So remember Andy’s blog about our retreat Garage Sale?  Well through a series of events, organizing office birthday celebrations ended up on Barb’s and my plate.  At first I was a little bit nervous because when I first came to Sixthman I was the office/building manager, so birthdays always fell square on my shoulders and I always felt like I came up short.   All I had to offer was some cake, a card and maybe some flowers every time.  Everyone knew they were getting those things for their birthday and I always felt like it was a letdown. This time I swore to myself that it would be different!

Barb and I put our heads together and decided that we wanted to make birthdays more personal – to make sure that we were doing something that the birthday girl or boy would definitely like.  You know, not everybody likes cake and a girly bouquet of flowers…except Stever….wow dude.

So I started thinking…what would I tell my coworkers to do for me on my birthday if I could just straight up ask for what I liked?  And I realized…I wonder if they know these things about me:

1. I hate doughnuts.  I just do.  Too sweet.  Give me bagels or give me death.  (OK, that might be a little dramatic.)
2. I despise the birthday song.  As a music major in college, one too many singers proving their vocal prowess on such a stupid piece of music just ruined it for me.  I do not need to hear your high C.  Thank you.
3. If you put cream cheese icing on any kind of cake I will inhale it.  Or better yet just give me cheesecake and cut out the middle-man.
4. If I had the money, I would decorate my whole house with knick-knacks from Kudzu Antiques in Decatur. If there’s a colorful vase or a heart shaped accessory involved, even better.
5. Anybody that saves me from having to buy diapers, wipes or formula may very well be in the running to be my child’s godparent.
6.    I love Stella beer so much that I almost named Rachel, Stella.  That might be sad, but it’s true.

Then I realized…no they don’t know those things.  And I don’t know that kind of stuff about them either.  I mean let’s face it, other than calling up their moms and asking how else would I ever know that kind of stuff?  And then I thought, how do we get to know what our guests like and don’t like?  Oh yeah…we ask them!

So we sent out a survey around the office and everyone filled it out.  What are your favorite deserts?  Do you collect anything? Do you have a favorite store?  Do you have a favorite beer? Etc, etc, etc. And now Barb and I have a whole plethora of things to chose from when it comes to our co-workers birthdays.  I mean, I never knew that Mexican food is the way to April’s heart.  Or that Carla loves anything pumpkin scented.  Or that there are even a handful of people who just don’t want a big deal made at all. They’d rather us just drop off a card with some $$ in it. How easy is that?

I now feel confident that we can rock out some birthdays and I will never go any other way, other than directly asking, to find out what someone wants.  And I’d love to hear what you’d tell people to do or not do for your birthday if you had the chance…