A bunch of my co-workers were trying to plan a social outing where we could all relax and enjoy ourselves and get to know each other outside of work. I put a lot of thought into whether or not I would go.
First of all, I'm their boss, and I've learned from experience that when you're the boss it's best not to get too chummy with the employees. Second of all, I work with mostly twenty somethings, and I haven't been twenty-something for awhile now. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with my age or my ability to have a good time, I just get annoyed sometimes with people who have not had enough experience to know when to say enough. Not to say that you always get that with age.
Well, in the end I decided that I should go. They planned it for Monday night since we're closed on Monday nights and nobody would be excluded because of work. I figured a Monday night outing would be pretty mellow.
I arranged for the kid to stay with friends, and told Dave to clear his schedule, we're going out. We don't go out a lot just for the sake of going out. We go out for our rides, and occasional social obligations with friends, but just to go out to a bar...not so much anymore. We like sitting at home snuggling on the couch and watching T.V. Does that make us old? I don't think so, I just think that means we enjoy each others company and we love the time that we have when we don't have to share each other with anyone else.
Okay, I digress. As we were getting ready I told Dave not to be surprised because we would be the oldest people there. He just kind of laughed. Then he informed me that if we were supposed to be there at 8, we shouldn't show up until 8:30. That made me laugh, because my sweetie has no concept of time anyway.
We had a surprisingly good time. We played pool, talked, drank, all the usual. Then somebody mentioned Beer Pong. I've never played so I thought I'd give it a try. Dave was my partner and since he was driving I had to drink the majority of our losses. We did pretty good for being the old folks who had never played before. We won our first game and then took on the winners of the table next to us, we lost that one.
At one point one of the girls was saying how she couldn't believe that we had never played before. I told her that we didn't have Beer Pong when we were in our twenties. We played quarters and Up The River and made beer bongs. The look on her face reminded me of my kids' face when I told him that I didn't own a computer until I was twenty.
In the end I had a good time and I think it was good that I got to show my co-workers that I am more than an ogre who tells them what to do everyday.
I'm sorry if this is long and pointless.....a few mixed drinks, two rounds of Beer Pong, and only a few hours of sleep....It's not as easy as it used to be.