No wonder Julie McCoy was boozy

I am the coordinator of the departmental social committee. Sometimes this is a fun duty. I get to have control over where we have our picnic or other social events, I get to choose what is on the menu, the activities I want will be included in the planning. It's all happy happy, joy joy. Just like being the cruise director. Sometimes, though, it's a pain the in ass. We have a committee, because the division has about seven groups and my boss wanted to try for full representation. Which is a good idea, except that it's like pulling teeth to get someone from each group to participate and come to meetings. And it's fine when everyone agrees to the basics of the planning, but that's not always the case, either. Right now, one of the committee members is complaining about how hot it's going to be for our picnic in August, even though the date was reserved months ago and trying to bump it into September will mean that we may not be able to get a date, and even if we do it will cost us a couple thousand dollars because the event minimum charge is higher in September than in August (which was the reason for having it in August when we planned the first picnic.) But I can't fret about the August event yet, because I have an this Friday that I need to fret about. The summer event is on a weekend, with guests, but the one next week is on a workday and only for employees. We did one last year, and it seemed quite successful. So, we found an agreed-upon date for this year's event, booked the venue and we were off. We planned some activities, and some giveaways for all attendees, and some prizes for the games. I told the group to start publicizing a month or so ago, so that everyone would be aware of the event. I announced it in our senior level staff meeting, so all the department heads could spread the word as well. Then, when I sent the committee an overview email of the details (menu, prizes, suggestion of two or three possible giveaways) one of the members came back with a response about how my giveaway options were very good. How we should do a bunch of small giveaway items in a "goody bag" (travel games and sunglasses to fit the beach theme, magnets with the company logo, etc.) She did not mention any of this in the meeting, mind you, she only came up with it in response to my sending pictures of what I had found based on what we agreed to in the meeting. So, I sent a survey to the committee to solicit feedback: big giveaway or goody bag? Two categories of gift cards: please choose one in each category. Overwhelming votes to support what I had already presented as what we should do, but I had to make sure that I was really doing what the group wanted, so I took the time. About a week ago, I finished the slide show with details of the event, and circulated it to the group for feedback before sending it to the masses to publicize the event. Most of the group did not respond, a couple said that it looked good, a couple asked me to slow the slide transitions to give everyone time to fully absorb what was on the slides. So, I revised and resent it, and asked the group members to send the presentation to their respective departments and to give me a total number of attendees for their respective groups. I sent the show to the department that does not have a rep (they used to have a rep, but she decided not to participate any longer, and no one has accepted the invitation to serve in her place.) The director of said department came by my desk to mention that I didn't give the employees much notice of the event. Since, you know, being told 11 days prior to the event that you get to leave work early to finish out your day at a social event 10 minutes from the office is really unreasonable. He noted that he had known about the event for some time, since I had spoken of it in staff meetings, but that he thought he was supposed to be keeping it a secret. So, now the info has been out in the open for a week, and I'm still trying to get a total number of attendees. I sent a reminder to the committee members to please send me totals for thier respective departments, and I sent a reminder to my department (and the non-represetnted department) asking for responses. One of the committee members responded that she had 2 "yes" responses, noting that her department is small. The catch is, I can't seem to get an answer from her whether she is reporting for her whole department (8 people) or only her group (3 people.) Her boss had contacted me to respond, stating that he wasn't sure who he was supposed to respond to. So, the event is in four days, I need to give the venue a total by tomorrow, and the majority of the numbers are still up in the air. I have 38 of the 40 gift cards I need as prizes (the other 2 will be given to me on Thursday.) The giveaways have not been delivered yet, but according to the vendor, they are being shipped today (via FedEx) and should be in hand on Wednesday. All I know is that I am really happy about the cash bar, because I think I'm going to need a tall glass of something by Friday afternoon. Update: The giveaway lunch bags arrived early! Woo hoo! And they are properly logo'd and so very purty! But all the assorted stuff that was supposed to go in them, candy and such that was left over from the luncheon a few weeks ago, is long gone. Oh well, an empty free gift is still free.