Holiday Party '23
Last Wednesday I found myself back at Drive Shack for the annual audiology party. This was the first I had been to since our practice joined this corporation eight years ago. Prior, the bash was held at the audiology director's home in Broward county. It was always on a weekend when I was out of town or otherwise engaged.
Drive Shack is a place where you can use drivers and woods to chip golf balls from three different levels. It was my third time there and the second this year, following a night last summer of continuing education from one of the hearing aid manufacturers. We had our office holiday party there in 2019 . Then and now the food was, eh. It's as if they barely try. Perhaps correctly assuming that folks won't care. You go for the attractive facility and big swings. The social interaction (similar to bowling) as you wait your turn on the artificial green. The mac and cheese and pork were edible but awfully dry. There were also these disc shaped fried chicken things. The staff, however is very attentive and prompt. Quick to provide the two free drinks we were allotted.
Most of the attendees were unfamiliar to me. Many were from the home office south of us and new to the company. Several audiologists have moved on. One opened his own practice last year. I hung with two I work with and another I've known for nearly twenty years; she was the extern at my previous clinic back in 2008/'09. Always fun to catch up and reminisce. The most entertaining bit of the night was meeting a woman in the billing department who regularly sends e-mails alerting us to clerical errors or omissions. Some of us get more than others. Relievedly, she was very down to earth and we were able to joke with her about her verbose and frequent missives. I had previously suspected that she wasn't human, maybe a new AI program.
One somber note (regular readers note there is always at least one). As I spoke to one audiologist with whom I used to work, I recalled that she was once good friends with one of our ENT's medical assistants, one who became an Internet sensation in 2019/'20 after her perfect drive was captured and accompanied by another co-worker's "Daaaamn, Jenna!" heard in the background. In case you missed it...
Jenna even won a spot on the ABC program "Holey Moley" in 2022.
Anyhow, she and said audiologist were inseparable for a time, but then the latter got a boyfriend and the former felt she was getting shafted. Or something. They fell out. Always sad to see these things. Both are now married. Jenna (who left our practice almost three years ago) only a month or so back. Life moved on, as always.
We only got one round of chipping in before a raffle and white elephant gift exchange concluded the evening. Lots of fun. I got an Alexa Dot that I not sure if I'm keeping. The smartspeaker thing still spooks me. The audiologist I just spoke of coincidentally selected the gift bag I threw together in a Barnes & Noble parking lot an hour or so before. Bless whoever came up with the concept of gift bags and tissue paper. She seemed to like the wine glass holder you can use in the shower and the corkscrew. Oh, and the peppermint bark tea.
So, my first audio party. Fun night. Thanks as always for reading, invisible audience!
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