Party Snack Box

As I sat back crunching on the remains of my birthday party snack box, I had to laugh at the absurdity. I am sure from my boss' perspective, things just spun out of control quickly. However, from the point of view of the surrounding people, we noticed his nuances growing wild. You see, my boss has always been the kind of person who loved a bet. When I received this custom snack box, he tried to bet me that I could not finish the box in under an hour. But, who wants to rush through a snack box gift?

In retrospect, I guess at the time we should have realized he had a problem. He would constantly attempt to make bets on things that were wildly inappropriate. I understand betting on a sports game while enjoying a snack box. I watch tv shows where professional gamblers place bets on card games. But my boss would offer bets that are as out of place as a fresh mackerel in the middle of a custom snack box.

If he saw more than one person heading to the restroom, he would try to place a bet on who would finish first. We had "Bring Your Child To Work Day" and we caught him trying to teach toddlers how to place bets with cookies from a snack box. Now, every time one of us gets a custom snack box, we have to wonder if our kids are planning to hedge a wager. Last night my kid asked me for the spread. I pulled out some melted cheese from the party snack box, and he looked confused.

Aside from all that, over the years the staff all learned to ignore my supervisor's habits. We figured everybody has a character tic. My cubicle neighbor George buys a custom snack box each week and eats a little each day for lunch. Christie, the office accountant, will buy a snack box gift for herself every payday. Strangely, she only eats the salty snacks, leaving the rest of the snack box for us to steal. I guess compared to everyone else, constant betting isn't a big deal.

Hindsight is as clear as the value of an on-the-go snack box. It is much easier to see how things fit together after the fitting. At the time, when my boss announced an office raffle, it raised no flags. People were always raffling snack box pros snacks box to raise money for kids trips or high school sports teams. We figured he had a good reason, and were hoping for excellent prizes like a gourmet snack box.

After all, working for a boss who loves a contest isn't as bad as an empty on-the-go snack box in a traffic jam. He definitely knows how to motivate us with a fun game of chance. Last year, each employee of the month got the best snack gift boxes. I occasionally found myself walking past the raffle flyers hoping for gourmet snack box prizes.

It could always be worse. My last manager tried to motivate us by cooking home-prepared meals. Unfortunately, he was a horrible cook, and most of us ended up sneaking items out of the best snack gift boxes around the office. There is nothing quite like washing down the taste of chocolate-covered chicken bars with salty treats from the nearest gourmet snack box.

We all learned a few lessons from this experience. First, watch the behavior of our coworkers more carefully. Don't just ignore your boss the next time he uses break room snacks to try to place wagers with rodents. When you see a mouse, you call an exterminator. You don't bet the mouse that it could make it across the street with a cracker from the break box snacks.

The second thing we learned is, always ask more questions before buying raffle tickets. My boss tried to butter us up by offering a break box healthy snack mix. Then the warehouse staff accused us of stealing their break room snacks. It turned out he asked them for break box ideas, and then stole their purchases to bring to our office.

The third thing we learned is, raffle tickets shouldn't cost $45 each. I should have known there was a problem when our boss set mortgage applications besides the break room snacks. Break box snacks should not lead to borrowing against the value of my home.

By the time the day of the raffle arrived, most of us had purchased more than a few tickets. Some of us were already getting paranoid by the time the snack box delivery for employees arrived in the morning. That made some of us feel better until the delivery person asked the staff for payment. Unfortunately, several of us had already opened the snack variety pack to make sure it contained the best gourmet snacks. "You open it, you pay for it," said the delivery guy. Great...

The morning was already going crappy, but at least we had a big party snack box 75 ct to munch on. Then the conference room opened at 10:00 AM, and it was time for the raffle. The sales manager Betty literally dropped her snack variety pack. By the time we all saw the prizes on the table, it was clear we had been ripped off. Even the best gourmet snacks on the east coast could not make us feel better.

The table was full of used household items that were essentially worthless.

Appalled by the pitiful bounty, we moved closer for inspection. There was a toaster full of Sam's Club Snacks, but the cord was held together by literal chewing gum. There was a microwave with empty wrappers from a Sam's club snack box inside. We knew the packages inside the microwave used to contain the best Sam's club snacks because the device had no door. There was a box on the floor labeled Sam's club snacks in bulk, but it was full of old dishrags.

My first instinct was to walk away. I had some Sam's club snacks from the earlier delivery, and I decided to just enjoy them in peace. However, some of my coworkers had purchased hundreds of dollars in tickets and were not satisfied with the leftovers from a Sam's club snack box. They demanded justice for the raffle tickets, and the money paid for the Sam's club snacks in bulk delivered that morning.

The guilty look on our boss' face did nothing to help the matter.

Just when it appeared that things could not get worse, we noticed the birthday snack box delivery guy was still there. He was sitting in the corner with another guy who was wearing a birthday gift box delivery uniform. It turned out, these guys did more than just unique birthday gifts delivery. Both of the delivery guys were actually muscle for a local loan shark named Tommy Knuckles.

Our boss' betting was more than just a funny quirk. He actually owed thousands of dollars in gambling debts. Unlike the chips in a unique birthday gifts delivery, these characters were unsavory. Rather than getting a second job doing birthday snack box delivery, our boss figured he would create a raffle and sell things from home. Fortunately, the office cat was wearing a wire. Snuggles was helping the feds to track down the international criminals for using same-day birthday delivery ideas to transport illegal contraband.

Fortunately for all involved, the whole experience taught my boss a lesson. Instead of gambling, he now spends his time reading through gourmet snacks online. That is still addictive, but having gourmet snacks delivered usually doesn't end with a visit from the mob. Our boss returned our raffle money, and we all promised not to report him for the attempted scam. He even promised to provide us with individual gourmet snacks each month.

In the meantime, we have all realized that he has a serious problem with gambling. We no longer just allow him to make silly bets around the office, even if he uses individual gourmet snacks instead of money. We also take a good look at any delivery people whenever someone has gourmet snacks delivered. Regarding our boss, the staff takes turns taking him to Gamblers Anonymous meetings each week, where they also serve gourmet snacks.