Operation Ditch The Work Party

Do you ever have to go to one of those functions where you really don't want to but you feel obligated and so you drag yourself to the party anyway? Dave's employer host these amazing work Christmas parties every year. The kind I should be grateful for. Last year it was at a beautiful winery and this year he rented a cruise boat for a dinner on the waters of Seattle's harbor. But instead of being grateful I begged Dave to not make me go. I don't know a sole. And even if I have met someone once or twice for a few minutes. There is only a few minutes of possible conversation. Everyone has their own friends to sit by. Everyone is drinking. And I feel like we are impostors in their world. Last year we had the awesome excuse of having a three day old infant. We stayed for 30 minutes and then bowed out. This year there was no excuse.

My plan:
We were almost to Seattle when it hit me. We could board, make all the necessary hello's, small talk included, and then sneak off the boat before it left the dock. I thought it was brilliant. People probably wouldn't even know we had left...like I said we are not the life of the party. So Dave agreed to play it by ear. We socialized for about an hour and then went to plan our escape. Problem #1: there is only one way off the boat. Problem #2: Dr. Hansen (Dave's employer) is standing guard at the entrance waiting to greet late comers. We didn't exactly want Dr. Hansen to know we were bailing. So walking off the boat in his presence wasn't an option. So we hid in the coat check area after telling the crew that by no means were they allowed to sail off into the sunset with us on board. It was so funny to see the crew get involved in our heist. The receptionist gave us a live feed on Dr. Hansen's whereabouts. She even went to so far as to save us from being discovered. He started walking right for us and she jumped out from behind the counter and asked him to precede up the stairs to the top deck via a different route. Then we bolted and ran the whole way up the slippery gangplank, in order to make it to safety before Dr. Hansen made it to the top deck and had a clear view of our escape.

So what was looking like a truly horribly lame afternoon turned into a spontaneous getaway. I loved it. I thrive on sneakiness. Dave looked at me and said, "sometimes you are so devious it scares me." Or something like that... and it made me smile. I like to remind him that he needs to always be on his toes.