Conference quark::human_relations-v1

    I've been to some wild office parties, but none where any sex went on.
    Just a group of good Digital friends, drinking more than we should,
    shooting tequila, playing loud music, having food fights (outside of
    course) and generally being had by a good time. 
    
    I believe the office parties you see in the movies are purely fiction;
    I can't imagine behaving the way they do in those and facing the
    people at work on Monday.
    
    If anyone disagrees, I'd be interested to hear...
    
    						Pat

	Ok, I'll admit that things are pretty tame around here (Massachusetts
    that is), but I also know that it's been around 15 years since the infamous
    Woodstock rock concert - where documentary film proves that sexual behavior
    of that era was much less inhibited (for example).  Remember the Hippies?

	My theory would be that office parties of the early to middle seventies
    (which I date as the peak of the counter-culture movement), would have been
    much wilder in terms of sexual behavior.  Alot of this would depend upon
    what sort of office we are talking about.  Having worked in the film
    industry, for example, I can assure you that alot of these wild parties
    seen in films are based on actual occurrances (film industry parties).

	It's been five years (seems like yesterday) since I was out in 
    California, however, and I imagine that even California has since
    experienced the "cold-shower phenomenon" of the current post-sexual-
    revolution era.  My interest lies in discovering how wild things ever
    got at office parties during the early to middle seventies, and/or
    whether I am correct in this sort of historical analysis.  If I am
    right, then where were the real hot-spots? (no pun intended).

						-DAV0

    	I think the computer industry in general, DEC in particular,
    is not the best place to look for wild office parties. Try Madison
    Ave, or the fashion industry. (just guessing, really)
    
    	Ed

        As a long-haired hippy who was at Woodstock, I saw a couple
        hundred thousand people, a mess of mud, a bunch of rock stars,
        some Hog Farmers, a couple of helicopters bringing in doctors
        and supplies, lots of trucks bringing in food for a half million
        people, cars crawling along bumper-to-bumper covered with
        people, a lot of craziness, drug dealers and drugs, heard a lot
        of music, and succesfully told the rain to go away. I didn't see
        a naked anything 'til I got back and read about us. 
        
        As far as I can tell, Woodstock and the '60s were just as tame
        as anyplace else with the exception of blatant open drug
        dealing. The coverage it got is about as accurate as the Playboy
        office party cartoons, I'd say. 
        
        JimB. 

	Sorry, I shouldn't make it seem like I'm "looking" for these parties,
    I should have said (re. .0) "...that I have been expecting to find all my
    life".  I'm afraid this is one case where curiosity killed the cat (the
    cat being the one who actively looked for and found this sort of group).
    Apparently these "cats" are not going to talk about anything here and I
    can't say I blame them.

	As far as the fashion industry, you're right there (I forgot about
    this segment of society), I've also worked in this arena, but my involve-
    ment was even less of what I considered to be a "real-job", so what I
    experienced was probably too superficial to qualify as a general assessment.

	I guess what I'm really thinking about here is sort of a historical
    pendulum which has historically swung back and forth from liberal right
    to conservative left in something like 20-year cycles.  Following this
    model, I would say we are still in full swing to the right - but it's hard
    to say just how far it will go this time.  By the way, my 20 year number
    isn't based upon anything other than a guesstimation at this point, but
    I seem to remember hearing other cyclicly-related patterns based upon a
    20-year cycle, so I'm throwing this one out to the lions to see what
    happens.

	It would be nice to get some other historical perspectives on this
    subject so that we might be able to fine tune theroies a bit.  Try to
    be objective, don't get anybody in trouble here (i.e. don't mention any
    names - unless, of course, you are announcing an upcoming Wild Office
    Party).

							-DAV0

    p.s.  It was brought to my attention that most DECies probably don't
	understand what an "Office" is.

re. -1,

>	I guess what I'm really thinking about here is sort of a historical
>    pendulum which has historically swung back and forth from liberal right
>    to conservative left in something like 20-year cycles.  Following this

	Sorry, lost in dichotomies again.  This should have been "liberal left
    to conservative right".

						-DAV0

    p.s.  Note my nickname:  DAVe - just to the left of center (0).

    With reference to .5: I remember the '60s on the west coast.  The
    Hashbury was a series of dirty coffee shops with drugged-out looking
    people waiting for something to happen.  The sexual revolution was
    an occasional soapboxer on a street corner trying to shock passerbys
    by telling women that they should freely engage whomever they wish.
    Berserkly, specifically Telegraph Ave.  was usually either a) filled
    with tear gas, b)filled with druggers and bikers, or c) so dirty
    that I didn't care to go there.  Maybe I missed something...
    
    I have a friend who swears he attended Woodstock as a member of
    a group from IBM!
    
    Reminds me of a story told by Robin Knox Johnson, the first person
    to sail solo, nonstop, around the world.  He was giving his lecture
    to a group of old British Cape Horn sailors, and told them of how
    he negotiated Cape Horn (notorious for storms) in relatively calm
    weather.  After the lecture, on of the old sailors came up to him
    an whispered: "Be careful about spreading that story around, lad,
    we don't want to ruin our reputations!"
    

re. 15.9,

	I hadn't really thought about keyboard keys, but this model may
    help explain how it works a little better...


	Idealist		   +y				Righteous
	Left			    |				Right
				    |
				    |
			-x	 DAV0	      +x
			 ----------------------
				    |
				    |
	Radical			    |				Reactionary
	Left			   -y				Right

    
    	Ah yes, Woodstock. The ole water water everywhere but not
    a bit to drink routine. August, 1969 I was living in Newburgh
    NY working at IBM in East Fishkill when a friend asked me if I
    wanted to check out this concert over in White Lake. White Lake
    I said, where the hell is White Lake? No sweat, he said. it's
    about 17 miles past Monticello we'll be there in no time. Five
    hours later... Bethel NY. We were stuck, no turning around now.
    Cars were abandoned all over the hiway back to the race track
    in Monticello. People were actually walking 17 miles or more to
    experience a festival of music, art and humanity, MASS HUMANITY.
    What a trip...
    
    	Well I could go on and on about those three days back in August
    of 1969, suffice it to say the events there, changed my life. What
    a trip...
    
    Cary...

    	I missed Woodstock, along with most of the Woodstock clone concerts
    of the (1969-1972) era.  The first rock concerts I began going to weren't
    until late 1972 and they changed my life as well, but it seemed as though
    each concert I attended was a little more tame than the one before it
    until now where there is little difference between a rock concert and
    a night out at the bars or even the ballet.

    	This is another interesting parallel worth exploring to determine
    the existence of the seemingly mythical "Wild Office Party" of the late
    sixties - early to mid seventies era which I had so assumed was the
    standard.  Could it be that Iowa City, Iowa along with the greater
    midwestern (Chicago) area is/was actually wilder than the rest of
    the world when it comes to Office Parties?

    						-DAV0


    p.s.  Ever wonder why the midwest is such a fertile farming region?

It's been a while since this topic was active, but I'm just catching up,
so... 

Re. WOP ("wild" office parties): Terminology - "office" party suggests to
me a party held at the office, e.g. the infamous christmas parties as
depicted in Playboy cartoons.  In my experience, office gatherings at DEC
have all been pretty tame.  (Well, there was this sales meeting I heard
about...) If we include house parties of deccies, there were a few back in
the early-middle 70's that I was aware of where some of the attendees wound
up in bed with one another during the course of the evening.  Not very wild
by Hollywood standards, I guess.  Don't know if it's the calendar decade or
mine that makes things seem quieter now.  Perhaps the age group that's
doing the partying now isn't doing the talking (or noting). 

I've also wondered if there are statistical differences in this sort of
thing by industry, i.e. computer people vs. others.  A friend in a
sociological profession told me, only half-jokingly, that most everyone was
expecting to get laid (or at least propositioned) at conferences.  This
hasn't generally been the case at computer industry conferences in my
experience (or have I not been paying attention?)  Usually, it seems that
hackers are too busy hacking to fool around. 

Re. Woodstock:  Ah, yes.  I too "was there", trudging through the mud and
miles of motionless cars.  I did actually reach the stage area, but gave up
and headed home the next morning because of the hassles. It was only
driving home and listening to reports on the radio that I realized that
this was a "significant event" and I must really have had a swell time.
Still, as the legend grew in the succeeding years, I got a lot of milage
out of being able to say "I was there". 

Re. Berkeley, etc: There were times in the late '60s when it was pretty
exciting and before things had become too ugly or drug-stupified.  I
recently came across a publication of the Sexual Freedom League that
was handed to me on the streets of Berkeley in the late '60s.  It seems
wonderfully fresh and even naive in view of all this history since then,
and it has some beautiful reproductions of detailed pencil sketches.

Yes, I guess the pendulum is swinging to the right.  Last week's Newsweek
was busy declaring the demise of Playboy and the bunny empire in the wake
of the Meese Police and changing interests.  I've observed that the
characteristics that we tend to identify with a particular decade seem to
come to the fore around the middle of the decade -- e.g., most of the '60's
stuff actually happened between about 1965 and 1975.  Perhaps what we're
now seeing is to be the real character of the '80s. 

	Now we're talking!  This is exactly what I had hoped to hear from
    somebody (anybody)!  You can't believe how good it is to hear from
    someone else who can relate to this strange turn of events in recent
    years.

	At times (since moving to New England), I have felt as though
    there must have been a giant space-ship which came and picked-up all
    of the wild folks from earlier times and taken them all away to some
    other planet, and that I had somehow over-slept and missed out (easy
    to do when you're an All-Night-Noter - ANN - DEC acronym #43278).

	I suppose some of it is that college life (in Iowa City at least),
    and Hollywood, and Chicago, all rank as some pretty wild places to
    have an office party (I did work during most of high school and
    college as well as my semi-real jobs after college).

	However, I do still think it's more than just the computer industry,
    (although a couple was recently fired somewhere for being caught having
    sex late at night on company property - how ridiculous this would have
    seemed five years ago!), I think it's that general trend which has hit
    everyone everywhere.  Just going by rumors so far, anyone else care to
    comment?

							-DAV0

    p.s.  just back from a semi-wild semi-office party (Friday night at
	the Sheraton Boxborough), where were you?

    I was there, pretty tame is more like it.There have been wild office
    parties, however, names held to protect the guilty!
    
    -Lucifer	`   '
             ^	 * *
    	     (__  v
    		 ^v^

I suspect you did as well in Iowa as anyone did in the east or west coast
schools.  The best stories I've heard from friends and acquaintances about
"wild" college life come from the likes of St. Louis, Michigan, etc. 
Fer sher, if you want real social boredom, just go to any of the
engineering schools (MIT, Cal Tech, etc.)

< Note 15.5 by HUMAN::BURROWS "Jim Burrows" >
Hummm will try again!
I'm new at this so please bear with me.
Couldn't take reading about Woodstock without
putting in my two cents.
Just joined the company about a month ago and
find it very refreshing from the previous company
I worked for..
Any how..I was at Woodstock,and Walkins Glen,plus
a few others in Canada.
It was great! And I did see a lot of nudity.But
it wasn't in a sexual way if you know.It was sort
of natural.People bathing and trying to stay cool
especially at Walkins Glen..It was hot! They kept
spraying us with huge hoses from water trucks.Plus
we were starving!! Hooray for the hog farmers!
There was sex,yes but not orgys.
As for office parties.There is a time and place for
everything..
Later.

Cal.


 

ex
ex




 
done
done
										  			
             -< The grass is always green when the media shows it >-

        As a long-haired hippy who was at Woodstock, I saw a couple
        hundred thousand people, a mess of mud, a bunch of rock stars,
        some Hog Farmers, a couple of helicopters bringing in doctors
        and supplies, lots of trucks bringing in food for a half million
        people, cars crawling along bumper-to-bumper covered with
        people, a lot of craziness, drug dealers and drugs, heard a lot
        of music, and succesfully told the rain to go away. I didn't see
        a naked anything 'til I got back and read about us. 
        
        As far as I can tell, Woodstock and the '60s were just as tame
        as anyplace else with the exception of blatant open drug
        dealing. The coverage it got is about as accurate as the Playboy
        office party cartoons, I'd say. 
        
        JimB. 

     Whoops!!!   Now that someone helped me!!!
    
    We'll proceed.
    
      thanks Conni
    
    Cal.
    !
    

re: -1,
	
	No problem.  I've only been noting for a few months myself and
    I seem to remember omiting the /NOEXTRACT command with my first REPLY
    as well.  Believe me, this utility is a piece of cake to use once you
    get the hang of it.

	As to the search for Wild Office Parties...well, obviously people
    out there either aren't telling any secrets over the net (not too foolish),
    or they are suffering from a mental block.  I can't say I blame them for
    either of these reactions (you have to guess which I am doing).

	As a result, I have decided that I am asking too much to be playing
    a pubic (ooops, I mean public) version of "spin-the-bottle" here, so I
    have decided to instead focus on some of the "safe" aspects of Wild
    Office Parties.

	How about massage?  Does anyone know of any recent office party
    which featured various levels of massage by members at the party?  Or,
    better yet, does anyone either recieve or provide an occasional head,
    neck, or back-rub, etc., to fellow worker(s) on the job?  Is this an
    unusual event, or is it so common that it goes unnoticed?

	The reason I ask is that massages are so common in the film/acting
    profession that n'er a day goes by without getting (or at least witnessing)
    at least one massage to some degree or another.  It helps a great deal to
    relieve stress, and is a very basic exercise in most acting workshops.

    	I personally like the "rake and pull" method of head massage.  This
    works by running your fingers through someone's hair gently, and then
    slowly wrapping your fingers around clumps of hair so that you can then
    sqeeze your fingers into a fist and effectively pull on the hair in a
    very slow and progressive movement - finally letting go and starting
    over with a new rake movement.

	Any comments?

							-Dav0

    hmmmmmm, is it safe to answer??  :-)
    
    I have received and have given messages at work.  I've been here
    long enough with some of the others to know there is nothing "sexual"
    associated with it.  Without mentioning names, there are a few people
    who can see it on my face when I'm getting tensed-out.  Without
    a word they'll just come up and start massaging my trapezius and
    neck.  I usually say something encouraging like "I'll give you an
    hour to stop that"  :-).  Likewise, if I see them having a rough time,
    will return the favor; no sweat.  I'll tell you, the massages have
    been lifesaving a couple of times...
    

    In other environments I've been in, the casual back or head massage
    has been a common and wonderful "added touch".  It would be nice
    to have it at work here, both to have it done to me, and for me to
    feel accepted enough to offer it to someone else.  Unfortunately,
    our office doesn't do it yet.
    
    I question your claim that "there is nothing sexual
    associated with it".
    
    I am quite capable of giving or receiving a casual massage without
    allowing it to lead to more sexual involvement.  However, it still
    seems sexual to me.  I do feel mildly turned on when receiving a
    message, and I do tend to only offer massages to those that I feel
    at least some sexual attraction towards.  Also, my willingness and
    desire to continue massaging someone rather than lose interest,
    become tired, or become bored, seems to be fueled by my excitement
    (again, mild, not hot) of having the privilege and enjoyment of
    touching them.
    
    Gee, maybe this needs a new topic.  "Wild office parties" isn't
    quite what we're talking about here !
    
    /Eric

re: .22,

	I suppose you're right about massage deserving it's own topic.
    Placing it (or anything else, for that matter) in the "Wild Office Parties"
    topic merely connotes a sexual association which may be unwarranted for
    the sake of the art of massage.

	I probably won't get to it right away, but if someone would like to
    discuss massage, then by all means start-up a topic!

	Anyway, back to Wildness...anyone else have an idea for this topic?

							-Dav0

I would say that the _Playboy_ wild office parties bear as much
 resemblance to reality as the _Playboy_ photographs.  Perhaps
  if you brought an airbrush to the next party . . .

The only places I know of who have wild office parties with sex
 and all that stuff are somewhat-left-of-center professional
  political activist groups.
   <_Jym_>

	Hmmmmm... I do have an airbrush...  maybe I should bring it to
    the H-R party tomorrow.  A little black-light paint and we could do
    some body painting in the nude.  This was something which we always
    joked around about doing, but never dared actually do.

	While I missed my father's 40th birthday (mainly because my brother
    and I got thrown out of the house for the evening), I discovered a
    few dabs of flourescent paint on the carpet the next morning and was
    met by a barrage of denials of "any knowledge of such activities".
    I guess I'll never know what exactly went down at THAT party, but ever
    since then I've been looking forward to *my* 40th birthday party!


							-davo

    p.s. just 11 years to go!

================================================================================
Note XXX.0                     Living dangerously!                       1 reply
JULIET::SCOTT_AN                                     11 lines   5-MAY-1988 18:22
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I've been to a few DEC parties, but never at the office.  That
    is a no no.  I agree with you, there is a time and place for
    everything.  As far as wild, they were, but no sex.  Maybe
    alot of flirting, but that's all.  Although, you never know who
    might have needed a ride home.
    
    I don't think there are too many sexy wild office parties.  I
    agree it would be difficult to face everyone on Monday.  Although,
    when drugs and alcohol are involved, I guess anything's possible.
    I'll stick to home videos with my boyfriend, I'd like to be around
    in five years and healthy!

    Darn!  I wanted to reply to this note when it was two years old,        
    but it looks like somebody snuck in here.
    
    IMHO with regards to Wild Office Parties:
    
    These were a combination of rumor, bragging, and a smidgeon of fact
    thrown in to make sound good.  Sure, Hollywood and certain industries
    have had WOP's, but this is nothing new.  Hollywood was almost shut
    down in the thirties because of them.  That, in my mind, comes closest
    to my definition of WOP (a party thrown by the office with major
    hanky-panky/wild times going on).  Outside of that mythical city,
    you won't find too many companies which will sponsor such parties.
    
    Something which is commonly mistaken for this is the private party
    at which several co-workers so up which power the old rumor mill.
    These parties are simply dependent on the people with whom one chums
    around with.
    
    jonathan------------------------------------------------------------0---

    The last two companies I worked for were famous for WOP!!! I had
    attended quite a few of these WOP's in which everyone got a bit
    drunk and flirted, talked dirty, took off from the office to wherever
    they ended up to.  Both companies were small. Although I personally
    did not take part in the screwing around scenes, I can say that
    I had good sources for finding out the nitty gritty of some of these
    little affairs.  With both companies the VP's were almost always
    the source of the fooling around. In fact I beleive that my not
    participating in all the events was definately the reason for my
    layoff at one place.  I enjoy partying, it does not matter with
    who, but will not let myself get that "quote, unquote" down and
    dirty about it.  The last place I worked for threw some fantastic
    office parties, usually for a specific holiday or occasion to
    compensate employees for their hard work and effort.  Every Christmas
    for example this particular company would throw a huge office party
    around Christmas as well as the usual party at a good Restaurant
    or so.  The office parties were either catered or everyone would
    pitch in and bring something.  The company would go out and buy
    cases and cases of beer and booze, we would hire entertainment,
    one year it was a belly dancer in which oe of the salesman danced
    and undressed to the dancers movements to a point (he left his skivvies
    on) and we all had a great time.  About a year or so after leaving
    both companies I had found out (from very reliable sources and my
    own knowledge of the people) that;  at one place a couple of people
    were found doing some very unusual (believe me when I say unusual)
    obscene things in some very funky far out places of the offices
    from time to time, not to mention quite a few involved to boot!
    (in one session that is!).  I am still in touch with a few people
    from the previous place and am informed that there are quite a few people
    who continue this behavior (1 salesman bringing a couple or so of
    the usual willing women to the usual hotel for a few hours "LUNCH?"
    so to speak).  Of this is a regular weekly thing involving more
    than 90% of the company.  I am not one to believe stories of this
    nature especially form a nudy magazine, but do know the people very
    well involved in these situations and most definately can say that
    some real life situations can put publications' stories to shame.
     These things occur more often than not, they usually involve a
    "click".  An outsider would have a very hard time pinpointing a
    potential situation right under their nose.  I look back and can
    see where these things more often than not did get out of hand (HA,
    HA no PUN intended) and at th time never even realised it going
    on right in front of me.  In fact I suspect there is a bit of it
    happening with some people I know here at DEC!  Well enough said
    for now.  Have a few good very juicy stories but am not sure if
    or how I should mention them!  Anyone interested in hearing about
    facts I can provide them.
    
    I can't be the only who has seen and heard of these things happening!!!
     Seriously, let's face it, these days there are too many people trying
    too HARD to get it, despite all the risks.  Just open your eyes,
    it's there.
    
    
    

No. you're not the only ones.  Ours were similar, although the parties
    were never at the office.  The people took off to do their "thing"
    and we all heard about it the following work day.  I was able to
    stay out of that sort of trouble.  I also almost got myself into
    that mess as well on an occation.(At my first party, I was so naive...)
    I do admit to flirting though.