Good morning everyone and welcome back to the breakroom! I think I am speaking for everyone that January has truly zoomed past us because it is hard to believe that it is already February. Perhaps it feels so odd given that our weather is more indicative of late March/early April because of how warm it was today and that our snow is almost non-existent. Given that we normally have terribly, snow-ridden winters here I am going to enjoy the fact that I can enjoy a mild winter for once. But enough of the weather and month, you’re here for the scuttlebutt so let us breakdown today!
In case you could not tell by the decor, today is Valentine’s Day! While not a holiday one might often associate with the workplace, Dunder Mifflin is not like a normal office. Pam said it best when she described the office like grade school with our approach to recognizing Valentine’s Day. We have fun decorations all over the place, we exchange valentines with each other, and we bring varies candies and treats to indulge upon.
This brings up the question of, should you choose to celebrate Valentine’s Day in your office? This isn’t a holiday which results in holiday pay or seeing the office closed, but it can certainly be a fun holiday to bring into the office simply as a means to recognize our love of chocolate. I did some research and Indeed has offered up a number of unique ideas on what you can do to celebrate Valentine’s in your office, so I wanted to list off a few of my favorite. Number one is hosting an office party, with the key would be centered around some food. You could take care of it all yourself, or you could certainly do a potluck style event if you have an office that enjoys them (I’m a big fan of potluck). Breaking from the standard lunch you could do a brunch themed one with bagels and breakfast foods, a nice helping of chocolate, maybe a coffee bar with fun flavors. Another fun idea is to do a “kudos board” in which people can give their colleagues special good jobs and call out what they like about them. Another fun one could be scheduling games that people partake in. Trivia games are fun, charades can also be a good one or perhaps you could do a desk/cubicle decorating contest1. At the end of the day, bringing in holidays and celebrations to the office can be a great chance of boosting morale. Regardless of your company, the days can very often run together and getting the chance for a break with food or festivities can really shake things up and offer a reprieve.
Well when it comes to Valentine’s Day in the office, we cannot forget that it is never just about gifts from each other, but also deliveries. All day long Phyllis received all sorts of gifts including flowers, chocolate, and a colossal teddy bear from her boyfriend, Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration. But she wasn’t the only one because Oscar got a potted flower from his mom while Dwight was given a bobblehead of himself. Unfortunately, Pam started to get pretty frustrated that it seems Roy was not intending on having anything delivered. I have been lucky enough to have flowers delivered by my husband, and you do feel pretty special getting to have delivered. For all of those out there, feel free to respond with a comment on what your ideal Valentine’s Day gift is to receive? I personally think chocolate or treats are among the best because they are so tasty and can really brighten your day. Additionally, while a bouquet of flowers is pretty standard I actually think a potted plant is much better because you can enjoy it for more than just week! After that, I think we go more into toy, stuffed animal, or personalized gifts which obviously offers the chance for someone to really show that they know you. I know people like to exchange jewelry on the day but I have always felt it is too flashy for Valentine’s Day, save that nonsense for Christmas or their birthday. And call me a cynic, but proposing on Valentine’s Day is so cliche it is almost painful. Now this might be just me but I’m going to standby my personal opinion. The important part is to put a little thought into the gifts you’re giving someone and show that you care rather than being too generic and safe.
You might think that the day was pretty tame with just a day full of flowers and cards but you’d be wrong there. Turns out Jim will be celebrating Valentine’s Day inviting friends over to play poker tonight to be a nice break for those single guys with nothing else to do. A bit more scandalous, it seems Kelly and Ryan finally got together, last night. Kelly seemed incredibly stoked by it, but every time I saw Ryan he just looked mortified by his actions. I didn’t do any research into this topic but I am just going to say that if you hook up with someone on February 13th, then you should not be surprised that they are eager to spend Valentine’s Day with you. If you are not at all interested in dating someone, then perhaps you should just stay home if you feel that you cannot control yourself. All-in-all, definitely one of our best Valentine’s Days at the office. Now you will notice that I didn’t mention Michael at all, and that was because he wasn’t even at the office today!
Michael actually had to head to New York for a big financial presentation for David Wallace, our new CFO! So this meeting was meant for him to get a breakdown of the statuses for the branches under Jan, so besides Michael he was also doing this alongside some of his feel branch managers. Obviously, none of us were with him but he did let slip how the trip went. For starters, he got there several hours early because he wanted to take the time to see New York City. Top of his to-do list was visiting his favorite, New York-style pizza place (Sbarro) and then he tried see if he could see any celebrities going into 30 Rock. All he was able to see was a fake Tina Fey; she had no business being so close to that building looking the way she did.
But then this brought him to the corporate office with the different managers doing their presentations. Michael said it went off without a hitch, but I hard gossip from some of the employees there that he choose to do a video performance to highlight the various office staff. Needless to say, it wasn’t as well received and he liked to think it was. And then, it turns out Michael was telling people that he had hooked up with Jan and this got them into some pretty serious hot water with David Wallace. I do not know what they said but they were able to walk out with no terminations so evidently they were able to get everything all smoothed over. Perhaps the only thing worse than sleeping with your boss is to then tell your coworkers that you slept with them, when you didn’t actually sleep with them. Michael was pretty quiet after that so I suppose nothing else crazy must have happened from there. As far as Michael’s presentations go, that could actually be in his top five so excellent job!
And that was Valentine’s Day in the office! A pretty low key day, with some fun gossip floating around to be enjoyed alongside our candy. For those of you who haven’t lined anything up yet for Valentine’s Day, use my advice to get something together! Restaurants are always so busy so I would say a nice night in where you prepare dinner is much more ideal! If you need a meal that is fancy but actually incredibly easy, my fallback is mushroom risotto. You can do a small batch alongside steak or you can make it the main course with a simple salad alongside it. Tasty, cheesy, and much simpler to prepare than people realize. Then the gift, when in doubt I will always say chocolate (or their favorite treat) and then maybe a plant (a live plant over a bouquet). Any other good holiday tips? Feel free to comment!
Until next time, I’ll be sure to see you around the breakroom. Happy Valentine’s Day!
- (n.d.). 7 Ideas to Celebrate Valentine’s Day at Work. Indeed. Retrieved February 1, 2024, from https://www.indeed.com/hire/c/info/ideas-for-workplace-valentines-day-celebrations ↩︎
