This Halloween Can't Be Trumped.

PREFACE: (As I wrote in a previous post) my picture was in the Statesman from the Utah State v. BYU football game. I was painted blue and holding a sign that said: "Make the world a better place, punch a Cougar in the face." (haha, my friend Cassidy actually made it up and I thought it was clever so I decided to hold it in an attempt to get on the big-screen.) So my co-worker, Rick, is a big Aggie fan and loved that I was in the paper so he decided to hang it up in the office. (We work in the marketing department at Harris Research, Inc.- Chem-Dry & N-Hance) I knew my boss, Ed, graduated from BYU- but he has a great sense of humor, so while he teased me a little... he wasn't offended.

Remember this background info...it comes into play later in the story.
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At work, we had a costume party and I heard there was a money prize for the best costumes. Naturally, I had to think of something creative. I looked online for a few ideas but nothing stuck out to me. Then I remembered a failed idea from last year. So I did some re-engineering and came up with a new idea: a skydiver. But in order for it to be winning idea, I needed to go all out and kick it up a notch from last year's attempt. After a week of brainstorming and 2.5 hours of shopping/creating, my costume was complete.

It turned out we were about 15 minutes late to the party, which was actually to our advantage because we made a grand entrance. Everyone loved it. For the contest we stood on the stage and everyone cheered to determine the finalists. Our main competition was the Shawns. They were a Mexican & his pinata. Her costume was SO amazing and creative. It took forever to make because they individually taped bright colored paper all over as sweatsuit and she looked just like a real, live pinata! The best part was when Shawn hit her with a stick, she released a bunch of candy out of her sweater. It was hilarious, especially since little kids flocked to pick it up. haha...so then it was narrowed down to the top 3 and we all had to walk the runway. Chris hoisted me on his Snuggie cloud shoulders and ran across the stage so my parachute gave the illusion of being filled with wind. Everyone laughed.

So then it was announced... "In 3rd place, all the way from China, the Geisha. In 2nd place, all the way from Mexico... the Mexican & his pinata. And in 1st place, all the way from heaven, the skydiver!" It was so exciting!! Thanks to my generous workplace...and my creative idea... we won $100!




But now you are probably thinking, so what was the point of my background story at the beginning? Let me tell you...

As I scanned the crowd of fellow co-workers I started to notice a trend in a few costumes...BYU gear. But I also saw a Ute fan, so I didn't think much of it. But then I looked closer and realized they all had black eyes. Hmm...Weird. And then it hit me (no pun intended)... my boss and all the high-up executives of Harris Research, Inc. were dressed as BYU fans with black eyes because of MY sign in the paper! I giggled with embarrassment, but this was just the beginning.

I glanced up to the big screen and soon saw my photo from the newspaper and then all the employees looking at me. So they gave everyone a little background info and called me to the front. The CEO gave a speech about how you should always follow through with what you say... and how if you say something you should be able to back it up. "So, you said you wanted to make the world a better place, well here...punch a Cougar in the face!" I couldn't believe it!! I really didn't think he was serious. People started shouting, "Do it!!" "Punch him!!" And then he said, "REALLY, punch me in the face!!" So I tried, but apparently it was too wimpy- so one of the executives stepped forward and said, "$20 if you ACTUALLY punch him in the face!" Then I knew I had to and these guys really weren't kidding. So yes, I decked my CEO in the face.


Ok, so I attempted to give my best punch... but I just couldn't find it within myself to punch him as hard as I could. First, because I suck at punching...and second, because I literally CAN'T punch something unless I'm really angry at it... and I like my CEO! So I think I may have been a let down... but he kept on telling me to punch him harder, so instead of actually punching harder, I just punched him about 20 times. Luckily, Chris got the whole thing on video... so you can watch it for yourself. Yes- real. live. evidence of something I'm pretty positive will never happen again. Because it's not every day you get paid $20 to punch your CEO in the face (by his request), which is why I decided this Halloween can't (and will never) be trumped.