Celebrate Your Birthday at Work Like a Dutchie
An American in The Netherlands once ran into a colleague whose birthday was coming up. The colleague happened to mention he was on his way to purchase the cake he’d take to work to share with everyone. The American was dumbfounded. “What do you mean? You’re buying your own cake?”
We have always known that moving to a new country for work comes with its own list of minor and major moments of cultural shock and missteps; like not taking off your hat or shoes in the right place, using the wrong word to ask for the toilet and ending up in the garden, or accidentally offending an authority figure and spending the night in jail. Normal stuff.
But, buying your own cake? What’s next, having people congratulate your parents instead of you?
Yup. That’s a thing too.
For the Dutch, birthdays are a big deal and yours will not pass unnoticed. At Dephion, it will most certainly not be forgotten. We’ve got a calendar for that.
And yet, whether this tradition is new to you or not, we do things slightly differently at The Cubic. The Hospitality team takes care of bringing to the office enough birthday treats for everyone in your honor. Fruit skewers? Donuts? Brownies? Cake? Vlaai? You choose and they’ll make it happen.
On top of that, if you belong to the Content team, you might just get to see the rise of the banana. That’s right, we are literally talking about the long yellow berry (and yes! Bananas are berries!). The raising of the banana in the air by one of your own sends out the signal. Prepare to hear the angelic voices of your teammates as they serenade you with their unique interpretation of Happy Birthday. And by prepare, we mean bring earplugs.
Members of the Art team will get a fun hand-crafted birthday card designed and written by Kim and Christina, and signed by the rest of their colleagues that is sure to become a treasure to proudly keep on display.
The Code Team has found its own birthday fairy in Yordan, who may just surprise the birthday person with a little something. “They have helped me grow a lot during the past three years. I have learned a lot from them and I wanted to give something back as a token of appreciation,” he says.
So, when that time of the year comes and you begin to feel older and wiser, remember to celebrate your birthday like a Dutchie… and like a Dephioneer.