Nano nano! (Shazbot!)
Dec. 1st, 2005 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shirenomadThe entire office went out for a (very early) Christmas celebration today. Big heaping portions of Italian food. Contractors like me did not get paid for time spent at the restaurant, but the food more than covered lost salary.
There was also a drawing of sorts. If you're familiar with white elephant gift exchanges, this was sort of like that, but not quite. Everyone put three slips with their names on them in the bag. First person to get drawn opened a present. Second person could either open another present, or "steal" what the first person got. Third person... and so forth. There were four changes from the standard gift exchange:
1) All presents were purchased by the company CEO, instead of the various participants.
2) The game did not end until the bag was empty; that is, until everyone had been drawn three times.
3) If stolen from, you didn't get to choose another present immediately; you had to wait for your name to get drawn again.
4) Forty people, six presents.
Ah, now you're getting the picture. All six prizes were nothing to sneeze at, but the pick of the litter was an iPod Nano, which for several draws after it was opened could not stay in one person's hands for more than thirty seconds. The next person would get drawn, and they'd immediately claim it, only to have it snatched by the next person after them... Amusing to watch, really. We all started chanting "Nano!" with each draw. (No, there was no alcohol at the table; who needed it?)
But after several minutes of this chaos, it became apparent how pointless it was to chase the Nano if you weren't literally the last person drawn from the bag. Someone would just take it from you, leaving you with nothing. So as each person got their third and final slip drawn, they decided to settle for some of the "lesser" prizes in hopes that they'd actually be able to keep them to the end. (Again, still good stuff, so even those got stolen more than a few times just for variety.)
But I will admit to being lucky... I was drawn fourth from the end and grabbed the iPod Shuffle (yes, two iPods in the game). Third and Second Place both decided they'd rather have something besides a music player anyway, and then the last draw-ee snagged the Nano for good. Which left me still holding the Shuffle when the smoke cleared. Score.
There was also a drawing of sorts. If you're familiar with white elephant gift exchanges, this was sort of like that, but not quite. Everyone put three slips with their names on them in the bag. First person to get drawn opened a present. Second person could either open another present, or "steal" what the first person got. Third person... and so forth. There were four changes from the standard gift exchange:
1) All presents were purchased by the company CEO, instead of the various participants.
2) The game did not end until the bag was empty; that is, until everyone had been drawn three times.
3) If stolen from, you didn't get to choose another present immediately; you had to wait for your name to get drawn again.
4) Forty people, six presents.
Ah, now you're getting the picture. All six prizes were nothing to sneeze at, but the pick of the litter was an iPod Nano, which for several draws after it was opened could not stay in one person's hands for more than thirty seconds. The next person would get drawn, and they'd immediately claim it, only to have it snatched by the next person after them... Amusing to watch, really. We all started chanting "Nano!" with each draw. (No, there was no alcohol at the table; who needed it?)
But after several minutes of this chaos, it became apparent how pointless it was to chase the Nano if you weren't literally the last person drawn from the bag. Someone would just take it from you, leaving you with nothing. So as each person got their third and final slip drawn, they decided to settle for some of the "lesser" prizes in hopes that they'd actually be able to keep them to the end. (Again, still good stuff, so even those got stolen more than a few times just for variety.)
But I will admit to being lucky... I was drawn fourth from the end and grabbed the iPod Shuffle (yes, two iPods in the game). Third and Second Place both decided they'd rather have something besides a music player anyway, and then the last draw-ee snagged the Nano for good. Which left me still holding the Shuffle when the smoke cleared. Score.
