The banquet...
was nicer than I expected. I have to admit that I was a little worried when Julian brought home the invitation saying that the dress code was "No Blue Jeans Please." No hint as far as whether it was business casual, traditional business, semi-formal, formal, or what exactly. I decided to go semi-formal/cocktail. There were some there that were dressed more formally, at least as far as the women there, but there were also some ladies that looked more like they were dressed for church. I didn't see any men in tuxedos.
Julian works for a satellite distribution company which has the distinction of being the largest distributor for DirecTV. They will celebrate their 25th year of business in 2005. I didn't realize all that. It seems to be a pretty good place to work. Their normal workday attire is casual -- jeans, t-shirts, sneakers. He accrues paid sick time each month. The only drawback that I can see is their vacation policy. You have to be there for a full year before you get any vacation, and then it's like a half-week of paid time. I think after 2 years you get a full week. That's one thing my job is pretty good about. You start out with 2 weeks of paid vacation and one week of paid optional holiday time. After 5 years, you get another week of vacation. I will celebrate my 5th year with my company next year, so I will have a month of paid time all together. Julian will have 2.5 days.
Anyway, back to the banquet...they had free valet parking, but when we pulled up, there was a line of cars waiting to get into the valet parking that was over a block long. We decided to forget the valet and just park somewhere and walk. I found a spot on the next street over, so we only had to walk about a block and a half. I'm glad we didn't do the valet, since I heard a lady saying that it had taken them an hour to park. As we were leaving, there was also a HUGE line at the valet cashier that we were able to bypass.
We got upstairs to the banquet and checked in. Julian was given an envelope with a ticket stapled to the outside and some brochures about the company. We went inside and he started looking for people he knew. One of the guys he knows mentioned that Julian needed to open the envelope since the drink coupons were inside. Drink coupons!!! I opened the envelope, and sure enough, there were 4 drink coupons to use at the bars positioned around the room, and there was also a $100 check. Merry Christmas to us. We went over to one of the bars to start the celebration. I had a whiskey sour and Julian got the old standby: gin and tonic. Got the drinks and mingled a bit, also tryng to avoid this guy who works in the warehouse there and rides the bus with Julian in the morning. Apparently the guy is from Cuba, and according to J, he's a pervert. He tells me some of the stories he has to listen to on the bus ride every morning. Julian really didn't want to talk to this guy last night, so we were avoiding his table. It was pretty funny. We even ended up in a longer buffet line because the shorter one passed right by the table of the Cuban guy. We sat at a table with a girl who works with Julian in the call center area of the company. She's one of their Chinese translators. Her boyfriend was with her, and he had the coolest hair. He had dreads. I asked him how long it had taken to get his hair like it is and he said that he hadn't cut it in over 4 years. The tables were nice. White table linens, white plates, gold-plated flatware, and each table had a holiday centerpiece of a large burgundy candle surrounded by a wreath. That was the centerpiece that I ended up taking home. It now resides at my mom's house. The bread plates had little pieces of butter shaped like ducks on them. I wanted to take a photo of that, but I felt like a bit of a dork, so I refrained.
We went outside on the balcony and had a cigarette, and then on the way back in we got corralled into having our photo made. We're between a grand piano and a Christmas tree. We're supposed to get a free 8x10 print of that.
We went back in and then got our dinner. There was fresh fruit, salads, an antipasto tray, risotto, rosemary roasted potato wedges, roast beef, turkey, and desserts.
I had salad, potatoes, beef, turkey, and a slice of turtle cheesecake. I also had a White Russian after dessert. Yum.
Around the time I got my drink, the presentations began. It was mostly a lot of people I didn't know talking about a lot of things I didn't know. They did have a Spanish translator for the important announcements due to the large number of Spanish speakers employed there. They did give out 5 gifts of $500 each, from a drawing based on the ticket number you got upon entering. Unfortunately we didn't win. An extra $500 certainly would have been a nice gift.
All in all, it was a nice evening, although during dinner, I didn't know what to do with myself not having Enzo to scold. :)
Julian works for a satellite distribution company which has the distinction of being the largest distributor for DirecTV. They will celebrate their 25th year of business in 2005. I didn't realize all that. It seems to be a pretty good place to work. Their normal workday attire is casual -- jeans, t-shirts, sneakers. He accrues paid sick time each month. The only drawback that I can see is their vacation policy. You have to be there for a full year before you get any vacation, and then it's like a half-week of paid time. I think after 2 years you get a full week. That's one thing my job is pretty good about. You start out with 2 weeks of paid vacation and one week of paid optional holiday time. After 5 years, you get another week of vacation. I will celebrate my 5th year with my company next year, so I will have a month of paid time all together. Julian will have 2.5 days.
Anyway, back to the banquet...they had free valet parking, but when we pulled up, there was a line of cars waiting to get into the valet parking that was over a block long. We decided to forget the valet and just park somewhere and walk. I found a spot on the next street over, so we only had to walk about a block and a half. I'm glad we didn't do the valet, since I heard a lady saying that it had taken them an hour to park. As we were leaving, there was also a HUGE line at the valet cashier that we were able to bypass.
We got upstairs to the banquet and checked in. Julian was given an envelope with a ticket stapled to the outside and some brochures about the company. We went inside and he started looking for people he knew. One of the guys he knows mentioned that Julian needed to open the envelope since the drink coupons were inside. Drink coupons!!! I opened the envelope, and sure enough, there were 4 drink coupons to use at the bars positioned around the room, and there was also a $100 check. Merry Christmas to us. We went over to one of the bars to start the celebration. I had a whiskey sour and Julian got the old standby: gin and tonic. Got the drinks and mingled a bit, also tryng to avoid this guy who works in the warehouse there and rides the bus with Julian in the morning. Apparently the guy is from Cuba, and according to J, he's a pervert. He tells me some of the stories he has to listen to on the bus ride every morning. Julian really didn't want to talk to this guy last night, so we were avoiding his table. It was pretty funny. We even ended up in a longer buffet line because the shorter one passed right by the table of the Cuban guy. We sat at a table with a girl who works with Julian in the call center area of the company. She's one of their Chinese translators. Her boyfriend was with her, and he had the coolest hair. He had dreads. I asked him how long it had taken to get his hair like it is and he said that he hadn't cut it in over 4 years. The tables were nice. White table linens, white plates, gold-plated flatware, and each table had a holiday centerpiece of a large burgundy candle surrounded by a wreath. That was the centerpiece that I ended up taking home. It now resides at my mom's house. The bread plates had little pieces of butter shaped like ducks on them. I wanted to take a photo of that, but I felt like a bit of a dork, so I refrained.
We went outside on the balcony and had a cigarette, and then on the way back in we got corralled into having our photo made. We're between a grand piano and a Christmas tree. We're supposed to get a free 8x10 print of that.
We went back in and then got our dinner. There was fresh fruit, salads, an antipasto tray, risotto, rosemary roasted potato wedges, roast beef, turkey, and desserts.
I had salad, potatoes, beef, turkey, and a slice of turtle cheesecake. I also had a White Russian after dessert. Yum.
Around the time I got my drink, the presentations began. It was mostly a lot of people I didn't know talking about a lot of things I didn't know. They did have a Spanish translator for the important announcements due to the large number of Spanish speakers employed there. They did give out 5 gifts of $500 each, from a drawing based on the ticket number you got upon entering. Unfortunately we didn't win. An extra $500 certainly would have been a nice gift.
All in all, it was a nice evening, although during dinner, I didn't know what to do with myself not having Enzo to scold. :)
posted by carrie at 12/05/2004 08:13:00 a.m.
3 Comments:
I was afraid of looking too much like the girl from the small town who had never sat at a table with that much silverware before. If we make it back there and get the little butter ducks, I'll take a picture no matter what.
What important stuff did I miss? I think I hit all the major points. Did you want me to outline the presentations? So I like food and I can still clearly see in my mind the buffet table layout. That's not a bad thing...maybe.
Was it the lack of cheesy fries, or just the lack of bacon that made the food so dismal to you?
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