Skip to main content

Goodie Day

I work in a building called Lahm Ridge Tower, which is a 3 story (four floors) building that houses a good chunk of the Education, Culture and Employment staff (ECE). Every payday the 3rd floor hosts "goodie day". Here's how it works:

Each small unit of ECE is assigned a payday. Usually three units cover one pay day. My unit's turn was this past Friday.

The units assigned that particular payday bake goodies for the staff of ECE. Usually that means about 20 people baking, cooking or bringing fruit or chocolate for about 100 people. Some units organize themes and sometimes it is just a random mix. I baked about 3 dozen biscotti seen near Benoit's creme brulle!! He had a draw for the creme brulle- which everyone loved! He also dressed the part in a full chef's outfit- now that's commitment!

While I am not overly social, I love the idea of a shared coffee break. It gives everyone a chance to get together to share food and talk about what is going on in their work or lives. I met the mother of one of Owen's classmates and had the opportunity to meet people working in other areas of ECE. Theses pictures are of the set up but when 10 o'clock rolls around the line can be twenty deep and out the door.

At my old work we could never have pulled this off, you need a certain capacity and three definitely isn't it. But I hope it gives people an idea of the kind of social activities they could incorporate into their workplaces to bring people together- even if it is just for 15 minutes. I think it helps that we are paid on a Friday (TGIF) and not a Wednesday like the federal government- but I am sure a hump day goodies day would work just as well.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ups and downs of day one

Today was the first day of school for the boys and work for me. By noon Aiden was back at the hotel, feeling sad about not already making friends. He was also frustrated that his English class was going to be studying the same books he had done in grade nine. I came back to the apartment to check on him. It was actually really nice to be able to see Aiden at lunch! So after a couple of hugs (and letting us know Jay had messaged him to say Aiden would always have him as a friend) he was off. Brent gave me a lift back to work, and to my surprise and delight Jay was crossing the street in front of us. It was such a nice surprise. At my work, my manager had been unexpectedly been called to Toronto and my colleague Sarah was off. So my Director ended up dong my orientation. The good news is there is lots of work that needs to be done, and fairly short timelines to get it done. I share an office with two others - which after working in my own office for 10 years is quite a change- but a...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Next Chapter

Double rainbow from our hotel in Yellowknife Three years ago I started a blog called "Sara in Grenada" chronicling my time as a volunteer with Cuso International on the Spice Island. At the time a dear friend, Jay, was working in Iqaluit and while our climates were radically different the challenges faced by our respective communities were very similar.   I loved almost everything about living and working in Grenada although, I was not a fan of my mini-bus ride. When I came back from Grenada I felt invigorated, being able to contribute is really important to me. While I wanted to find another opportunity to contribute for family reasons had decided to stay put in Ontario after our return in 2015. In her book Transitions, Gail Sheeshy talks about a time in your life when you look around and start to wonder "Is this really all there is"? I was definitely in that place. Having done the same job for 10 years, I wasn't learning anything new. I wasn...
Post a Comment
Read more