Every company I’ve ever worked at in America celebrates st. Patrick’s day. Could be worse, at least they aren’t celebrating Columbus Day. The guy who assisted in murdering all the native Americans.
America is where I lived. As well as the U.K. but wouldn’t expect paddy’s day celebrations there. They don’t even celebrate St George’s day there, to be fair.
I _would_ give a shit, but only in the literal sense. Mainly, as I try to follow the adage --
> Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime; that's why I poop, on company time
I assume the company are US founded /based, or is in some way heavily linked to the US. The top management based in the US?
I don't find it weird, worked for international companies, usually only impacts lunch menu.
Plenty of Irish companies celebrate Patrick's Day abroad.
I don't really think it's all that unusual. I remember working for a French company that did a bit of drinking around 14 juillet - wasn't a big deal, but they had a night out.
Also, all of out embassies/consulates. We had the light up random monuments abroad in green thing for a while.
Holiday days can be a good way to build relationships and boost morale, etc. Not like you are being asked to swear an oath.
Lots of bigger companies over here celebrate things like Diwali, 4th of July and a couple of others. It's an excuse to have a bit of fun and some different food in the canteen. If you're bothered by this you're probably not going to have too long a career there.
Some companies in the US have Paddy's Day parties. It didn't cause me any pain when I worked there. Same with Cinco de Mayo (though I don't think it's actually celebrated in Mexico, but I'm not sure). If you feel really bothered by it, don't go/file a complaint?
Where is the companies head quarters & or main customer base. If they are US company …well yea fine. Your way over thinking it
I’ve worked in Ireland for US HQ’d companies it’s not unusual. I’ve worked in the US at HQ’s and Diwali, St Patrick’s day, Chinese new year & others are “acknowledged “
in my experience American multinationals (especially tech) are very open to celebrating other cultures so if you approached the office manager types and said you wanted to the office to start acknowleding Diwali they would.
I have worked at a few of these places and they will fund a crazy amount of these cultural parties.
A lot of those same US tech companies have a day dedicated to Diwali too. Doesn't bother any of the locals.
So yeah I think it's weird that this bothers you.
"Am i weird in being bothered?" Yeah, you're getting paid to arse around and eat burgers or whatever, sounds cool to me.
I went to a Yank colleague's 4th July party in her home preCovid. It was SUCH craic. 10/10 highly recommend
But do they celebrate it in other offices?
4th July is an Independence Day in the USA but also their national day, and like Ireland has customs and culture associated with it that is recognised globally. Obviously you can’t do that for every country. I think it’s harmless fun, especially if it is an American company.
It does and its a Canadian company, lol. It's just an American themed dinner in the canteen really. Probably a hot dog and a burger on the menu with some freedom fries.
Yeah it's weird you're bothered by it. Also it's pretty obvious America has a much bigger influence on the Western world than India or any other country with Hollywood and television shows so not really comparable
If your org is HQ'd in the US then it's fair enough if they want to mark July 4. If you don't want to participate then wfh that day or take it off.
I've worked for a US company that had a presence in Ireland so they celebrated St Patrick's and we had cupcakes and a few balloons for July 4. Currently work somewhere 100% Irish but the canteen love to throw on a themed menu for Thanksgiving, Lunar New Year, Diwali, Poland's doughnut day etc.
Depends if it’s a US company or not I think.
Also celebrating 4th of July is not as arbitrary as something like India’s Independence Day American company or not for an Irish person.
We do have pretty close cultural ties to the states being in the Anglo sphere, diaspora and all that. Like cork used to fly confederate flags at their matches up until not that recently, which is pretty mad.
Most countries don’t really celebrate their national day and are more interested in other types of celebrations. Most international places I’ve worked have made an effort to include Chinese new year and Divali in some way
Once worked for a company did software for American hospitals, they took us out for lunch on July 4th. Didn't complain, it's a free lunch.
But if your company has a diversity and inclusion board you could maybe mention we should celebrate other countries where you have a large presence, such as India
I'd be delighted, but I'm from America originally, so it wouldn't be weird for me.
Seems a bit strange if the whole office is Irish or other nationalities bar American.
Yeah I think you are being weird about it. If there are a number of employees from one country they often celebrate holidays in the country where the group are based.
I can't wait for next week - no one in Canada will bother me on Monday and then the Americans will be quiet on Thursday and Fri.
My company is American and the US offices are closed on the 4th (plus all offices globally closed on the 5th for a company day off)
Our Belfast office is having a party on 4th but it’s more to do with our 10th anniversary. We had one last year too but we usually have some sort of party on the day preceding our global days off (5 in total)
The point of these holidays for an international company isn't celebrating every country's independence day, but celebrating days that are of the *most* significance to different cultures. For Indian employees that probably means observing Diwali and/or Holi rather than Independence Day or Republic Day. If there's a bias towards American holidays and other employees aren't getting recognition of days that are important to them that's something to be concerned about. But if July 4th is the only uniquely American celebration and other cultures are also getting recognition I don't see any reason to be bothered.
> If there's a bias towards American holidays and other employees aren't getting recognition of days that are important to them that's something to be concerned about
Yeah I think you just phrased quite well my sentiment. On the other hand, they _did_ hang around the office those strings was lots of small flags on them... reflecting many different nations.
Weird because I'm not American. I can remember one year they tried to get staff to wear all kinds of tat to celebrate it and most of us just refused.
I work in a hotel and I always have a laugh with our American guests who think that we celebrate it. They comical thing is that I say that I was on the losing side and it confuses them. Killarney does have a parade and celebrates it but honestly its milking the shit out of American tourists who just don't see it.
The American engineering college I went to celebrated St Paddy’s day more I imagine than 95% of the Irish do.
They’d always give us 2 or 3 days off school, calling it “Spring Recess.” But many students would skip that short week entirely. Many would in fact start drinking the Thursday *before* the week of 3/17, drink all the way through that week, and only stop drinking the Sunday after the holiday. They’d usually miss classes Monday and Tuesday the week after because they were still hung over. One of my lab partners admitted he didn’t have a single sober moment in 12 days.
There was a huge parade, a St. Paddy’s day king and queen elected from the SP court, which every frat and sorority sent delegates to. As a memorial of one of the original SP king’s girlfriend, who had dumped him that week, they got a portable swimming pool, filled it with everything imaginable, including raw sewage, and named it Alice. Honored delegates would be dunked in Alice, which would be something you could brag on among alumni for the rest of your life.
Pledges had to craft and carry shillelaghs everywhere, and upperclassmen would throw rubber snakes on the ground, which the pledges had to beat with their shillelaghs no matter the time, place, or circumstances.
It all got dialed back a bit when a guy was found dead in the front yard of his apartment the week of 3/17. It was never really clear whether he was dead when his friends dropped him off, or if he died while lying in the yard. Alcohol was what did it, basically. But by an odd coincidence, I ended up renting a room in grad school (different school) from that guy’s cousin, decades later, and the cousin said the deceased had been in a motorcycle accident almost a year prior, and the doctor’s said he’d never really recovered from that, and should never have been drinking.
Maybe some in Ireland make a bigger deal of it, but I can’t imagine it’s too many?
Maybe if you were English it would be a bit offensive, but otherwise it's just an excuse for cake. I would however suggest to HR about other national holidays.
One place I worked had a "cake day" every Thursday. They'd label it with some holiday from somewhere, but it was really just an excuse to have cake and chat to your work mates for a few minutes every week. It was great for morale, and communication.
Last month, the company I work for (same American vs Ireland HQ situation as you, by the looks of it) celebrated Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Now THAT'S weird.
Very weird. I'm guessing that although it's "company\_name Ireland", it's de facto an American company? If not, I'd be asking why? (But I'm like that, these things annoy me - my colleagues would probably give out to me for spoiling the party)
> it's de facto an American company?
What do you mean by that? As in, the overall ownership model? Then yes, the corporate structure (per my limited understanding) rolls up into US-based company.
I am surprised to hear that. I have worked for two American companies and have never had anything done over hear for it. Would you have many Americans on-site?
> Would you have many Americans on-site?
A few, not many. And they are all under some odd contract, where their employer is still the US-based legal entity rather than the Irish one, meaning salary is very, very high $$
A little weird, but I'd get over it. I would personally just play it down. I also work for a US subsidiary, we don't do any thing to celebrate, but quite a few meetings are cancelled because American participants are ooo.
I have been doing it years now, every 4th July it is doughnuts, hotdog’s, Berger’s, mac n cheese, flags, company meeting with the CEO rabbiting on about ”America is great and we are a great American company” with loads of whoops and yeeeehaaa’s and high fives. The company call is mandatory and held at like midnight for the folks in Asia and 6pm in Ireland. I hate it but I smile through the day, eat my free American buffet that often leads to a couple of free pints in the pub.
They do a smaller event for St Patricks day, but none of the Irish attend as we are all on a public holiday, it’s the same for India for their day. They do loads of other events like Eid, Swedish national day was a few weeks ago and we had cinnamon buns, the French Bastille day is usually baguettes from a deli and so on.
Nah, I think you're dead on it's a form of cultural imperialism in a social and economic way like the Americanism of popular culture.
They need to cop on and never forget that this is their tax haven but it will never be their country. They exist here only under sufferance as long as they contribute positive GDP figures.
[удалено]
Every company I’ve ever worked at in America celebrates st. Patrick’s day. Could be worse, at least they aren’t celebrating Columbus Day. The guy who assisted in murdering all the native Americans.
Dont tell Silvio that
The only reason he was so passionately out of character in that ep is because Paulie was sick. Syl DGAF in general.
Really? Never saw that outside Ireland.
In America, 100%
America is where I lived. As well as the U.K. but wouldn’t expect paddy’s day celebrations there. They don’t even celebrate St George’s day there, to be fair.
I _would_ give a shit, but only in the literal sense. Mainly, as I try to follow the adage -- > Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime; that's why I poop, on company time
As long as they are feeding and paying, no problem. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I assume the company are US founded /based, or is in some way heavily linked to the US. The top management based in the US? I don't find it weird, worked for international companies, usually only impacts lunch menu.
Take the free food and go on with your day. Unless they’re asking you to start saying the pledge of allegiance everyday, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Plenty of Irish companies celebrate Patrick's Day abroad. I don't really think it's all that unusual. I remember working for a French company that did a bit of drinking around 14 juillet - wasn't a big deal, but they had a night out.
> Plenty of Irish companies celebrate Patrick's Day abroad. Ah, I did not know that. That's cool!
Also, all of out embassies/consulates. We had the light up random monuments abroad in green thing for a while. Holiday days can be a good way to build relationships and boost morale, etc. Not like you are being asked to swear an oath.
Just eat some cake, wear a silly hat and photocopy your arse.
All at the same time?! :P
NOW it's a party!
No that would be ridiculous ew. But please post the results here, asking for a friend.
https://preview.redd.it/d9gm6o25m59d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e0297851ff440129eae44f715510a8e43738847
Doable.
They celebrate paddy's day. Any excuse for a party is my motto.
American's lick Irish arse not vice versa lol
I bet nobody licks yours
Stays clean bud (I work with Americans)
Music, food, and less time for work presumably?! Bring it on!
Lots of bigger companies over here celebrate things like Diwali, 4th of July and a couple of others. It's an excuse to have a bit of fun and some different food in the canteen. If you're bothered by this you're probably not going to have too long a career there.
Some companies in the US have Paddy's Day parties. It didn't cause me any pain when I worked there. Same with Cinco de Mayo (though I don't think it's actually celebrated in Mexico, but I'm not sure). If you feel really bothered by it, don't go/file a complaint?
Tbh it would all depend on whether or not they called it a Patty's Day party. If so, straight to HR.
Fair lol
Cinco de Mayo is *originally* Mexican, but I hear it’s more celebrated north of the border these days.
Where is the companies head quarters & or main customer base. If they are US company …well yea fine. Your way over thinking it I’ve worked in Ireland for US HQ’d companies it’s not unusual. I’ve worked in the US at HQ’s and Diwali, St Patrick’s day, Chinese new year & others are “acknowledged “
>Diwali, St Patrick’s day, Chinese new year & others are “acknowledged “ This is fairly standard in my experience.
Ha, I do tend to over-think things :) but in fairness, I haven't seen other holiday acknowledged, other than St Patrick's of course.
in my experience American multinationals (especially tech) are very open to celebrating other cultures so if you approached the office manager types and said you wanted to the office to start acknowleding Diwali they would. I have worked at a few of these places and they will fund a crazy amount of these cultural parties.
They don't seem at all interested in promoting Irish culture. There is a lot more festivals than St Patricks day
A lot of those same US tech companies have a day dedicated to Diwali too. Doesn't bother any of the locals. So yeah I think it's weird that this bothers you.
>edicated to Diwali too Also a bit weird
"Am i weird in being bothered?" Yeah, you're getting paid to arse around and eat burgers or whatever, sounds cool to me. I went to a Yank colleague's 4th July party in her home preCovid. It was SUCH craic. 10/10 highly recommend
fair enough, ours celebrates stuff from other countries too since most of the crew is international
I worked for a US credit card company about 23 years ago. They always had something on for the 4th July.
Does this actually bother you, or are you looking for something to moan about?
It's not a legit 4th of July celebration unless someone blows their hand off with fireworks.
Why not put forward celebration of Indian independent day
And a "thank Britain for all these independence day parties" party
To be fair Poppy Day sort of covers that.
That was a semi-random example. I am not Indian... but we do have a lot of people originally from India.
Yeah but if they want to select certain days it's going to piss people off. Either all or none imo
Is it an American company?
Simple question - do they celebrate St Patrick’s day?
Yes. But that makes perfect sense, as we're in Ireland, no?
But do they celebrate it in other offices? 4th July is an Independence Day in the USA but also their national day, and like Ireland has customs and culture associated with it that is recognised globally. Obviously you can’t do that for every country. I think it’s harmless fun, especially if it is an American company.
Ah now I get your question. No, I highly doubt it... then again, haven't been here for too long.
It does and its a Canadian company, lol. It's just an American themed dinner in the canteen really. Probably a hot dog and a burger on the menu with some freedom fries.
Free food and less obligation to work? Yes please.
Yeah it's weird you're bothered by it. Also it's pretty obvious America has a much bigger influence on the Western world than India or any other country with Hollywood and television shows so not really comparable
Like I worked for an American (most likely tech) company and was probably getting paid far better than the average Irish person.
>my office will have good fun: music, food Are you not getting paid to attend or something?
Attendance is optional :) I think many people prefer WFH, even if it means missing out on cake.
Once they don't celebrate the 12th of July you should be fine
If your org is HQ'd in the US then it's fair enough if they want to mark July 4. If you don't want to participate then wfh that day or take it off. I've worked for a US company that had a presence in Ireland so they celebrated St Patrick's and we had cupcakes and a few balloons for July 4. Currently work somewhere 100% Irish but the canteen love to throw on a themed menu for Thanksgiving, Lunar New Year, Diwali, Poland's doughnut day etc.
Meh don't overthink it, just enjoy the food and craic.
I feel great because in the Company I work for we get a free breakfast/lunch. F**k Yeah America
Work for an American company. Unfortunately no celebrations for July 4th. Shame, I wouldn't mind some American food.
Depends. Will Bill Pullman do his speech?
Would you *relax.*
It is strange, it is like blurring of Irish culture.
Yes, you're weird in being bothered. If less people cared about other peoples shit the world would be a better place.
> my office will have good fun: music, food and other American-themed stuff. You don't work for Lumon Industries by any chance, do you?
Depends if it’s a US company or not I think. Also celebrating 4th of July is not as arbitrary as something like India’s Independence Day American company or not for an Irish person. We do have pretty close cultural ties to the states being in the Anglo sphere, diaspora and all that. Like cork used to fly confederate flags at their matches up until not that recently, which is pretty mad.
Most countries don’t really celebrate their national day and are more interested in other types of celebrations. Most international places I’ve worked have made an effort to include Chinese new year and Divali in some way
We celebrate all the national days of our employees.
Once worked for a company did software for American hospitals, they took us out for lunch on July 4th. Didn't complain, it's a free lunch. But if your company has a diversity and inclusion board you could maybe mention we should celebrate other countries where you have a large presence, such as India
I'd be delighted, but I'm from America originally, so it wouldn't be weird for me. Seems a bit strange if the whole office is Irish or other nationalities bar American.
It already does, but it's an American company. So, whatever. There's some free food and cake, can't complain.
If they're American no problem, but silly if they're Irish. But roll on the free grub 😉
Yeah I think you are being weird about it. If there are a number of employees from one country they often celebrate holidays in the country where the group are based. I can't wait for next week - no one in Canada will bother me on Monday and then the Americans will be quiet on Thursday and Fri.
Nothing wrong with a bit of culture in the work place. Have fun and enjoy it, you are getting paid
Is the headquarters of the company in the US???
Our headquarters are in the US so we get a pizza if we come into the office. I will definitely be coming in never saying no to a pizza
A day is a day
I think there’s a bit of a difference between India Day and Independence Day. You’re probably working for an American company… so, yeah…
My company is American and the US offices are closed on the 4th (plus all offices globally closed on the 5th for a company day off) Our Belfast office is having a party on 4th but it’s more to do with our 10th anniversary. We had one last year too but we usually have some sort of party on the day preceding our global days off (5 in total)
The point of these holidays for an international company isn't celebrating every country's independence day, but celebrating days that are of the *most* significance to different cultures. For Indian employees that probably means observing Diwali and/or Holi rather than Independence Day or Republic Day. If there's a bias towards American holidays and other employees aren't getting recognition of days that are important to them that's something to be concerned about. But if July 4th is the only uniquely American celebration and other cultures are also getting recognition I don't see any reason to be bothered.
> If there's a bias towards American holidays and other employees aren't getting recognition of days that are important to them that's something to be concerned about Yeah I think you just phrased quite well my sentiment. On the other hand, they _did_ hang around the office those strings was lots of small flags on them... reflecting many different nations.
I wouldn't care. I'd like it even more if there's free drink.
Weird because I'm not American. I can remember one year they tried to get staff to wear all kinds of tat to celebrate it and most of us just refused. I work in a hotel and I always have a laugh with our American guests who think that we celebrate it. They comical thing is that I say that I was on the losing side and it confuses them. Killarney does have a parade and celebrates it but honestly its milking the shit out of American tourists who just don't see it.
The American engineering college I went to celebrated St Paddy’s day more I imagine than 95% of the Irish do. They’d always give us 2 or 3 days off school, calling it “Spring Recess.” But many students would skip that short week entirely. Many would in fact start drinking the Thursday *before* the week of 3/17, drink all the way through that week, and only stop drinking the Sunday after the holiday. They’d usually miss classes Monday and Tuesday the week after because they were still hung over. One of my lab partners admitted he didn’t have a single sober moment in 12 days. There was a huge parade, a St. Paddy’s day king and queen elected from the SP court, which every frat and sorority sent delegates to. As a memorial of one of the original SP king’s girlfriend, who had dumped him that week, they got a portable swimming pool, filled it with everything imaginable, including raw sewage, and named it Alice. Honored delegates would be dunked in Alice, which would be something you could brag on among alumni for the rest of your life. Pledges had to craft and carry shillelaghs everywhere, and upperclassmen would throw rubber snakes on the ground, which the pledges had to beat with their shillelaghs no matter the time, place, or circumstances. It all got dialed back a bit when a guy was found dead in the front yard of his apartment the week of 3/17. It was never really clear whether he was dead when his friends dropped him off, or if he died while lying in the yard. Alcohol was what did it, basically. But by an odd coincidence, I ended up renting a room in grad school (different school) from that guy’s cousin, decades later, and the cousin said the deceased had been in a motorcycle accident almost a year prior, and the doctor’s said he’d never really recovered from that, and should never have been drinking. Maybe some in Ireland make a bigger deal of it, but I can’t imagine it’s too many?
I find any office mandated fun to be cringy as best to dangerous (drinking e.g Xmas party) at worst. I'd put it on the cringy side .
Maybe if you were English it would be a bit offensive, but otherwise it's just an excuse for cake. I would however suggest to HR about other national holidays. One place I worked had a "cake day" every Thursday. They'd label it with some holiday from somewhere, but it was really just an excuse to have cake and chat to your work mates for a few minutes every week. It was great for morale, and communication.
Personally, I'd be happier if they waited another ten days for Bastille Day.
Will they put guns in the party bags? 🎇
Last month, the company I work for (same American vs Ireland HQ situation as you, by the looks of it) celebrated Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Now THAT'S weird.
Hah, paid to connect/team-build over tan bashing. Sign me up.
I'd say fuck that when they're directly helping kill women n children in Palestine.
Very weird. I'm guessing that although it's "company\_name Ireland", it's de facto an American company? If not, I'd be asking why? (But I'm like that, these things annoy me - my colleagues would probably give out to me for spoiling the party)
> it's de facto an American company? What do you mean by that? As in, the overall ownership model? Then yes, the corporate structure (per my limited understanding) rolls up into US-based company.
Yes. The "mother company" is American. So I suppose you have to suck it up then...it would be like an Irish company in the US celebrating Paddy's Day.
You are bothered that an American owned company is celebrating 4th of July? You are being very weird. Just keep quite and enjoy the cake
I am surprised to hear that. I have worked for two American companies and have never had anything done over hear for it. Would you have many Americans on-site?
> Would you have many Americans on-site? A few, not many. And they are all under some odd contract, where their employer is still the US-based legal entity rather than the Irish one, meaning salary is very, very high $$
Other American themed stuff? I'd stay away, they could hire a madman with a gun to come in and shoot half of yee
A little weird, but I'd get over it. I would personally just play it down. I also work for a US subsidiary, we don't do any thing to celebrate, but quite a few meetings are cancelled because American participants are ooo.
As an American this seems a bit weird even to me, but idk, as long as everyone’s enjoying themselves I guess.
It's odd. Low level cultural imperialism
Embarrassed, this is Ireland not America.
Their nationalism is a problem...
I have been doing it years now, every 4th July it is doughnuts, hotdog’s, Berger’s, mac n cheese, flags, company meeting with the CEO rabbiting on about ”America is great and we are a great American company” with loads of whoops and yeeeehaaa’s and high fives. The company call is mandatory and held at like midnight for the folks in Asia and 6pm in Ireland. I hate it but I smile through the day, eat my free American buffet that often leads to a couple of free pints in the pub. They do a smaller event for St Patricks day, but none of the Irish attend as we are all on a public holiday, it’s the same for India for their day. They do loads of other events like Eid, Swedish national day was a few weeks ago and we had cinnamon buns, the French Bastille day is usually baguettes from a deli and so on.
Nah, I think you're dead on it's a form of cultural imperialism in a social and economic way like the Americanism of popular culture. They need to cop on and never forget that this is their tax haven but it will never be their country. They exist here only under sufferance as long as they contribute positive GDP figures.