{"id":262,"date":"2006-12-14T21:24:03","date_gmt":"2006-12-14T21:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sararosso.com\/index.php\/2006\/12\/14\/creative-cost-cutting-the-company-christmas-party\/"},"modified":"2013-01-10T19:13:53","modified_gmt":"2013-01-10T17:13:53","slug":"creative-cost-cutting-the-company-christmas-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2006\/12\/14\/creative-cost-cutting-the-company-christmas-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Creative Cost-Cutting: the Company Christmas Party"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>[Tour del Gelato] Three more posts for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/tour-del-gelato-blogroll\">Tour del Gelato<\/a> have been added to the blogroll page!!! Keep &#8217;em coming!<\/li>\n<li>[Menu for Hope] A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.firstgiving.com\/menuforhopeIII\">Menu for Hope<\/a> has raised over $15,000 so far! But I can tell you that several prizes (including mine, code <strong>EU15<\/strong>) have very good chances for you to win! So <a href=\"http:\/\/www.firstgiving.com\/menuforhopeIII\">donate now<\/a>!<\/li>\n<li>[Flickr] Some cool new features with Flickr &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lifehacker.com\/software\/holidays\/flickr-holiday-easter-egg-221387.php\">add a Santa hat or beard<\/a> to any picture, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lifehacker.com\/software\/flickr\/review-your-year-in-flickr-photos-221820.php\">view your pictures in calendar form<\/a>, by date taken!<\/li>\n<li>[Oscar Awards] Finally, they are honoring one of my favorite composer\/directors &#8211; Ennio Morricone (<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ennio_morricone\">wiki<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.enniomorricone.com\/\">site<\/a>) &#8211; with an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iht.com\/articles\/ap\/2006\/12\/14\/arts\/NA_A-E_MOV_US_Oscars_Ennio_Morricone.php\">honorary oscar<\/a>. Congrats!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, just to preface, my agency isn&#8217;t in any financial trouble. But, like any good company, they are concerned about the bottom line and profit. So sometimes they need to get creative to cut costs and save money. Take for instance the company Christmas party (it&#8217;s still Christmas party here in Italy, not holiday).<\/p>\n<p>Having been to three company parties so far, I have been able to discern that the ingredients for a successful company party are:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Alcohol<\/li>\n<li>Dancing<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Rinse and repeat.<\/p>\n<p>Something missing from this list that I would add is &#8220;Karaoke&#8221; &#8211; this can always add a certain element to things, be it embarrassment or entertainment, but it doesn&#8217;t seem to be that popular here.<\/p>\n<p>Though, I seem to do pretty well in both areas (entertainment and embarrassment) with only the two ingredients above.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But back to the financial savings &#8211; there was a lesson today!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So when faced with a clear expense such as the holiday party, certain cost-cutting should be taken into consideration. Dancing + Alcohol = Disco as an obvious location for both. But renting out a disco costs big Euro. Unless we do it on a weeknight. Like Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Now we&#8217;re talking. <strong>And saving money!<\/strong> So we have the dancing taken care of.<\/p>\n<p>But what about the alcohol? Since we saved so much money before, we can definitely have an open bar.<\/p>\n<p>Open bar = Evil on a work night.<\/p>\n<p>Being a good 20 hours or so later, I can finally write about it but this morning looked rough for quite a few of my colleagues. And I was no exclusion. I made it into the office around my normal time of 9.30 and was greeted by very few faces. In fact, mainly those that hadn&#8217;t made it to the company party. I sense a theme.<\/p>\n<p>I resisted for a good hour or two, and then I had to come back home for a nap. When I left, some still hadn&#8217;t made it into the office yet. It was a risk to go back home, and the previous, &#8220;how are YOU this morning? Everything FINE???&#8221; that I had received on my arrival would definitely be multiplied upon my re-entry, but it was necessary.<\/p>\n<p>That nap sailed me through the rest of the work day, though a few of my colleagues dropped out at the ungodly hour of 5pm (we&#8217;re a 6.30pm office).<\/p>\n<p>So let&#8217;s review! For you math geeks out there: <strong>Weeknight(Alcohol + Dancing) = Cost savings<\/strong> AND <strong>Weeknight(Alcohol + Dancing) = Loss in Worker Productivity<\/strong>. Maybe they should get some creative accountants to look at their math.<\/p>\n<p>This evening I knew that only the <strong>greasiest meal<\/strong> I could find would do. So, I did things right. I had a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Samosa\">samosa<\/a> for an aperitivo from my favorite local take-away Indian. It&#8217;s a crime as he sells these samosa bombs for only 1 euro and they are worth much more than that! I then sat down to a big, greasy plate of <strong>Pasta all&#8217;Olio e Peperoncino,<\/strong> Pasta with Olive Oil and Hot Pepper. But that wasn&#8217;t quite greasy enough for me, so I added sausage. Yum, the <strong>grease<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Isn&#8217;t saving money fun?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Tour del Gelato] Three more posts for the Tour del Gelato have been added to the blogroll page!!! Keep &#8217;em coming! [Menu for Hope] A Menu for Hope has raised over $15,000 so far! But I can tell you that several prizes (including mine, code EU15) have very good chances for you to win! So&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2006\/12\/14\/creative-cost-cutting-the-company-christmas-party\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-italy","7":"category-work","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4uB1-4e","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":258,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2006\/12\/08\/london-a-menu-for-hope-the-tour-del-gelato\/","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":0},"title":"London, A Menu for Hope, the Tour del Gelato","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"December 8, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm in London for the long weekend, and it's shaping up to be a great one. Friends and more friends, and a --little-- bit of shopping. Just a little. More pictures later. Menu for Hope III This year I'm participating in the Menu for Hope III, which is basically the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Menu for Hope&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Menu for Hope","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/blog-event\/menu-for-hope\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Big Ben...Parliament","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/101\/316990896_e2cf6bcb68.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1443,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/26\/where-to-find-great-italian-gelato-tour-del-gelato\/","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":1},"title":"Where to Find Great Italian Gelato: Tour del Gelato","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"June 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2006 I started the Tour del Gelato, discovering the world\u2019s best gelato, one lick at a time! It's been quietly plugging along and we've amassed more than 50 reviews of gelaterias in Italy, in the United States, and in other parts of the world! If you're interested in contributing,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog Event&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog Event","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/blog-event\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Italian Gelato in a brioche, Sicily","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2306\/2762357902_526bc85df8.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":238,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/29\/join-tour-del-gelato\/","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":2},"title":"Join the Tour del Gelato!!","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"November 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I've only posted two stops on the Tour del Gelato, and I have another two stops already in the pipeline. I have realized there is NO way I'm going to be able to get to all the gelaterie in Italy by myself (although I don't mind dying trying!). So let's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Italy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Italy","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/italy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":647,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/19\/best-gelato-in-rome-san-crispino-gelaterias-new-location\/","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":3},"title":"Best Gelato in Rome: San Crispino Gelateria&#8217;s New Location","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"September 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Gelato is definitely an \"O food\" (Check out our O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month contest) One of my favorite gelaterias in Rome is San Crispino. I've talked about it and heard about it so much from others it's a shock to me to realize that the Tour del\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog Event&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog Event","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/blog-event\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gelato Containers from San Crispino Gelateria, Rome","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3012\/2867210251_aeeeae4695.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":638,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/14\/more-italian-gelateria-stops-on-the-tour-del-gelato\/","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":4},"title":"More Italian Gelateria Stops on the Tour del Gelato!","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"August 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Tour of Gelato needs your tastebuds! If you're not familiar with the Tour del Gelato, it's your favorite bloggers going to their favorite gelaterias in and out of Italy and telling the world about it! They link back to the Tour del Gelato blogroll, and I add the entry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gelato&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gelato","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/food\/gelato\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Italian Gelato in a brioche, Sicily","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2306\/2762357902_526bc85df8.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":303,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/03\/03\/tour-del-gelato-gelateria-marghera\/","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":5},"title":"Tour del Gelato: Gelateria Marghera","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"March 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Another stop on the Tour del Gelato! Be sure and email me if you've added a stop to the Tour! Check the Tour del Gelato page for other recent stops and how to participate. I saw Gelateria Marghera when we went to Choco Cult last time, and after a further\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog Event&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog Event","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/blog-event\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gelato at Gelateria Marghera","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/173\/400900647_b1cc4627e6.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4596,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions\/4596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}