Who Doesn’t Love Ice Cream?
A few weeks ago, one of our team members had a birthday. So the Amtec powers that be treated us all to $46 of temporary bliss. If you’re the frugal type, I can guess what you’re thinking. We could’ve bought two cartons of great ice cream (Tillamook’s vanilla bean, anyone?!) and fed our whole crew for under $12.
But the truth is, there’s something special about everyone getting up together and leaving the office for a few minutes. First, there’s the pleasurable anticipation of what’s to come as the email or text reminder hits our inboxes. Then, of course, there are the two or three false starts while we all wait for everyone to get off the phone or finish up a meeting. Getting everyone out of their cubicles at once can be a Herculean challenge, but even the guy who doesn’t eat sugar comes along to support the birthday person. For the employee being celebrated, I imagine the best part is the walk downstairs, out into the sunlight, and across the mall, this time to Afters, the ice-cream-in-a-donut place. Along the way, we ask if the birthday person has any unusual plans or is hoping to receive any special gifts. We tease and laugh while we stand in line, debating our favorite ice cream, and express doubt about the birthday person’s ability to eat the whole thing.
Then we stream out into the sunlight again and find a place to sit and indulge our long-awaited fantasy. Today, nobody is disappointed, and everyone feels connected for a few relaxing, laughter-filled minutes. As if someone has magically suspended time, the pressures of work temporarily fall away, and we are just humans enjoying the beautiful day and the friendly people with whom we work.
At last, one by one, like birds leaving a telephone wire, we pop up and start meandering along back toward the office, still chattering as we go. Once we all make our way back upstairs and into our separate workspaces, it might be hard to imagine what took place just a few minutes ago. Voices again pound the phones, computer keyboards clack away…but for a little while, we connected on a different level, and it was memorable. After all, who doesn’t love ice cream? And who doesn’t love a boss who realizes that $46 is a small price to pay to show his employees he cares about each one and considers them to be important members of the whole team?
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