations and different shifts). Then the music started in the dancing area, and I was reminded that this was completely uncharted territory for me. First off, I cannot dance at all. I never seriously tried it, and when a co-worker dragged me onto the dancefloor, this became painfully obvious. Nevertheless, I simply decided to enjoy myself, and I think I mostly succeeded. Secondly, the music was on pretty loud, as I suppose is common for parties. Whenever I was sitting relatively close to the stage, the only way to communicate with one another was by shouting into our ears. This quite made it difficult to sustain conversation. Thirdly, I was experiencing some minor sensory overload, as well as vestiges of social anxiety. As such, I often sat myself on a stool at a lone table, just staring into my glass. Every once in a while I'd get tapped by a co-worker for conversation, but toward 10 o' clock I felt quite spent.
The evening was saved around that time by the late arrival of one particular co-worker who had just had her last day at work, and to whom I really wanted to say goodbye.
All in all, it was a good experience, but mostly because I knew many of the attendants so I felt somewhat comfortable while at the same time a little stressed out. I've spent all Saturday trying to mentally sort out my impressions of the party, though.
Just wanted to put this out there, there is no real problem or conflict contained in this post, but feel free to post feedback, thoughts, or your own impressions concerning these kinds of parties.
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clarity of thought before rashness of action
17 Dec 2016, 11:53 am
