Most of us have been there at one time or another.  You’re driving to work in a ridiculous get-up that somehow seemed cool or innovative at home.  A little voice screams “Turn around fool!” as the woman in the car next to you shakes her head in dismay.  What if no one else dresses up?  What was I thinking?  Maybe I should call in sick…..ugh.

Employees either truly love or absolutely despise Halloween. I remember so many years of company-endorsed Halloween skits, events and costume contests (all excuses to drink on site, I might add) that my synapses struggle to fire without candy corn shooting out of my mouth.  We usually had fun, were hugely inappropriate, inevitably offended others and wrote it all off under the clause of “good clean fun”.

After all this time, I’ve found that nearly all employees fall into one of five types on All Hallows Eve:

1. Themed Groups: They spent six weeks of planning in hushed rooms.  Hysterical laughter rings through the halls and they are convinced that their idea is “unbelievably cool” and everyone will be “blown away” upon the great unveiling.  Tendencies include a desire to have a musical entrance, skit or dance routine.  There are usually too many inside jokes and the audience is left disappointed.  What a tremendous waste of time.
2. The Closet Creative: Although Jan works in accounts payable, this is the one time of year when she can show off the results of her 12-week paper mache and painting course. Her excruciating attention to detail allows that smirk of pride to emerge from her partially masked face with a “Look at me, I know more than Excel!” sort of way.  Enjoy it Jan, because on Monday it’s back to the salt mines.
3. The Anti-Costume: Not fully dismissive, these employees choose mockery and sarcasm, often dressing as their coworkers, themselves, or difficult (yet memorable) clients.  Their day flows by with quasi-indifference and smug responses such as, “What, don’t you get it?” or “The store didn’t have an idiot mask or I would have dressed as you.”  Their anger keeps them warm yet they still eat cake with the rest of ‘em.
4. The Overzealous Executive: Channeling Michael Scott, these mid-level crazies overspend on a costume and then spend the next eight hours running around like hyper-hypos trying to “rally the troops” and get everyone “in the spirit”.  Puns, forced laughter and the inevitable digital camera are their weapons of choice.  They can be found rocking in the corner of the Halloween party with chocolate on their face and a bed of empty candy wrappers.
5. I Refuse to Participate: More and more are falling into this category and the reasoning is quite logical.  This includes - a) “You can’t force me to dress up!”; b) “I have an allergy to flame-retardant fibers.”; c) “We are running a business not a fun house.”; and my all-time favorite, d) “You look like an idiot. Take that ridiculous thing off and get back to work!”  They also turn off their front porch light and unplug their doorbell.  Trick or treat, you ask?  Fools….

I’m sure I’ve forgotten so many others so please tell me, which type of Halloween employee are you?  Best of luck surviving the day and let’s keep the conversation going.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 5:41 pm and is filed under General Thoughts, Human Capital/Human Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.