staff night out

About 3 weeks ago, I posted a flyer listing tonight as "Staff Night Out" at Chili's. I promised to pay $10 towards everyone's bill. I also announced this information, sans a date, at our staff meeting in August. How did this attempt at appreciation go? poor, por, PoOrLy! Why do you think people didn't show?

2 out of 3 members of my day staff came. That's a plus. Even if the idea is fundamentally flawed, the people I work with the most showed up. The missing person RSVPed but canceled today through someone else. She's on vacation (in town); I'm not that surprised. Two people are at work. Perhaps I should have made a special attempt to invite them and promise PRN coverage while they were away? That's what we did in the past. I shouldn't have assumed they knew we'd do it again. One person told me it's been busy for him, another had some family things to deal with on tonight. One person from my weekend shift came and someone that works with our clients w/o actually being my staff came. More than anything, I did this for my evening, overnight, and weekend workers. I see them the least and have the opportunity to do things for my day staff most anytime. Only one person from my targeted group came. Should I have recruited for this like a charitable event? Should I have begged to give away my money? Was it personal; do they dislike me? Was it because the event was half-ass as I only offered to pay about 50-75% of their bill, depending on what they ordered? Was it because it's not pay week and they are broke? Pay week is often considered in the planning but tonight was the only Friday I'm available this month. * sigh *

The five people that did come were very nice. They repeatedly thanked me and said things like "this was nice" and "great idea". They said they had fun. Maybe. Whatever. It was a token, right? I tried to offer a token of appreciation and I suppose it was seen even though few people took it. The perk for those that attended is that I bought shared appetizers for all since I didn't have to pay as much as anticipated based on the idea. Truthfully, I could have covered the whole table because less than half my staff showed.

Mood: Like a failure

What's next: More wine, facebook, and electronic gaming

Good Night, World.