... Which leads me to my current dilemma. As my new employers like to rotate the responsibility of in-house event planning from cubicle to cubicle, I have been charged with the task of setting up the St. Patty's Day festivities in our under-sized, common-area boardroom (or as I've dubbed it, for reasons hopefully not too obvious to my boss, the BOREDroom).
I commissioned an underpaid co-worker to design an email invitation to send to our fellow officemates and created a festive, clip art laden sign-up sheet to hang in the lunch room for anyone hoping to advertise what they might like to bring to the potluck lunch. To motivate my fellow co-workers to contribute, I signed myself up as the first food donor, a.k.a. sucker, with the promise of "something baked, green and fantastic."
Perhaps I set the bar too high, as the sign-up sheet has been posted since last week and I'm still the only person on it.
Or perhaps it was the unfortunate email invitation that sported three fat housecats dressed in green liederhosen. I tried to tell my designer that it looked more Bavarian than Irish, but with the flip of her red hair, she assured me in her thick brogue that she knew was confident that no one else would think as I did.
Worse yet, perhaps everyone in the office naturally assumes that their food item must be Irish (soda bread, corned beef and cabbage and the like) or green in color, envoking images of green bean casseroles, wilted brussel sprouts floating in split pea soup, moldy bread with mint jelly, or green eggs and ham. I don't suppose it would be legal to bring green beer to the potluck, and even so ... do they sell that vile-looking brew by the case?
I suspect the culprit is the holiday itself. Greeting cards reading "Happy St. Patrick's Day" or "I [heart] leprechans" bumper stickers don't suddenly make a mass appearance at the local card shops. I haven't seen a "Kiss me, I'm Irish" badge for years! No gifts are exchanged, there is no parade down Fifth Avenue (whoops, I meant Yonge Street) and no one takes a 2-hour liquid lunch break to celebrate.
So, what's the point? Sure, the day is great for our Irish friends who may be celebrating their heritage with a cold pint, but then what comparable day do the rest of us have? Has St. Patrick's Day boiled down to a day of creating tomorrow's hangover?
I think what's plaguing me more than anything is this: If the potluck's a bust, will I still have a job on the 18th? I'd better get some green streamers and a green t-shirt from the mall tomorrow at lunchtime.
3/15/05
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