Sometimes here or on other boards, you'll see some people post a response saying just "bump," and that's a ploy to keep the post right at the top, maybe to get more responses or answers to certain questions within the posting.

Well, as you may remember, the school where I work was coercing us all to attend the pricey end-of-year "party" and some of us were really trying to get out of it, not wanting to waste money on this silly thing. After a lot of drama, we got a break because the district office sent most of us a letter saying we had to take vacation time or lose it, so that pretty much collapsed the party, because who wants to lose vacation time? So I took my vacation day and that was that. But I have heard that next year the pricipal wants us to go on a "retreat" up in the mountains...a whole weekend of doing touchy-feely things and "trust exercises"...sigh.

Thanks for asking, Pammyfay!

Two years ago we had a Christmas party. They decided that we should "play games". The first game was, they divided us into teams of people who did not know each other well and we had to pick a traditiional Christmas song, such as Silent Night- and make up lyrics to it. The topic of the lyrics was our upcoming state evaluation. Not wanting to participate in this nerd fest, I snuck off to the restroom and stayed in there until everybody had finished embarassing themselves. I came out just as the food was being served and was told that "people who didn't participate should not eat"! I answered, "So, it's conform or starve, then?" Big silence. That was my last time going to any of their "parties".