Friday, December 16, 2011

His Office Party



Ok, in 3, 2, 1.”   “ Oh hell, wait, wait!” 

“Ok I’m waiting,"said Suzanne. “Again" she added under her breath.  Checking her watch, “We’ll be late!”
His employees gifts were packed in a Santa sack found at Big Lots, where she also found the matching sweaters, he insisted upon. “It’s an Ugly Christmas Sweater party,” he explained “There will be prizes."

“How Bridget Jones,” she thought. “Forget the dress at Macys!” Last year she underdressed, thanks to Jack. This year she wanted to get it right.

The door opened and he stepped out. “How do I look?" He was wearing a gray cashmere sweater and a Santa hat. 

“What’s that?  You’re not wearing the sweater, the ugly one?” she snapped.



 “It didn’t look right, Mom gave me this last Christmas, so it is a Christmas sweater,” he chuckled.

“Jack, please, take me home to change. I’ll be embarrassed again! “
“You look fine! There’s no time, we’ll be late.” Picking up the Santa Bag on his way out the door.

She argued all the way to the party,” It’s rude, you’re changing  the dress code at the last  minute, you’ll  look great, while everyone else looks slightly silly.”   

He kept repeating “We look fine, I don’t have time to go home and change either.”                 

She relented and to her dismay, on their arrival, the men were wearing festive sweaters, the women all in beautiful party dresses; again!   
 
“Can I come up?” He asked when he took her home.

“No!” she smiled sweetly, slamming the door in his face.

She leaned against the door defeated, looking down at the lovely crystal vase in her hand, she read again the attached envelope, THE UGLIEST CHRISTMAS SWEATER, it proclaimed. Without thinking she smashed the vase against the wall!  Leaning over, she picked up the offending envelope, in it, was a gift certificate to Macys. She smiled, walked to the kitchen and poured a drink. "Merry Christmas to me!"

The countdown. We’ve all done it, whether it’s disciplining our kids, gathering up nerve, blasting off into space, or getting ready to pop champagne and scream “Happy New Year!”
This week, we’d like you to write a post – fiction or creative non-fiction – which begins with a countdown. “Three, two, one.” You pick what the countdown is for. The ideas above are just suggestions. Use your imagination and have fun with it

16 comments :

  1. What a louse! She needs to dump him for good.

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  2. Great writing! I hope she got something nice with the gift certificate. :)

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  3. Re: your comment at Got It, Ma! : I don't think this feels sparse. I flows and isn't confusing at all. 300 words is TOUGH. I find getting below 350 is really hard for me.

    I took your advice and slimmed my down a bit. Thanks!

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  4. I loved this. It captures that disease of going into a strange group of people, adding the horror of going in having FOLLOWED THE DRESS CODE and still being out of place. I love that she won the prize and knew exactly what humilation it meant.

    And I love that she smashed the vase but kept the gift certificate. Hope she buys an awesome New Year's dress and throws the party herself. She can invite the boyfriend and make him wear something humilating.

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  5. urgh... that's such a frustrating experience! And what a jerk, boyfriend, being all nicely dressed and hanging her out to dry.

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  6. Ugh - men! I was totally rolling my eyes at him while reading this!

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  7. Ay. That would be embarrassing.

    Stopping by from Write on Edge.

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  8. Ha! Good for her.

    What a creep.

    And I love the nod to Bridget.

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  9. I can't believe he asked if he could come in afterward... ahahahah! Nicely done!

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  10. I hope she got something amazing. And gets rid of him...

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  11. What a jerk! But at least she got a gift card to Macy's!

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  12. I do like how this captures the true terror of vague dress codes and parties in general. You do dread well, and I, too, and happy she got something good from that louse.

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  13. Loved the emotion in the actions! Great job on the prompt. I hope she buys a nice party dress for a date with an upstanding guy. :-)

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  14. I was going to tell you that I had a blog award for you but I see you already figured that out!

    I loved this scenario. Great job.

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  15. Great story! A gift certificate and a drink was the perfect ending :)

    Thanks so much for visiting Raising Humans yesterday!

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  16. I wanted to jump right inside that story and smack that jerk! At least she got a $100 gc to Macys!

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