The Christmas Party

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I guess this is special kind of a Christmas story. As I told Thad, a mine engineer friend of mine, I'm not sure the world is ready for this one but it is the season for forgiveness. Back in about 1980 the mine I worked at, and the associated mill, had a combined Christmas party at the newly opened Elko Convention Center. The Christmas party consisted of a big catered dinner, and few congratulatory speeches by management and an open bar. To the best of my knowledge open bars have gone away as too many employees over did and did not use a designated driver or stay at a hotel in town. But 1980 was a different time. With that said, I recall it being an exceptional Christmas party. The following Monday, my boss, the mill manger, called me in his office with a very serious voice. I sat in the chair in front of his desk waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop. Then he said that the director of the Convention Center was extremely upset with us. That one of our employees had wandered down to the administrative offices and defecated on their brand-new carpet right in front of the director's door. I sat there rather dismayed and understood why they would be upset. Then came the clincher, my boss said the director said that whoever did it was drinking Kahlua. I have to admit I never went around and asked any of the mine employees what they were drinking at the Christmas party. But every now and again when we would do a Root Cause Analysis for some mine incident, I would go back in time and think I don't know who it was but they were drinking Kahlua.

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