Workplace Personalities - The Party Planner

 

There's one in every office.  

A woman who loves to arrange parties.

Birthdays, Baby Showers, Bridal Showers, Halloween, Christmas.

Hell, she'd celebrate the summer solstice, Chinese New Year, Seder and the International Day of Fart Appreciation if she could.

She is the one who keeps the list of birthdays, who makes sure she downloads the national holiday add-in for Outlook, who keeps a stash of paper plates, plastic table cloths and decorations in the supply closet.

She's always at your desk, asking you to sign a card, pony up for a gift and make time to come to a meeting room where garish helium balloons bob, adorned with whatever words describe the celebration of the day.

But it doesn't stop there.

Oh, no.

She bakes.

No last minute stop at the grocery store for stale cupcakes for this lady.

There's a lemon poppy seed loaf wrapped in foil, cupcakes iced with colored sprinkles on a pink plastic platter or a special Tupperware container that has a base and a domed lid (something you never even know you could buy), prised open to reveal a perfect apple pie.

And then there are the times when special attention is required, like a wedding shower.

These call for flowers from her garden, beautifully arranged in vases, with yellow or pink ribbons tied around them.

Sometimes, you get sick of the Party Planner asking you contribute to yet another gift for someone you hardly know and, let's face it, annoyed the living shit out of you the last time you were in a meeting together.

Sometimes, you sigh as you try, yet again, to think of something witty and amusing - yet still workplace appropriate - to write in another bland greeting card.

Sometimes, you wonder how the Party Planner ever gets any work done.

But then, your birthday comes around and, as you bite into fresh, home-made chocolate bund cake, you're glad she's on your team.

Key signs:

• Baking
• A stash of party accoutrements in a cabinet drawer, available at the drop of a hat
• Faffiness

Catch phrase: We should celebrate!

Your Strategy:  Let her arrange the damn party.  She enjoys it, and you get to eat cake.

Their comeuppance:

 Well, they aren't really that respected playing, as they do, such a very cliched female role.  So they might get canned in a reorganization.  But, other than that, they're safe.  People like their home baked muffins. 

For more Workplace Personalities, click here.

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