How I Ended the Employee of the Month Program

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I just made some hot tea. I put it in my employee of the month cup. No, I’m not the employee of the month this month. I just have a story about the employee of the month program. Back in the 1990s I worked for a company that decided to start an employee of the month program. The perks of the program were a special parking space right next to the main door for one month, a dinner with the big cheeses at a restaurant of the employee’s choice and an employee of the month cup. On one side of the cup was the company’s loco and on the other was, “Employee of the Month!” The employee who received these perks was one that the management thought was working hard and doing an excellent job. At the time I was working the graveyard shift (11 p.m. to 7 a.m.). I went to work every night on time and did the best I could–not because I was trying to be the employee of the month, but because that was what I always did. I figured since I put more than one-hundred and ten percent into my work that it wouldn’t be long before I was employee of the month. Month after month went by. Some employees were even blessed more than once with the perks. But me, nothing. I came to the conclusion that since I worked graveyard I flew under the radar. Two years went by when one day I arrived at work to find my name on the employee of the month parking spot. This shocked me because they usually posted the name of the employee of the month on the bulletin board a week before and no one’s name was posted. It was like they were ashamed to make me employee of the month. Each day I expected someone to come and ask where I wanted to go for my dinner with the big wheels and hand me a cup. The month flew by and no one said anything to me. Not long after, I was called into the office with seven or eight other employees for a meeting. For some crazy reason they liked calling me into these meetings. I didn’t mind too much since the meeting were usually at seven in the morning and I got paid overtime for going. At this meeting the subject of the employee of the month came up. I told the group of brass, including the owner of the company, how disappointed I was. Told them that the only way I knew I was employee of the month was the fact that my name was on the parking spot. I told them that I did not even get a cup let alone a dinner. Then I voiced my opinion on how some got to go to dinner more than once. I ended by saying I thought the employee of the month was a farce. The owner just stood there staring at me without saying a word. Then someone change the subject. The next day the employee of the month parking spot was gone. Some big cheese’s name was in it’s place. There was no employee of the month information on the bulletin board either. A few days later the owner called an all employee meeting. He announced there would be no more employee of the month because it did not create the affect it was designed to. After the meeting I complained to a coworker how disappointed I was that I didn’t even get a cup. She had been employee of the month twice and had received two cups. She told me she didn’t even like the cups. I said that wasn’t the point. The point was we were all supposed to get a cup and dinner. She then said, “If it’ll make you happy, I give you one of my cups.” So that’s how I ended the employee of the month program and receive my employee of the month cup.