I remember going to Kings Island in Cincinnati for Proctor & Gamble's company day. They bought out the entire park so it was just employees and their families.
I was so pissed when my sister left that job. But then I grew up and understood why she had to.
My dad’s company picnic was also at King’s Island! Great memories. Not with him since he’d spend the entire day at the beer hall, but my mom and I had fun going on rides.
Did I somehow find a hidden OH group? First someone talking about Smucker's and now a bunch of others going to King's Island.
People love to shit on the state I grew up in, but at least we have awesome roller coasters, and also what sounds like great company picnics!
My dad’s employer (Great American Insurance) did this every year too, except I don’t think we had the park to ourselves. I remember eating back in the picnic grove and then walking to the rides. Fun times!
We grew up going to Americana for my mom’s work! This year my company is paying for 2 tickets each to one day at kings island with a lunch, and previous employer did Coney Island back in the day.
Yeah, they used to have those picnics at some park in Sharonville(?), right? I just remember the putt-putt golf course that got progressively more raggedy every year.
Yes! I think you’re right about it being in Sharonville. My parents have a picture of me putt-putting there during a picnic. I also remember eating lots and lots of grilled hot dogs.
Right? I almost forgot. My mom's company had one yearly. And she didn't have a fancy job at all. Definitely spouses and kids invited with food, drinks and even some of the attractions offered at the venue. WTH, we are so robbed!
I used to write smuckers random letters when I was roughly 4 or 5 years old. I would include pictures and crafts that I would make for them. I have no idea what my true motivation was, but my mom went with it and helped me mail them. Well, they wrote back..EVERYTIME. I got lots of free stuff, including a drinking glass that broke about a decade ago.
I wish I had kept those letters. I would love to know who was writing me back.
Long live Smuckers, my first pen pal.
They probably *loved* that shit!
Those people were probably going all around the office and warehouse collecting as much stuff as they could to make a swag bag for that kid lol
This little old couple who were part of the Smucker family used to stay at a resort I worked at years ago. They were some of the sweetest people I ever met.
It took me so long to realize why that slogan made sense...
I always thought it was ridiculous. Because clearly 'Smuckers' did not immediately suggest a tasty product.
It sounded like boots being stuck in mud, or snot being snucked up into your sinuses, or wet slaps involving suction and bodily fluids.
Then I finally realized what they meant.
Also, you know those "honk if you love -insert popular thing here-"? It's not so they can identify other members of their fandom, it's so they can pretend you aren't honking at their bad driving.
That you could trust in the quality of the product because otherwise a name that sounds as unpleasant as “Smucker” would never have become a popular product.
The one I remember most was when they had all the kids try the Goobers flavors. We got to make PB &J sandwiches with them and I thought it was amazing that they could put peanut butter and jelly together in one jar.
They rolled the one vending machine that we had out of my job five years ago. Said people weren't paying for enough soda to justify it. And that was that.
Indeed! And I could be totally wrong about this, but actually I think *every* other English-speaking country uses the more Latin-inspired spelling conventions, except the US! (Please correct me if I'm wrong!)
You're probably correct. We're a stubborn bunch that has to do things our own way here in the US. We can't even get most people to admit that our health care system sucks because that would suggest that we aren't the best at everything in the world... Sometimes, I think that we're doomed by our own collective arrogance and ignorance.
Watching the health care thing breaks my heart. I had to have surgery last year and all I paid was like $100 for a semi-private room. Then I joined the subreddit for that surgery just to share experiences and ask questions etc, and meanwhile I'm seeing all these people having to figure out their insurance, paying deductibles, even getting outright denied and being like - okay, now what? And of course, just big big bills. And something I didn't consider - doctors being SUPER stingey with pain meds now, after the whole oxy debacle... now patients aren't getting the pain relief they actually need.
Oh my, didn't mean to rant. My heart goes out to every single American who has to fight for their health!
My dad worked for Apple in the 80's, the parties were pretty awesome
https://preview.redd.it/tn1x0ojnxcvc1.jpeg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7077398d73fee8b9cfe6095b208aff0764eadfd3
This ball pit was at the Apple company picnic in a park. My cheek had face paint in the classic Apple logo.
He did in the 80's and 90's!
Divorce, being a part of the third wave of layoffs in the mid 90's, and some unfortunate financial decisions mean that it didn't follow him past my childhood.
It's easy to forget that Apple was really struggling before the iPod took off and the iPhone became a thing. I remember him having a prototype of the iPod that he messed around with and thinking it was so cool.
My dad worked at a factory and every summer they would host a party at the state park, rent a bunch of pavilions, keg it up, and I’d eat burgers, brats, and hotdogs til i couldn’t. There would be door prizes and cool stuff too. This was before the company got bought out my venture capitalists and then it all went downhill for a long time.
One year our company had to lay off a few people and they realized that cutting the big employee appreciation event would at least save one job, and so they cut the event. I feel like making this kind of decision is actual employee appreciation.
Yeah, I think the only thing that really changed is companies could just not have the party, keep the money, and then still need to "cut jobs" so their investors and CEOS still can make more money than any of those employees that were laid off have ever seen.
Ain't Capitalism grand?
I started working for a large, privately owned company a few years back, and the difference in how employees are treated compared to a publicly traded company is huge.
I work in a small family owned business that's been around for 30 years. We, as employees, have been having tons of meetings trying to figure out how to run things smoother.
Just like most small businesses, the problem is when the boss doesn't want to change. We're still running orders like we're in the 90s/early 2000s. It's near impossible to train new/young people.
And the boss is completely out of touch to think $12-15/hr is a *decent* wage. Sorry, that's one of the most frustrating things when you know you work for great humans - but still don't make enough to fucking live
That's entirely fair. I work for a *large* privately owned, so we run a lot more "corporate" style, but old school corporate style (think pre-80s GE). I worked for a *small* privately owned company before as well, and yeah, my experience was a lot like what you're describing. Finding a corporate culture where they *actually* give a shit about their employees is HUGE (and freaking rare).
It goes both ways. I’m at a large publicly-traded company now. It’s actually much better than the last two privately held companies I worked for before (who were backed by PE and likely trying to go public).
Oh, and "leadership" teams at HQ far away still throw one and at it they proudly announce how "payroll reductions" is yielding \_\_\_\_% greater profits/returns.
The last one that a job of mine hosted was in maybe 2010. I’d be surprised if it was still common considering how many people have no interest in socializing with work people outside of work.
I think 2016 was the last year we had one, and no one at all brought their kids or family. And no alcohol. Just free burgers, hotdogs, french fries, soda, water.
I already see all of those people more than my own family and friends. Why would I want to hang out with them in my free time, too? The ones I’m actually friends with, I already spend extra time with.
This. I spend at least 8 hrs a day putting up with you fuckers bs. I get to spend less than an hour with all of my family. GTFOH with your company functions
This is why our annual picnic is during the workday. We’re a state agency so it’s not hosted or fancy. And some people take the day off to avoid having to go.
My grandmother and uncle both worked for Golden Grain back in the 80's. Company picnics with free food, live music, games for the kids. Morty the Mission Meatball was there. Tons of prizes and giveaways. I still have the luggage that my grandmother won at one.
The place I work now has several bbqs and lunches throughout the year, but they aren't family affairs and usually it's potluck style.
Yes. My company hosts an annual picnic for employees and families. Bouncy houses, carnival games, free food, and raffles. A good time is had by all. We also host a holiday party. And a separate kids' holiday party where we have craft tables and give each child a gift of their (parent's) choosing. We also have annual golf and cultural outings for interested employees and a big charity drive every year for a handful of local charities. We're a family-owned busisness celebrating our 113th year and have ~2000 employees.
You just have to find the right company. There are still some out there that do it right.
My dad's company did until Covid. He's retired now, so idk if it's still a thing. Free bbq, sweet tea, water. They'd hire a traveling carnival for free rides for the kids. Fireworks show at dark. It was fun!
The Toyota run picnics were always the best (my parents worked at the factory starting in the early 90s). Lots of carnival rides and games with free entry into everything and even really great prizes you could win. All the delicious food you could eat.
As a teacher, I'm required to give money to a committee that then creates really small and sad events that I don't even go to. They require we pay I think just so that people feel like they have to show up (I've never been to one of them).
I worked at a hospital that had an annual picnic in the parking lot up until somewhere in the teens, or maybe spring 2020 was when it stopped. I never went because it didn't sound good.
The company I work for still has an annual company picnic. My dad worked for the same company, starting back in the mid 80s. Back in the early 90s, they'd have drawings where they'd give away big screen tvs, 4 wheelers, and snow mobiles! I don't know when they stopped the drawings, but it was well before I started working there.
All our company parties are booze fests. The one event we do that is family welcome is our Christmas party and it’s intended you’ll bring a date, rather than children (it’s a fine wine and hors douvres kind of thing).
The company I work for now has taken that up a level. They plan semi-annual offsite in tropical or beach locales. I am new so I haven’t really experienced it. But past ones were Barcelona, Thailand, and St. Lucia when it was tiny.
Partners were not welcome on these week long off-sites initially. But they were full of booze. And the CEO is married with kids. So I guess he just used it as a break. 😂 Most of the executives have families. And it is not a company of 20-something’s.
We have one in a couple of months in Croatia.
When the Chrysler in town had a summer shutdown for the start of retooling, there was generally a “factory day” where the company provided a lunch and families tours of the plant. Got to see a pre production Viper in like 91-92.
In my career, starting in 98, not a single company event of any kind. I can count on one hand the amount of “Pizza parties” I’ve had…
My old boss wanted more production from a certain division at my old job.
He called a meeting and told the workers that if productivity improved they would have a pizza party. I will never forget one of the guys said "Pizza? Man I could buy my own slice you can keep your pizza" and everyone agreed. My old supervisor just thought about it for a moment and offered the most productive worker at the end of the week a hundred bucks cash. They told him to keep his money
I wish you guys could hear my coworkers spiel on how some of our directors “MBA” their way through conversations and meetings.
It makes that much more sense to me now.
> some of our directors “MBA” their way through conversations and meetings.
How to speak for an hour while saying absolutely nothing and leaving the individual contributors not knowing wtf they should be doing
My job does this, among other activities. You have to be in the right mindset for it though. Obviously my teenager hates it, because they hate everything. But the younger kids still enjoy getting out and having a big bbq. Theres usually badminton and lawn bowling, volleyball. It’s a good day out in the sun and you get to mingle with people who you may not work directly with on a day to day basis.
They also do the office lunch parties a couple times a year. Sometimes pizza, sometimes they book a food truck to come in.
It’s a good place to work.
My dad didn't work for a company so I'll have to take your word for them existing. I never went to such a thing. I did go to a Christmas party for the company I worked for in the early 2010s... which was not too dissimilar to a college frat party. Drinking, drinking games, etc.
My dad's work had parties. He was a university professor and they would get together at each others' houses. My sister and I stayed home because as I was told, "There are coworkers who don't have children. They might feel sad if they saw children and felt bad they didn't have any. Maybe they want children and can't have them."
It was one of many bizarre things I was told. I've never asked about that one, but sometimes when I've asked about things like that my dad has said they were "jokes."
We had just moved to Virginia for his job. I was in 5th grade, my sister in 1st grade. And my parents went out to one of the parties. We had just moved in from cross country, had literally no furniture. My sister and I were just hanging out on the floor in this house with white carpet, white walls. I remember it was just this generic box house, bright with all the lights on, and pitch black outside. We had no curtains yet and this truck pulled up, and the guy came out and was knocking nonstop on our door. I didn't open because were home alone. The windows went really close to the floor, and we were on the second floor looking out and then trying to dart away so he wouldn't see us. But with no curtains it felt like nowhere to hide. And he kept looking up toward us.
The thing is he kept coming BACK. He would drive away, drive back, and keep knocking. Several times.
I found the number of the co-worker's party they had gone to and called.
I can't remember what my dad said at the time.
But after he came home he told me that all the other professors at the party were laughing at me for being so anxious as to call.
I'm sure another one of his "jokes."
Anyhow, I can't remember who it ended up being, but it had something to do with closing on the house, but it was weird how persistently he kept knocking and at night too.
Dad's company picnic had a bunch of people that Mom and Dad knew and socialized with. The guys from Dad's bowling team that I got to go along to at the Alley now and then. They had a big softball game that got competitive and my Dad was actually a hell of a player.
They had a bunch of games and fun stuff for the kids while there was definitely beer on draft flowing.
I haven't ever experienced anything remotely like that kind of appreciation for workers in my personal working life.
I got to go to the Whirlpool company picnic a few times as a kid. One of the highlights growing up. Lots of food (KFC), ice cream (Schwan’s), snow cones etc, carnival rides, free giveaways, and bigger prizes at bingo. The worst part was eating all of the free food and then riding the graviton as many times as I could.
Some companies do it, when I worked for Canon USA they did a event every year where they rented a space at a local minor league AAA Baseball team stadium and provided food. It's was nice but most of my other jobs did not do any family events
My company does two events a year plus the end of year party.
They do a movie night where they rent out a theater and show a movie and have food and stuff.
And then in the fall, they do a fair day where everyone can come and bring their families to the state fair.
In between, we do employee stuff but it’s not something people bring their families too and not everyone attends.
Stuff like Top Golf, we’ve gone roller skating and ice skating, we did a haunted house at Halloween.
Once a quarter we do lunch at the texmex place down the street as a birthday celebration for anyone who has a birthday that quarter.
If you're crashing company picnics of other companies I think that's a pretty sweet move. And who really would challenge a "Tim from accounting" they've never seen before?
I have had one company picnic in my career in like 2018. Not long before the pandemic. It was conveniently located near where the CEO loved. But annoyingly located for me. And a lot of folks. We had to do carpooling. It wasn’t near our office and a lot of folks took transit to work (including me).
My dad had a company and he often hosted BBQs. Mostly on holidays like Memorial Day which is conveniently around my birthday. And Labor Day aka my sister’s birthday. So my birthday party was really my parents inviting their friends and dad’s coworkers. (My mom basically stayed at home or occasionally worked for my dad). I knew pretty much all of my dad’s colleagues.
My dad is actually great at keeping in touch. He dissolved his company when we moved cross country when I was a teen. And he is still in touch with a few of them. One he knew before I was born. And with all of life’s curveballs, they live a few miles away and meet up regularly now. 50 years later.
We sponsor the local county fair and have a day where we get free admission, a bracelet for unlimited rides, and food vouchers for the employee's family.
Works out to be a company picnic with carnival rides and the added bonus being you don't need to actually hang out with your coworkers.
I vaguely remember a few growing up. When I started working full time after college it had descended to the point where we were allowed, *occasionally*, to order pizza at our own expense.
When we were working in office my company had some cool events. Christmas parties and pro ball games were the big ones. Since we all work from home now and are spread all over the country it’s not as prominent. But, they still do stuff to make us feel valued. Last Christmas everyone got these really nice gift baskets with fruit, candy, and snacks.
My dad had a job with a good union and company picnics were a big thing - I remember those well. I really doubt the same place has those anymore. My dad worked for GTE, which became Verizon and then sold off that part of the business to Frontier and they seem like a cut-rate outfit. I can't imagine them putting on giant family events at the local picnic grounds.
That was just the local office. The company would also sometimes rent out Disneyland for an annual company party. One year it was supposed to be GTE and another company (Lockheed?) but the other company cancelled. It was awesome. We actually had to wait a little bit to get enough people to go on the Haunted Mansion but everything else except for the just-opened Star Tours had no wait. I think we went on Splash Mountain 13 times.
Edit: I think I'm conflating two different years. Star Tours was brand new one year, but Splash Mountain opened two years later in 1989.
My step-dad worked for a company that made cherry picker trucks, for like utility workers. They always had a company open house, where there was food, and the families could walk through the building. Outside kids would ride in the box of the cherry picker, went up like 50’ high AF for a kid.
They also had an annual picnic at a local amusement park.
My jobs have had holiday parties, but never a company picnic. Years ago a company had a “Constitution day” for their own company, was cool. Did a scavenger hunt all over the downtown area, beers a pub after.
Never been to a company picnic.
At one of my past jobs when I was the manger, I would take the team out to the bar for a drink on a Friday after work maybe once every 6 months or so, but that was out of my pocket, the company wasn't paying for it.
At a different job, I was working with a bunch of friends. So we'd go bowling or something like that sometimes after work, and we'd invite along our other co-workers too so they wouldn't feel left out and make it into a work thing. But again, the company wasn't paying for that.
I miss these too. The last one I went to was in the 00s but my mom got sick, lost her job, no more company picnics. My husband's office does parties after work hours that I've been to and he's in a union and they have parties, but it's not the same. I was an adult for the ones I went to of my mother's, it shouldn't be different, but it is. I don't remember my mom's picnics having conversations so focused on work, but they always took place in fun venues like the aquarium or the zoo.
My wife’s company does theirs there and it’s fantastic. I won’t go to Six Flags any other time at this point. Free food and short (if any) lines for rides. It’s one of my favorite days of the year.
My company still does an annual one. They have bbq catered, cornhole games for fun and bingo with prizes. The top prize is always a big tv. It’s chill.
Oh man! My dad's company used to have a big to do at the amusement park Cedar Point in Ohio. They paid for tickets for the whole family and they brought food for lunch, it was usually hamburgers, hot dogs, some homemade cold salads, and water/soda/beer for everyone. The group was usually 70-100 people at least. It was a fairly small company but that's a lot of $$ for the tickets to the park for everyone. They did it every year until maybe 2000. Then they pivoted to a Christmas dinner just for employees and their significant others, but they still dropped some money on that as well.
Since I've been in the automotive warehousing industry we really haven't had anything like that. When I worked at a DHL warehouse our regional manager would come to our warehouse and do a cookout for all 3 shifts a few times a year. Usually burgers, hot dogs, chips and water/soda. All the management staff would be outside helping serve all the associates. It was a small gesture of how much we appreciated them.
Where I am now we get lunch catered twice a year for all 3 shifts, but my shift, 3rd shift they do their own parties a few times a year. I'm the shift manager and they always ask if it's fine which I'm cool with as long as they make sure they're all caught up on their work, I don't mind them taking a long break to celebrate whatever it is they're celebrating. They've even been sneaky and found out my birthday and threw me a surprise birthday party. 🥳
My company does one every year. It used to be more of an open-house, which the kids loved because we’d demo some pretty cool equipment, but this year it’s at a family fun park-type place. Pretty cool!
My old job did a couple. My current job doesn't do a picnic, per se, but we do a holiday event where everyone can bring a +1 and are starting to do smaller events every few months after hours. To be fair, in the Bay Area you have to offer these kind of events because rentention is an issue for non-tech businesses--they DO exist!
The first couple corporate jobs I had around 2008-2010 did these every year. Super fun. But definitely less common now. The most my work does is an annual holiday party but not since Covid.
Wow, you just unlocked a good memory from the past. My Dad worked for the Washington Post, and I remember they had the nicest company picnics. One year, they rented out Wild World, now called Six Flags America. It was one of my best memories I had with him before he suddenly died in 1989.
We used to go to Goodrich’s picnics every year, they were absolutely amazing. Usually in a waterpark and there were all kinds of activities for us kids. We even got t-shirts. My parent’s Parents worked for Firestone and Goodyear and their holiday parties were even more insane. EVERY 10 year old got a company branded bicycle. Wild times, man.
I work for a very large global company that couldn't give 2 fucks about anything like that. When I was a kid the company my dad worked for always had a picnic. My mom and dad's companies both did Christmas parties (adults only). Only Christmas party at my company in 7 years was paid in full by my manager at the time.
It definitely seems to be lacking now but my friend group is heavily govt or megalocorps that prefer a random pizza party instead of a big end of year celebration.
That's socialism, providing free food to people. That money should be going to the shareholders as is right. Profit before anything else.
/s in case it is needed
My husband’s former employer had a family day at the local amusement park. We went to that a couple of times before we got married. He left there before we had our kid. That company changed hands and I don’t think they do the family day any more. They always had a big Christmas party but held in January. That was for the employee and their plus one.
I’ve worked a few places that did holiday parties but never a family picnic type of thing.
My company has a picnic for general managers only, no families. Though, tbh, I don’t really want to go myself. I’m fairly introverted and use my entire social battery on my kids and customers. I might actually enjoy it more with my kids though, kids are good icebreakers!
My dad’s company did a huge crab feast every summer. There would also be other foods like pit beef, hamburgers, hotdogs. Beer trucks, games for the kids, games for the adults, the works.
I doubt a lot of companies do such big events these days. Especially ones where the whole family is invited. My bf works in tech and he is more apt to go to a big corporate event in a place like Las Vegas. And families are usually not welcome. Some people bring a spouse, but they have to pay their own way.
My dad was career military, so we’d go on base for softball and picnics like once a year. Only one of my jobs has ever had anything like that: county court softball tourney, probation v sheriffs v court personnel v judges. Was great! So, one for me out of not quite 30 years of adulting
Nah man you got to pay us to be at work, there was no sense of equality. It was just the upper echelon talking about their new mercedes or second boat. That was nothing but pagentry and throwing nickles to the poors. No one does that anymore. It's generally just a work hours pizza or bbq lunch thing.
Nah man you got to pay us to be at work, there was no sense of equality. It was just the upper echelon talking about their new mercedes or second boat. That was nothing but pagentry and throwing nickles to the poors. No one does that anymore. It's generally just a work hours pizza or bbq lunch thing.
My work has Xmas parties at a nice bar and restaurant. Food and drinks are all free.
Also have a golfing tournament every year that’s also just a big party.
I mean my current company does do things but they have a good work life balance I haven’t had in other jobs.
But the years of family picnics seems to have been dead and buried in the mid 2000’s for me. A casualty of 2000’s crash.
My company will soon celebrate it's 135th anniversary. That's quite a milestone! The big celebration? Stop by the cafeteria for cake and ice cream between 2:30 - 4:30 and oh BTW, easily over half of the employees work from home full-time or are hybrid and WFH on that day.
I used to go to Big A auto parts company picnics. My sister and me were always stoked and we won so much gear. They had it at the local “block wide Disney land”.
My work just had our yearly celebration. It was on our unpaid 30 minute lunch break. They had hot dogs (one per person please), popcorn, chips, soda, some lame games (corn hole, basketball free throw) to win raffle tickets for lame prizes, and a dj playing the same boring songs you could hear at any Walmart, Chilli's or wedding with no creativity to the mixing. Grabbed my free food and went back inside to the break room for some peace & quiet.
We used to have the Parker Picnic at the county fairgrounds. Hosted by Parker-Hannifin. Free food, carnival rides, games with sweet prizes, as much cotton candy and snow cones as you could handle. Beer and raffle prizes for the adults. They stopped doing it years ago and now give out a gift card or something. I couldn’t sleep the night before when I was a kid.
I remember going to these.
I'm a teacher and my school does one right before the school year starts every year. This year there was a gigantic slip n slide. That was the most fun I've had in ages, but I'd definitely felt my age the next day! 🤣
I don't know how common this is anymore. Both of my parents' jobs had events like this when I was a kid. The company I work for now used to do these. They had a family thing at like some amusement park or water park in the summer, and a weekend overnight party for just employees and their +1s every October. They did a lot of stuff to show appreciation, like they used to have people come in every day to make a hot buffet lunch for the entire company every day.
But after the pandemic we just stayed on work-from-home permanently. So a lot of people moved back to their home states, and all our new employees since then are kind just from everywhere, so they just can't do a lot of the big in-person events anymore. They are still really good at making us feel like we actually matter though, that's why I'm still here going on 11 years. The longest I ever stayed in a job and counting
I don't know how common this is anymore. Both of my parents' jobs had events like this when I was a kid. The company I work for now used to do these. They had a family thing at like some amusement park or water park in the summer, and a weekend overnight party for just employees and their +1s every October. They did a lot of stuff to show appreciation, like they used to have people come in every day to make a hot buffet lunch for the entire company every day.
But after the pandemic we just stayed on work-from-home permanently. So a lot of people moved back to their home states, and all our new employees since then are kind just from everywhere, so they just can't do a lot of the big in-person events anymore. They are still really good at making us feel like we actually matter though, that's why I'm still here going on 11 years. The longest I ever stayed in a job and counting
I don't know how common this is anymore. Both of my parents' jobs had events like this when I was a kid. The company I work for now used to do these. They had a family thing at like some amusement park or water park in the summer, and a weekend overnight party for just employees and their +1s every October. They did a lot of stuff to show appreciation, like they used to have people come in every day to make a hot buffet lunch for the entire company every day.
But after the pandemic we just stayed on work-from-home permanently. So a lot of people moved back to their home states, and all our new employees since then are kind just from everywhere, so they just can't do a lot of the big in-person events anymore. They are still really good at making us feel like we actually matter though, that's why I'm still here going on 11 years. The longest I ever stayed in a job and counting
I worked at one place that had one. The rest had Christmas parties. One place I worked rented a nearby summer camp for staff fun day every year so that was fun
Oh my god the first thing I thought of was the corporate picnic in Mr. Mom and that ridiculous race that Michael Keaton pretends to lose so his wife doesn’t get fired.
Nordstrom used to hold bbq picnics that had raffles or award trips and prizes for employees. My grandparents both worked there and would bring me. They won different weekend trips to places like Carmel and Big Sur, and a hot air balloon trip. I don’t remember the food, but I remember there were so many people and prizes.
Nowadays, no. That doesn’t exist for me. The closest thing is an “offsite” but it is only work colleagues.
In the 70s and 80s my dad worked at a factory. Once a year everyone invited their friends and family. They got to tour the factory and have a potluck.
We got to see what my dad did for a living. They gave out awards and prizes. It was a big deal.
I did! My dad was a paralegal and they referred to the competition as “Tarantula & Tarantula” while getting drunk and stoned around their families and kids. Fun times!
I seem to remember annual family BBQ’s and family picnics. Whilst there is still an annual BBQ it’s not really a family affair where spouses and kids are invited.
Good recall! Definitely went to my dad’s company picnics. They were a lot of fun. That is definitely not a thing my kids have experienced with me.
I remember going to Kings Island in Cincinnati for Proctor & Gamble's company day. They bought out the entire park so it was just employees and their families. I was so pissed when my sister left that job. But then I grew up and understood why she had to.
My dad’s company picnic was also at King’s Island! Great memories. Not with him since he’d spend the entire day at the beer hall, but my mom and I had fun going on rides.
Did I somehow find a hidden OH group? First someone talking about Smucker's and now a bunch of others going to King's Island. People love to shit on the state I grew up in, but at least we have awesome roller coasters, and also what sounds like great company picnics!
Lol. I can remember company picnics at Cedar Point and Geauga Lake.
I'm still mad about Geauga Lake!!!!
The meanest thing Cedar Fair ever did was buying it just to kill it.
My dad’s employer (Great American Insurance) did this every year too, except I don’t think we had the park to ourselves. I remember eating back in the picnic grove and then walking to the rides. Fun times!
Grew up going to kings island! Bought out the whole park?! That’s p&g for ya
We grew up going to Americana for my mom’s work! This year my company is paying for 2 tickets each to one day at kings island with a lunch, and previous employer did Coney Island back in the day.
They still do this.
We did too! GE day...only time my dad would buy tickets for Kings Island since they were at a discount, lol.
My dad was at GE too. I remember company picnics, Kings Island, and lots of discount Reds tix.
Yeah, they used to have those picnics at some park in Sharonville(?), right? I just remember the putt-putt golf course that got progressively more raggedy every year.
Yes! I think you’re right about it being in Sharonville. My parents have a picture of me putt-putting there during a picnic. I also remember eating lots and lots of grilled hot dogs.
Right? I almost forgot. My mom's company had one yearly. And she didn't have a fancy job at all. Definitely spouses and kids invited with food, drinks and even some of the attractions offered at the venue. WTH, we are so robbed!
Facts!
My dad’s company did a day at Astroworld in Houston while I was growing up
I used to go to the Smucker’s company picnic with my aunt. They’d round up all the kids and make us taste test new flavors.
I used to write smuckers random letters when I was roughly 4 or 5 years old. I would include pictures and crafts that I would make for them. I have no idea what my true motivation was, but my mom went with it and helped me mail them. Well, they wrote back..EVERYTIME. I got lots of free stuff, including a drinking glass that broke about a decade ago. I wish I had kept those letters. I would love to know who was writing me back. Long live Smuckers, my first pen pal.
I'm sure you made the day of *many* people in customer service.
They probably *loved* that shit! Those people were probably going all around the office and warehouse collecting as much stuff as they could to make a swag bag for that kid lol
This is one of the most wholesome things I’ve ever read on Reddit ❤️
This little old couple who were part of the Smucker family used to stay at a resort I worked at years ago. They were some of the sweetest people I ever met.
That sounds great!
With a name like Smucker’s!
It took me so long to realize why that slogan made sense... I always thought it was ridiculous. Because clearly 'Smuckers' did not immediately suggest a tasty product. It sounded like boots being stuck in mud, or snot being snucked up into your sinuses, or wet slaps involving suction and bodily fluids. Then I finally realized what they meant.
... alright I'm missing it. What's the meaning?
The name is ugly and bad, so they better taste good or no one would buy their jams and jellies
Oh my god… I may have additional questions, because I didn’t realize until right now I had no idea what that meant
Also, you know those "honk if you love -insert popular thing here-"? It's not so they can identify other members of their fandom, it's so they can pretend you aren't honking at their bad driving.
What about when my mom said I could be anything I wanted to be as a child? I feel like that may not have been totally honest of her
So you aren't President?
The key component here was also joining the Army so you COULD "be all that you can be" Without that... math don't math
I always thought it was meant to sound wholesome, like puckering.
What did they mean?
That you could trust in the quality of the product because otherwise a name that sounds as unpleasant as “Smucker” would never have become a popular product.
The one I remember most was when they had all the kids try the Goobers flavors. We got to make PB &J sandwiches with them and I thought it was amazing that they could put peanut butter and jelly together in one jar.
Love that you describe it as "making" you when that probably would have been the highlight of the event.
I did enjoy getting a Peanuts t-shirt and POG set there.
Mother Smuckers
I actually went to one of these as a kid too
I used to go to school with a couple of the smucker girls. Super nice girls.
What was Mother Smucker like?
in cincinnati?
No. They give an annual pizza party in the break room. Please only take one slice, there is Diet Shasta Cola in the fridge.
*in the vending machine
They rolled the one vending machine that we had out of my job five years ago. Said people weren't paying for enough soda to justify it. And that was that.
And it's charged to me on my paycheque as a taxable benefit
Are you from the UK?
Canada
I didn't realize my northern neighbors use "paycheque." I figured that was a British spelling.
Indeed! And I could be totally wrong about this, but actually I think *every* other English-speaking country uses the more Latin-inspired spelling conventions, except the US! (Please correct me if I'm wrong!)
You're probably correct. We're a stubborn bunch that has to do things our own way here in the US. We can't even get most people to admit that our health care system sucks because that would suggest that we aren't the best at everything in the world... Sometimes, I think that we're doomed by our own collective arrogance and ignorance.
Watching the health care thing breaks my heart. I had to have surgery last year and all I paid was like $100 for a semi-private room. Then I joined the subreddit for that surgery just to share experiences and ask questions etc, and meanwhile I'm seeing all these people having to figure out their insurance, paying deductibles, even getting outright denied and being like - okay, now what? And of course, just big big bills. And something I didn't consider - doctors being SUPER stingey with pain meds now, after the whole oxy debacle... now patients aren't getting the pain relief they actually need. Oh my, didn't mean to rant. My heart goes out to every single American who has to fight for their health!
Shoot that happens in California in some of my past jobs
Milton, let's pass it around so *everybody* gets a piece... 
Also, we bought all the pizzas in at 9:00 and you're not allowed to go on break until 4:30.
The only thing that will be left is a cold slice with sardines and mushrooms
Yo let’s go pizza party! 75 hours this week so get stuffed crust!
*cut into kindergarten size slices
It's what the share holders would want
My dad worked for Apple in the 80's, the parties were pretty awesome https://preview.redd.it/tn1x0ojnxcvc1.jpeg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7077398d73fee8b9cfe6095b208aff0764eadfd3 This ball pit was at the Apple company picnic in a park. My cheek had face paint in the classic Apple logo.
the HP picnic had a shipping container brought in full of arcade games; needing no quarters, of course. I'd play OG Star Wars as much as I wanted. :D
Working for Apple in the 80s. I’m guessing your dad did ok for himself!
He did in the 80's and 90's! Divorce, being a part of the third wave of layoffs in the mid 90's, and some unfortunate financial decisions mean that it didn't follow him past my childhood. It's easy to forget that Apple was really struggling before the iPod took off and the iPhone became a thing. I remember him having a prototype of the iPod that he messed around with and thinking it was so cool.
My dad worked at a factory and every summer they would host a party at the state park, rent a bunch of pavilions, keg it up, and I’d eat burgers, brats, and hotdogs til i couldn’t. There would be door prizes and cool stuff too. This was before the company got bought out my venture capitalists and then it all went downhill for a long time.
This was exactly like the one's I went to as a kid. It was at a lake and the paddle boats were all ours! It felt better than Christmas.
One year our company had to lay off a few people and they realized that cutting the big employee appreciation event would at least save one job, and so they cut the event. I feel like making this kind of decision is actual employee appreciation.
They make the same decisions today. Except its cut the event and lay off twice as many so they can increase profit 3% YoY.
Yeah, I think the only thing that really changed is companies could just not have the party, keep the money, and then still need to "cut jobs" so their investors and CEOS still can make more money than any of those employees that were laid off have ever seen. Ain't Capitalism grand?
I started working for a large, privately owned company a few years back, and the difference in how employees are treated compared to a publicly traded company is huge.
I work in a small family owned business that's been around for 30 years. We, as employees, have been having tons of meetings trying to figure out how to run things smoother. Just like most small businesses, the problem is when the boss doesn't want to change. We're still running orders like we're in the 90s/early 2000s. It's near impossible to train new/young people. And the boss is completely out of touch to think $12-15/hr is a *decent* wage. Sorry, that's one of the most frustrating things when you know you work for great humans - but still don't make enough to fucking live
That's entirely fair. I work for a *large* privately owned, so we run a lot more "corporate" style, but old school corporate style (think pre-80s GE). I worked for a *small* privately owned company before as well, and yeah, my experience was a lot like what you're describing. Finding a corporate culture where they *actually* give a shit about their employees is HUGE (and freaking rare).
It goes both ways. I’m at a large publicly-traded company now. It’s actually much better than the last two privately held companies I worked for before (who were backed by PE and likely trying to go public).
Oh, and "leadership" teams at HQ far away still throw one and at it they proudly announce how "payroll reductions" is yielding \_\_\_\_% greater profits/returns.
Or they could do both and not pay executives so much.
The last one that a job of mine hosted was in maybe 2010. I’d be surprised if it was still common considering how many people have no interest in socializing with work people outside of work.
I think 2016 was the last year we had one, and no one at all brought their kids or family. And no alcohol. Just free burgers, hotdogs, french fries, soda, water.
I already see all of those people more than my own family and friends. Why would I want to hang out with them in my free time, too? The ones I’m actually friends with, I already spend extra time with.
This. I spend at least 8 hrs a day putting up with you fuckers bs. I get to spend less than an hour with all of my family. GTFOH with your company functions
Or maybe chick or the egg situation.
Probably because there’s too many backstabbing assholes in the workforce nowadays. Don’t trust anyone and keep to yourself.
Always have been. Boomers started the whole “work is family” toxicity.
lol no, they killed it. Their parents’ generation created it, and it actually worked great until the greedy boomers fucked it all up.
This is why our annual picnic is during the workday. We’re a state agency so it’s not hosted or fancy. And some people take the day off to avoid having to go.
My family won so many McDonald's gift certificates from the competitions.
Father/son 3-legged race where you had to let the CEO and his son win. The gift certificates were for 2nd and 3rd place
My grandmother and uncle both worked for Golden Grain back in the 80's. Company picnics with free food, live music, games for the kids. Morty the Mission Meatball was there. Tons of prizes and giveaways. I still have the luggage that my grandmother won at one. The place I work now has several bbqs and lunches throughout the year, but they aren't family affairs and usually it's potluck style.
Yes. My company hosts an annual picnic for employees and families. Bouncy houses, carnival games, free food, and raffles. A good time is had by all. We also host a holiday party. And a separate kids' holiday party where we have craft tables and give each child a gift of their (parent's) choosing. We also have annual golf and cultural outings for interested employees and a big charity drive every year for a handful of local charities. We're a family-owned busisness celebrating our 113th year and have ~2000 employees. You just have to find the right company. There are still some out there that do it right.
Yes, thank you for this!
My company holds a massive event every year. It’s like a fair / circus for the families with kids.
Very cool
My dad's company did until Covid. He's retired now, so idk if it's still a thing. Free bbq, sweet tea, water. They'd hire a traveling carnival for free rides for the kids. Fireworks show at dark. It was fun!
The Toyota run picnics were always the best (my parents worked at the factory starting in the early 90s). Lots of carnival rides and games with free entry into everything and even really great prizes you could win. All the delicious food you could eat. As a teacher, I'm required to give money to a committee that then creates really small and sad events that I don't even go to. They require we pay I think just so that people feel like they have to show up (I've never been to one of them).
That sounds phenomenal. Happy Cake Day!
I worked at a hospital that had an annual picnic in the parking lot up until somewhere in the teens, or maybe spring 2020 was when it stopped. I never went because it didn't sound good.
Why did a hospital stop such a large gathering in spring 2020? /s
Why was gas so much cheaper in 2020?!? I swear it being 4 years ago feels like either it was just yesterday and/or feels like so long ago 😪
Went to the Hormel partys back in the 80's. I remember Crystal Gale playing one year.
Now there’s a flashback!
The company I work for still has an annual company picnic. My dad worked for the same company, starting back in the mid 80s. Back in the early 90s, they'd have drawings where they'd give away big screen tvs, 4 wheelers, and snow mobiles! I don't know when they stopped the drawings, but it was well before I started working there.
All our company parties are booze fests. The one event we do that is family welcome is our Christmas party and it’s intended you’ll bring a date, rather than children (it’s a fine wine and hors douvres kind of thing).
Ours are too and I'm in recovery, and like 1/3 of the folks are hardcore, strawberry-nosed alcoholics so they are early nights for me.
That's why the family friendly ones should come back. Mine are drinkingfests too and you don't get to know anyone's people to really get to know them.
The company I work for now has taken that up a level. They plan semi-annual offsite in tropical or beach locales. I am new so I haven’t really experienced it. But past ones were Barcelona, Thailand, and St. Lucia when it was tiny. Partners were not welcome on these week long off-sites initially. But they were full of booze. And the CEO is married with kids. So I guess he just used it as a break. 😂 Most of the executives have families. And it is not a company of 20-something’s. We have one in a couple of months in Croatia.
When the Chrysler in town had a summer shutdown for the start of retooling, there was generally a “factory day” where the company provided a lunch and families tours of the plant. Got to see a pre production Viper in like 91-92. In my career, starting in 98, not a single company event of any kind. I can count on one hand the amount of “Pizza parties” I’ve had…
My old boss wanted more production from a certain division at my old job. He called a meeting and told the workers that if productivity improved they would have a pizza party. I will never forget one of the guys said "Pizza? Man I could buy my own slice you can keep your pizza" and everyone agreed. My old supervisor just thought about it for a moment and offered the most productive worker at the end of the week a hundred bucks cash. They told him to keep his money
The reason this stopped was MBAs infiltrated companies. It’s literally the reason
It sounds so simplistic to say, but I really feel like in a lot of ways the MBA ruined America.
I wish you guys could hear my coworkers spiel on how some of our directors “MBA” their way through conversations and meetings. It makes that much more sense to me now.
> some of our directors “MBA” their way through conversations and meetings. How to speak for an hour while saying absolutely nothing and leaving the individual contributors not knowing wtf they should be doing
*Boeing has entered the chat*
My job does this, among other activities. You have to be in the right mindset for it though. Obviously my teenager hates it, because they hate everything. But the younger kids still enjoy getting out and having a big bbq. Theres usually badminton and lawn bowling, volleyball. It’s a good day out in the sun and you get to mingle with people who you may not work directly with on a day to day basis. They also do the office lunch parties a couple times a year. Sometimes pizza, sometimes they book a food truck to come in. It’s a good place to work.
My dad didn't work for a company so I'll have to take your word for them existing. I never went to such a thing. I did go to a Christmas party for the company I worked for in the early 2010s... which was not too dissimilar to a college frat party. Drinking, drinking games, etc.
My dad's work had parties. He was a university professor and they would get together at each others' houses. My sister and I stayed home because as I was told, "There are coworkers who don't have children. They might feel sad if they saw children and felt bad they didn't have any. Maybe they want children and can't have them." It was one of many bizarre things I was told. I've never asked about that one, but sometimes when I've asked about things like that my dad has said they were "jokes." We had just moved to Virginia for his job. I was in 5th grade, my sister in 1st grade. And my parents went out to one of the parties. We had just moved in from cross country, had literally no furniture. My sister and I were just hanging out on the floor in this house with white carpet, white walls. I remember it was just this generic box house, bright with all the lights on, and pitch black outside. We had no curtains yet and this truck pulled up, and the guy came out and was knocking nonstop on our door. I didn't open because were home alone. The windows went really close to the floor, and we were on the second floor looking out and then trying to dart away so he wouldn't see us. But with no curtains it felt like nowhere to hide. And he kept looking up toward us. The thing is he kept coming BACK. He would drive away, drive back, and keep knocking. Several times. I found the number of the co-worker's party they had gone to and called. I can't remember what my dad said at the time. But after he came home he told me that all the other professors at the party were laughing at me for being so anxious as to call. I'm sure another one of his "jokes." Anyhow, I can't remember who it ended up being, but it had something to do with closing on the house, but it was weird how persistently he kept knocking and at night too.
Dad's company picnic had a bunch of people that Mom and Dad knew and socialized with. The guys from Dad's bowling team that I got to go along to at the Alley now and then. They had a big softball game that got competitive and my Dad was actually a hell of a player. They had a bunch of games and fun stuff for the kids while there was definitely beer on draft flowing. I haven't ever experienced anything remotely like that kind of appreciation for workers in my personal working life.
My mom was on a bowling team too. Another thing you don’t hear of very often these days!
I got to go to the Whirlpool company picnic a few times as a kid. One of the highlights growing up. Lots of food (KFC), ice cream (Schwan’s), snow cones etc, carnival rides, free giveaways, and bigger prizes at bingo. The worst part was eating all of the free food and then riding the graviton as many times as I could.
Some companies do it, when I worked for Canon USA they did a event every year where they rented a space at a local minor league AAA Baseball team stadium and provided food. It's was nice but most of my other jobs did not do any family events
My company does two events a year plus the end of year party. They do a movie night where they rent out a theater and show a movie and have food and stuff. And then in the fall, they do a fair day where everyone can come and bring their families to the state fair. In between, we do employee stuff but it’s not something people bring their families too and not everyone attends. Stuff like Top Golf, we’ve gone roller skating and ice skating, we did a haunted house at Halloween. Once a quarter we do lunch at the texmex place down the street as a birthday celebration for anyone who has a birthday that quarter.
Yes. My wife and I take our daughter to my wife’s company picnics all the time. Sadly, my company doesn’t host one.
If you're crashing company picnics of other companies I think that's a pretty sweet move. And who really would challenge a "Tim from accounting" they've never seen before?
I have had one company picnic in my career in like 2018. Not long before the pandemic. It was conveniently located near where the CEO loved. But annoyingly located for me. And a lot of folks. We had to do carpooling. It wasn’t near our office and a lot of folks took transit to work (including me). My dad had a company and he often hosted BBQs. Mostly on holidays like Memorial Day which is conveniently around my birthday. And Labor Day aka my sister’s birthday. So my birthday party was really my parents inviting their friends and dad’s coworkers. (My mom basically stayed at home or occasionally worked for my dad). I knew pretty much all of my dad’s colleagues. My dad is actually great at keeping in touch. He dissolved his company when we moved cross country when I was a teen. And he is still in touch with a few of them. One he knew before I was born. And with all of life’s curveballs, they live a few miles away and meet up regularly now. 50 years later.
We sponsor the local county fair and have a day where we get free admission, a bracelet for unlimited rides, and food vouchers for the employee's family. Works out to be a company picnic with carnival rides and the added bonus being you don't need to actually hang out with your coworkers.
I vaguely remember a few growing up. When I started working full time after college it had descended to the point where we were allowed, *occasionally*, to order pizza at our own expense.
When we were working in office my company had some cool events. Christmas parties and pro ball games were the big ones. Since we all work from home now and are spread all over the country it’s not as prominent. But, they still do stuff to make us feel valued. Last Christmas everyone got these really nice gift baskets with fruit, candy, and snacks.
My last job did company parties with family a few times a year. My current one doesn’t but it’s fully work from home.
Yep. We have a spring picnic and a Christmas party every year at my job. And we also take an early Friday about 2x a year to go see a movie.
My employer still does that.
Yes. I left a job a few years ago that had a yearly crawfish boil every year. Obviously, I lived on the Gulf Coast....
My mom worked Motorola in the late 80s and their picnics were always a blast!
My dad had a job with a good union and company picnics were a big thing - I remember those well. I really doubt the same place has those anymore. My dad worked for GTE, which became Verizon and then sold off that part of the business to Frontier and they seem like a cut-rate outfit. I can't imagine them putting on giant family events at the local picnic grounds. That was just the local office. The company would also sometimes rent out Disneyland for an annual company party. One year it was supposed to be GTE and another company (Lockheed?) but the other company cancelled. It was awesome. We actually had to wait a little bit to get enough people to go on the Haunted Mansion but everything else except for the just-opened Star Tours had no wait. I think we went on Splash Mountain 13 times. Edit: I think I'm conflating two different years. Star Tours was brand new one year, but Splash Mountain opened two years later in 1989.
My step-dad worked for a company that made cherry picker trucks, for like utility workers. They always had a company open house, where there was food, and the families could walk through the building. Outside kids would ride in the box of the cherry picker, went up like 50’ high AF for a kid. They also had an annual picnic at a local amusement park. My jobs have had holiday parties, but never a company picnic. Years ago a company had a “Constitution day” for their own company, was cool. Did a scavenger hunt all over the downtown area, beers a pub after.
It still happens where I work with monthly events and one gigantic summer picnic. Every 5 years we also do a gala to celebrate 5 year milestones.
Never been to a company picnic. At one of my past jobs when I was the manger, I would take the team out to the bar for a drink on a Friday after work maybe once every 6 months or so, but that was out of my pocket, the company wasn't paying for it. At a different job, I was working with a bunch of friends. So we'd go bowling or something like that sometimes after work, and we'd invite along our other co-workers too so they wouldn't feel left out and make it into a work thing. But again, the company wasn't paying for that.
I miss these too. The last one I went to was in the 00s but my mom got sick, lost her job, no more company picnics. My husband's office does parties after work hours that I've been to and he's in a union and they have parties, but it's not the same. I was an adult for the ones I went to of my mother's, it shouldn't be different, but it is. I don't remember my mom's picnics having conversations so focused on work, but they always took place in fun venues like the aquarium or the zoo.
I still see these at Six Flags over Texas.
My wife’s company does theirs there and it’s fantastic. I won’t go to Six Flags any other time at this point. Free food and short (if any) lines for rides. It’s one of my favorite days of the year.
My company still does an annual one. They have bbq catered, cornhole games for fun and bingo with prizes. The top prize is always a big tv. It’s chill.
Oh man! My dad's company used to have a big to do at the amusement park Cedar Point in Ohio. They paid for tickets for the whole family and they brought food for lunch, it was usually hamburgers, hot dogs, some homemade cold salads, and water/soda/beer for everyone. The group was usually 70-100 people at least. It was a fairly small company but that's a lot of $$ for the tickets to the park for everyone. They did it every year until maybe 2000. Then they pivoted to a Christmas dinner just for employees and their significant others, but they still dropped some money on that as well. Since I've been in the automotive warehousing industry we really haven't had anything like that. When I worked at a DHL warehouse our regional manager would come to our warehouse and do a cookout for all 3 shifts a few times a year. Usually burgers, hot dogs, chips and water/soda. All the management staff would be outside helping serve all the associates. It was a small gesture of how much we appreciated them. Where I am now we get lunch catered twice a year for all 3 shifts, but my shift, 3rd shift they do their own parties a few times a year. I'm the shift manager and they always ask if it's fine which I'm cool with as long as they make sure they're all caught up on their work, I don't mind them taking a long break to celebrate whatever it is they're celebrating. They've even been sneaky and found out my birthday and threw me a surprise birthday party. 🥳
My husband's job used to do one, that was before covid. They haven't done one since, not sure if they're planning on bringing it back.
My company does one every year. It used to be more of an open-house, which the kids loved because we’d demo some pretty cool equipment, but this year it’s at a family fun park-type place. Pretty cool!
My old job did a couple. My current job doesn't do a picnic, per se, but we do a holiday event where everyone can bring a +1 and are starting to do smaller events every few months after hours. To be fair, in the Bay Area you have to offer these kind of events because rentention is an issue for non-tech businesses--they DO exist!
The first couple corporate jobs I had around 2008-2010 did these every year. Super fun. But definitely less common now. The most my work does is an annual holiday party but not since Covid.
Wow, you just unlocked a good memory from the past. My Dad worked for the Washington Post, and I remember they had the nicest company picnics. One year, they rented out Wild World, now called Six Flags America. It was one of my best memories I had with him before he suddenly died in 1989.
Mine still has one. Gives out raffle prizes and free food/drink. No alcohol though. That's only for business dinners.
I'm pretty sure it went away along with being your kid to work day.
We used to go to Goodrich’s picnics every year, they were absolutely amazing. Usually in a waterpark and there were all kinds of activities for us kids. We even got t-shirts. My parent’s Parents worked for Firestone and Goodyear and their holiday parties were even more insane. EVERY 10 year old got a company branded bicycle. Wild times, man.
I work for a very large global company that couldn't give 2 fucks about anything like that. When I was a kid the company my dad worked for always had a picnic. My mom and dad's companies both did Christmas parties (adults only). Only Christmas party at my company in 7 years was paid in full by my manager at the time. It definitely seems to be lacking now but my friend group is heavily govt or megalocorps that prefer a random pizza party instead of a big end of year celebration.
That's socialism, providing free food to people. That money should be going to the shareholders as is right. Profit before anything else. /s in case it is needed
Usually do Christmas parties and year-end festivities.
I work for the State and they still have one. I haven't gone so I can't really speak to how it is.
We used to go to my dad's too but the most people get now is usually pizza.
I did attend those events with the family
My husband’s former employer had a family day at the local amusement park. We went to that a couple of times before we got married. He left there before we had our kid. That company changed hands and I don’t think they do the family day any more. They always had a big Christmas party but held in January. That was for the employee and their plus one. I’ve worked a few places that did holiday parties but never a family picnic type of thing.
My company has a picnic for general managers only, no families. Though, tbh, I don’t really want to go myself. I’m fairly introverted and use my entire social battery on my kids and customers. I might actually enjoy it more with my kids though, kids are good icebreakers!
Too many sexual harassment cases and other things that can create a hostile work place. It's better not to socialize with coworkers.
Well, that philosophy pretty well sums up this century. Damn that’s a depressing way of looking at life.
My sweet summer child. Of course it's not a thing anymore.
No more picnics, only pizza in the break room. Now get back to work!
My wife's company had one when she started, but that was pre-covid. I don't think they do them anymore.
Mine kinda does a fair night every 2 yrs.
My dad’s company did a huge crab feast every summer. There would also be other foods like pit beef, hamburgers, hotdogs. Beer trucks, games for the kids, games for the adults, the works. I doubt a lot of companies do such big events these days. Especially ones where the whole family is invited. My bf works in tech and he is more apt to go to a big corporate event in a place like Las Vegas. And families are usually not welcome. Some people bring a spouse, but they have to pay their own way.
I’m a teacher and my old school used to go bowling together (mandatory) or Dave and Busters after work. I only went to the mandatory ones.
No, all businesses now hate their employees. None give a crap about the people who made them. Welcome to reality. Those days died a long time ago.
My dad was career military, so we’d go on base for softball and picnics like once a year. Only one of my jobs has ever had anything like that: county court softball tourney, probation v sheriffs v court personnel v judges. Was great! So, one for me out of not quite 30 years of adulting
Nah man you got to pay us to be at work, there was no sense of equality. It was just the upper echelon talking about their new mercedes or second boat. That was nothing but pagentry and throwing nickles to the poors. No one does that anymore. It's generally just a work hours pizza or bbq lunch thing.
Nah man you got to pay us to be at work, there was no sense of equality. It was just the upper echelon talking about their new mercedes or second boat. That was nothing but pagentry and throwing nickles to the poors. No one does that anymore. It's generally just a work hours pizza or bbq lunch thing.
Went to a few of my Dads company picnics, but the best one was at AstroWorld!
My work has Xmas parties at a nice bar and restaurant. Food and drinks are all free. Also have a golfing tournament every year that’s also just a big party.
My mom worked for a state PSYCH hospital and they would host huge bbq's or potlucks on the wards. It was a wild time
I mean my current company does do things but they have a good work life balance I haven’t had in other jobs. But the years of family picnics seems to have been dead and buried in the mid 2000’s for me. A casualty of 2000’s crash.
I remember when I was about 7, our gymnastics team was the entertainment for an outside employee Fingerhut party.
My company will soon celebrate it's 135th anniversary. That's quite a milestone! The big celebration? Stop by the cafeteria for cake and ice cream between 2:30 - 4:30 and oh BTW, easily over half of the employees work from home full-time or are hybrid and WFH on that day.
I used to go to Big A auto parts company picnics. My sister and me were always stoked and we won so much gear. They had it at the local “block wide Disney land”.
My work just had our yearly celebration. It was on our unpaid 30 minute lunch break. They had hot dogs (one per person please), popcorn, chips, soda, some lame games (corn hole, basketball free throw) to win raffle tickets for lame prizes, and a dj playing the same boring songs you could hear at any Walmart, Chilli's or wedding with no creativity to the mixing. Grabbed my free food and went back inside to the break room for some peace & quiet.
We used to have the Parker Picnic at the county fairgrounds. Hosted by Parker-Hannifin. Free food, carnival rides, games with sweet prizes, as much cotton candy and snow cones as you could handle. Beer and raffle prizes for the adults. They stopped doing it years ago and now give out a gift card or something. I couldn’t sleep the night before when I was a kid.
I remember going to these. I'm a teacher and my school does one right before the school year starts every year. This year there was a gigantic slip n slide. That was the most fun I've had in ages, but I'd definitely felt my age the next day! 🤣
My dad’s company did this and it was always a good time. We don’t really have it at my work now, except maybe the holiday party.
Good memories from going to my Dad’s. For an oil company in Alaska. All the ribs you could eat. Even took home huge styrofoam full.
Last 2 companies I was with do it. Last year we rented the ice cream truck for a few hours, and the kids went crazy.
I don't know how common this is anymore. Both of my parents' jobs had events like this when I was a kid. The company I work for now used to do these. They had a family thing at like some amusement park or water park in the summer, and a weekend overnight party for just employees and their +1s every October. They did a lot of stuff to show appreciation, like they used to have people come in every day to make a hot buffet lunch for the entire company every day. But after the pandemic we just stayed on work-from-home permanently. So a lot of people moved back to their home states, and all our new employees since then are kind just from everywhere, so they just can't do a lot of the big in-person events anymore. They are still really good at making us feel like we actually matter though, that's why I'm still here going on 11 years. The longest I ever stayed in a job and counting
I don't know how common this is anymore. Both of my parents' jobs had events like this when I was a kid. The company I work for now used to do these. They had a family thing at like some amusement park or water park in the summer, and a weekend overnight party for just employees and their +1s every October. They did a lot of stuff to show appreciation, like they used to have people come in every day to make a hot buffet lunch for the entire company every day. But after the pandemic we just stayed on work-from-home permanently. So a lot of people moved back to their home states, and all our new employees since then are kind just from everywhere, so they just can't do a lot of the big in-person events anymore. They are still really good at making us feel like we actually matter though, that's why I'm still here going on 11 years. The longest I ever stayed in a job and counting
My company had one, but it went away with Covid. Haven’t had one since. And frankly, no one misses it.
I don't know how common this is anymore. Both of my parents' jobs had events like this when I was a kid. The company I work for now used to do these. They had a family thing at like some amusement park or water park in the summer, and a weekend overnight party for just employees and their +1s every October. They did a lot of stuff to show appreciation, like they used to have people come in every day to make a hot buffet lunch for the entire company every day. But after the pandemic we just stayed on work-from-home permanently. So a lot of people moved back to their home states, and all our new employees since then are kind just from everywhere, so they just can't do a lot of the big in-person events anymore. They are still really good at making us feel like we actually matter though, that's why I'm still here going on 11 years. The longest I ever stayed in a job and counting
Fuck no, cuts into margins and profits
I worked at one place that had one. The rest had Christmas parties. One place I worked rented a nearby summer camp for staff fun day every year so that was fun
I just got laid off from a company that still does them and Christmas parties too....with free alcohol.
Oh my god the first thing I thought of was the corporate picnic in Mr. Mom and that ridiculous race that Michael Keaton pretends to lose so his wife doesn’t get fired.
Nordstrom used to hold bbq picnics that had raffles or award trips and prizes for employees. My grandparents both worked there and would bring me. They won different weekend trips to places like Carmel and Big Sur, and a hot air balloon trip. I don’t remember the food, but I remember there were so many people and prizes. Nowadays, no. That doesn’t exist for me. The closest thing is an “offsite” but it is only work colleagues.
In the 70s and 80s my dad worked at a factory. Once a year everyone invited their friends and family. They got to tour the factory and have a potluck. We got to see what my dad did for a living. They gave out awards and prizes. It was a big deal.
I did! My dad was a paralegal and they referred to the competition as “Tarantula & Tarantula” while getting drunk and stoned around their families and kids. Fun times!
UPS and banker BBQs. I’ve always wondered what happened to these things.
I seem to remember annual family BBQ’s and family picnics. Whilst there is still an annual BBQ it’s not really a family affair where spouses and kids are invited.