Today is National Boss Day, which means we’re basically supposed to suck up a little harder to your boss for the next 24 hours (you can just be a regular suck-up tomorrow). Every suck up knows that National Boss Day warrants a gift so find out what your boss is into. If you know your boss enjoys alcohol and you’re willing to take the risk, we can help you figure out what to do. If you aren’t sure if they’re booze drinkers, just think back to last year’s holiday party and you probably have your answer.
There is a fine line between showing your appreciation in an awesome way and crossing the employer-employee appropriate line. Here are some examples:
Good: Put a bottle of your boss’s favorite wine on her desk with a short note saying “Happy Boss’s Day. Thanks for everything you do.” Just enough sucking up to be appropriate.
Bad: Put a case of wine in your boss’s office and include a long letter about how cool she is with supporting diagrams and spreadsheets.
Good: If you have a small, close staff or department, talk to your co-workers about inviting your boss out for a casual happy hour. If boss accepts the invitation, buy her a drink. That means one. One drink.
Bad: Invite your boss out to happy hour – just you and her – and try to keep feeding her $2 kamikaze shots. This is a bad idea any day of the year.
Good: At the end of the workday, go into her office with your co-workers and have a short, but sweet Champagne toast. Make sure you send her a meeting invitation so that she doesn’t dip out early or get annoyed that you caught her off-guard.
Bad: At the end of the workday, roll a keg into her office unannounced and encourage her to do a keg stand. This is your office not a college dorm room.
Do you catch our drift? What you do will really depend on how well you know your boss and what kind of relationship you have. There are some bosses that would rather die than go out in public with their employees, but others like to show they’re “normal” and will happily join the company happy hour. Just use your common sense and show your boss your appreciation without going overboard.
Cheers to all bosses out there.