Good morning! 🌞 Yes... morning!!! I know its not Monday, this won't be about a cool DIY craft and its not nighttime -- so
Monday Craft Night is out the window -- but I feel like writing about fun stuff I've done. I'm actually pretty impressed with myself because throughout the month of October, I've participated in five craft shows (aka I've been sewing non-stop) but I still have maintained a rich social life. For me to have any type of social life is pretty rare so being able to boast of a
rich social life in the middle of the busiest craft show season is amazingly impressive. Go me!
I have to include a craft show picture since I mentioned shows.
On October 12th, 2018, Paycom celebrated being in business for twenty years. Paycom is, according to its website, "an online payroll and human resource technology provider... a software solution that helps companies manage the complete employment cycle, from recruitment to retirement." Wes has been an employee in the Tax and Withholding department for almost two years. All employees (and one approved guest) were invited to the big celebration. Wes informed me that there would be food and entertainment... and that it would be outside in the parking lot. I was thinking they'd have a few food trucks and a local band. Nope. They converted the entire parking lot into a concert arena (complete with legit security and really nice porta-potties) and flew in Gavin DeGraw and Flo Rida. Can you think of a more odd pairing?
Outdoor event in the evening = not every good photos. I guess I could have used the flash or a filter but whatever.
Employees and guests started trickling in around 6:30pm and we were treated to an insanely organized cookout. The hamburgers, hot dogs and trimmings were set up in several orderly buffet lines. There were volunteers who monitored, reminding us to only take one cake pop, but were mostly non-intrusive. Promptly at 8pm, we were instructed to move our lawn chairs (the employee appreciation gift for the evening) to the stage area where senior staff would be giving a presentation. To ensure that everyone was gathered at the presentation, the food from the cookout was cleaned up and put away. I have never seen such a large group move so efficiently and obediently. There was easily over a thousand people present at the event and everyone moved swiftly as a unit. I commented on this to Wes and he told me that this is how the entire company operates. The Paycom system is so efficiently arranged and its attention to detail is mind blowing. All employees know that there is an assigned time for everything (time to arrive, time to have lunch, time to participate in team-building events, etc) and they just know to go... no questions, confusion or resistance.
Gavin DeGraw
Members of senior staff and the CEO, Chad, each gave speeches on Paycom's success with statistics and personal antidotes. The only thing I remember is Chad telling us that Paycom started before the majority of companies had Internet access for their employees. So when he was making his sales pitches to their very first clients, he would bring AOL trial cds so he could install Internet on the client's computer in order to show them Paycom's online software. How crazy is that? Can you even imagine a company with no Internet? And think of how that was only a mere twenty years ago? Anyway, after the presentation, Gavin DeGraw took to the stage. I enjoyed his music in the early 2000s and was pretty excited to watch him perform. He put on a good show--sang well and engaged the audience. He performed all of his singles as well as a few other songs. At the end of his set, he thanked Paycom for inviting him to the celebration and joked that Paycom must financially stable because the company could afford to hire him & his band and they are
expensive. LOL A few of Wes's friends found is in the audience (we were toward the back) and invited us to sit with them in the front row. While taking their final bows, the band was tossing out memorabilia and I caught the drummer's drum stick! Thanks for getting us to the front row, Tara & Misty!
Flo Rida (I just realized that his name spells Florida, which upon Googling, I learned that's where he's from.)
A slide show featuring Paycom's prominent clients and staff wishing the company a happy "birthday" played during the set change. Then the entire atmosphere changed as Flo Rida started to perform. All of the previous structure and seriousness flew out the window as employees, management and even the CEO himself hopped on stage to sing and dance with Flo Rida. The party had begun. And the most impressive part was that there was no alcohol involved. LOL You can't really tell from the photos, but Flo Rida has a shiny sparkly wardrobe. Literally everything he wore was studded in diamonds... his shirt, sunglasses and jewelry, which is expected, but also his pants and shoes were outfitted in bling. He performed all of his singles as well as some other artists' songs. He ended the night with the song
My House and changed the lyrics to "Welcome to Paycom". That song was stuck in my head for the following week. 😐 Paycom's CEO, Chad, sprayed sparkling cider (some say it was champagne) into the audience and was carried like a rock star through the audience on one of Flo Rida's security guard's shoulders. Both Chad and Flo Rida triumphantly left the stage signalling that the party was over.
Being the curmudgeon that I am, I silently wondered if Paycom had a city noise permit for this party. Flo Rida performed well past my bedtime (and I assumed the neighborhood's bedtime as well). Wes said that the next day, Paycom's social media was flooded with noise complaints. Hahahahaha! Neighborlyness aside, it was a fun night and every generous of Paycom to offer a celebration of that scope to its employees. Congrats on 20 years of success and here's to twenty more! 🍻
