Baby Shower Surprise

Last week I thought we were having a normal company meeting like we do every month. However, when I walked into the cafe to see if any help was needed in setting up, I was surprised to see that it was actually a baby shower for me!

Everyone at CARSON wrappedhersheys.com gave me way too many gifts, including a play gym, clothes, an adorable little bath robe and the stroller I had registered for. I must say, my grandma was very happy to hear I had received the stroller because she was worried that I did not have it yet. She kept telling me she would buy it but she has also already bought way too much for the baby. I guess that's what grandmas are for.

While I was opening gifts, it was decided that there should be a contest to see who can guess the date I go into labor. I'm hoping sooner rather than later but most likely the baby will hold out until my due date. I'm interested to find out everyone's guesses and to see who is the closest!

I was also surprised to see one of my former co-workers, Gail, at the shower. It was so good to see her and I was happy she had been invited. I was definitely not expecting my co-workers to throw me a shower and it was so sweet of them to think of doing so. I really appreciate all of the thought and planning that went into it and I know little Ava will love all of the gifts when she arrives.

Geri's Treats

It seems like many companies have that one talented person that brings in baked goodies for their fellow coworkers. At CARSON wrappedhersheys.com we have one such person. Her name is Geri.

When it comes to sweets I have very little willpower. So when I walk in the cafe in the morning and Geri has brought in some sort of delightful treat I am both excited and dismayed. I know I will have to try some even though I tell myself I should resist.

One of her most recent treats was a Twinkie cake which consisted of Twinkies, pudding, fruit and whipped topping. I had never heard of such a thing but it was delicious! The other day she also brought in a dessert that was made of apples, whipped topping and Snickers bars. I don't even like apples and I must say it was amazing.

Geri is relatively new to the CARSON team but as the saying goes, she has already found the way into our hearts. Whatever the dessert, she can be sure it will get eaten quickly.

Uniquely Decorated Desks

Most people like to decorate the places they spend a lot of time in, whether it's their house, apartment or even their car. At CARSON wrappedhersheys.com we like to give our desks a personal feel. Some people decorate with photos, some with keepsakes & some are just plain unusual.

Lauren's desk has been personalized with a photo of her dog, Bug, and a vase of paper flowers that she bought at a place called Passion Works Studio. She even painted the rocks in the vase herself to match the flowers. I think they look like Nerds candy. Hopefully no one tries to eat them.

Along with some family photos, Dee has a small figurine from the movie Madagascar on her desk. It plays music when you touch it and has been known to startle unsuspecting desk-item-touchers when it goes off.

Molly has a love of pigs which is apparent when you see her desk. She has a pig themed calendar hanging up and even gives each one a name every month. For the month of July it was Napoleon. She even has a tissue box with a pig on it. That's dedication!

My desk has a candy jar full of gum wrappers. Yes, without the gum. About a year ago, a few of us decided to start saving the wrappers from Cobalt 5 Gum because it's a pretty shade of blue. The intention was to make something with them & send a photo to the manufacturer. This never happened, however, and I am left with a lovely jar of wrappers.

Brandy's desk is now home to an awesome bird drawing that she created when working on a new wrapper design. This is a great way to personalize your desk in a one of a kind way. No matter what the items are, each person's desk shows a little of their personality.

Days of the Week - CARSON Style

Everyone knows the days of the week. At CARSON wrappedhersheys.com we have added a little something extra to each day. We have given each one its own special nickname.

Manic Monday
With all the orders we get over the weekend, Mondays can be pretty crazy. This is my least favorite day of the week though it usually goes by quickly since we are all so busy.

TMI Tuesday
It always seems like we tell each other a little too much about ourselves on Tuesdays. If you have a story about strange personal habits, this is the day to tell it!

Arctic Wednesday
To some of us, the office is always cold. Personally, I can wear a sweater year round and still feel chilly. Wednesdays are no exception. Bring your mittens!

Dramatic Thursday
Having a bad day? Feel free to be as dramatic as you want on Thursdays. This is the day to put on your best Oscar winning performance after you get a dreaded paper cut.

Casual Friday
By far this is my favorite day of the week. Not just because it's Friday, but also because we can wear jeans when accompanied by a CARSON or Hershey's shirt. Bob and Michelle don't mess around when it comes to casual Friday attire. Their matching Hershey's shirts are the hit of the office.

Printer Techs to the Rescue

Like most offices, we have quite a few printers here at CARSON wrappedhersheys.com. Many are small desktop ones but we do have two large printers that we print almost all of our wrappers on. We also have a smaller printer that handles all of our metallic paper. These three machines work extremely hard each day printing all of the wrappers for our customers so every once in a while they need some maintenance and repairs. This is where our favorite printer technicians come in.

There are different technicians that are trained on each printer. Since we have two of the same type of printer, we see many of the same techs frequently. The one we see the most is Jim. Ever since I started working here I knew that if we had a printer issue we could call and Jim would come fix our problems. The characteristic we all like most about him is that he is patient. We are very picky when it comes to the quality of our prints since they are going directly to our customers for their special events so sometimes Jim will be here for most of the day working to get it perfect. He always takes the time to figure out and fix our printer issues. This is no easy task, as I was once told by another technician that we always seem to have the strangest problems with our printers.

Another tech that we have seen a lot of lately is Dennis. He helped install our new printer last week so he was here quite a bit. You can be sure that Dennis will always have a bright smile on his face and a kind word to say. We are happy to have such talented technicians working with us to ensure we can send the quality products that our customers have come to expect from us.

Say Cheese

For the holidays every year at CARSON wrappedhersheys.com we usually take a company photo. This consists of trying to get everyone to crowd together, look at the camera and smile at the same time. You would think this would be fairly easy since we don't have a large group but there's always at least one person that isn't looking at the camera or is making a funny face.

This year we decided to try something a little different. We planned to have everyone get into small groups where they could interact with each other like they normally would and we would capture the moment. No cheesy smile required.

After figuring out where everyone could stand, sit or lean we got everyone together and in their places. We took a few photos and ended up with a perfect one. Then just for fun, we had everyone do a funny photo where they could do whatever they wanted. I think this may have been our most successful company photo session to date.

- Laura

Carson Cuties

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As I walk through the halls of CARSON wrappedhersheys.com I can't help but smile at what is staring back at me from the walls.  Throughout the building we have "Carson Cuties" displayed in different places.  Carson Cuties are pictures of kids our customers have sent to us to have put on their candy bars, and we have made mini collages of these pictures and hung them around our building.  We even used special frames that allowed us to write little sayings below each picture.  One of my favorites is of a little boy with a huge smile on his face with the saying "With this smile, I can get away with anything!"  Some of the sayings are clever such as "Pirate of the Crib I'm In", others are funny like one that reads "Don't Look At Me, That Smell Is Coming From Daddy!", while "Daddy's Little Girl" is just plain cute and sweet.  No matter who the child is or what the saying says, to me these pictures are a reminder of the happiness we are able to bring to our customers through our chocolate bars, and the pure joy the smile of a child can bring to our hearts.

Reds October

I've had no greater Cincinnati Reds experience than being at the game with my grandma when they clinched the National League Central division.  Excitement was high and the city of Cincinnati was buzzing.  The Reds were going to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, and it was a big deal.  I had high hopes for our Redlegs, and even had the chance to attend a playoff game.

CARSON wrappedhersheys.com was also buzzing after the big Reds' win.  Since our Cincinnati Reds made it to the playoffs, CARSON adopted a "Reds October."  All employees were allowed to wear a Reds shirt, jeans and tennis shoes to work everyday as long as our beloved Reds were still alive in the playoffs.  I don’t know about you, but I’ll take a jeans day any day I can get it!  I even made a trip to Target to buy two new Reds shirts for the occasion.  We all know the outcome of this sad story… our “Reds October” was short lived, lasting only one week after they were swept by the Phillies in the first series.  My Reds shirts have been nicely tucked away in my dresser drawer for now, but come next spring I will be ready to proudly wear them again and cheer our Reds to another chance in the playoffs.  GO REDS!

- Sara

One Sweet Tweeter

In the marketing department we like to name things, such as new wrapper designs, gift items and even birds.  On and off for over a year we have been hearing a specific bird chirping outside the door.  We hear it so often that Pam & I decided it needed a name.  Therefore, we have named him Santos Miguel Hernandez.  You may wonder about the origin of Santos’ name.  The answer is, it sounded good at the time.

As you may know, birds tend to fly away when you get near them.  This made it very hard to get a photo of the elusive Santos. Since we had only seen Santos from a distance, Pam drew a picture of what we believed he looked like.  As it turns out, we were way off.  He has no orange feathers whatsoever.

One morning when he came to visit, we thought it was the perfect time to get a photo so Pam grabbed the camera & crept up to the window.  Apparently Santos saw her since it was still dark outside & bright inside even though the windows are tinted so he flew to the next window.  I have to say, though, it made my day to see Pam walking from window to window all crouched down in hopes of getting a photo.  I wish I had a photo of that!

One special day, though, Santos made an appearance on the windowsill and Pam was able to get a good photo of him.  I guess he had fixed his feathers that day & was ready for a photo shoot.  He hasn’t been back to the window lately but we still occasionally hear him chirping and see him watching over the building from the top of a light post.

- Laura

Am I out of place?

At work we love to play “nice” pranks on each other. This is the story of the joke played on me:

About 4 weeks ago, I took Thursday and Friday off, and when I came back on Monday, I immediately noticed that two of my coworkers, Laura & Pam, were wearing the same outfit (Khaki pants and black shirt). I commented “Wow, you girls are Twinkies today.”   Twinkies is a term that some Northern Ohioans use when you are dressed like someone else and here at CARSON wrappedhersheys.com we love to use it (at least I do!).

A few minutes later, Brandy comes into the building, wearing the same outfit. Once again, I commented, “Wow, Twinkies + 1.” I thought it was mere coincidence since there has been another time when 3 of us wore the same outfit. About 10 minutes later, I realized Dee was also wearing the same colors, needless to say, I commented, “Twinkies x 2.” As the day went on, more and more people “happened” to have the same outfit on, including the owners of the company, Scott & Sharon Frederick.

By 11:30 a.m., my count was up to 7 people, which meant “(Twinkies x 3) + 1”.  It finally dawned on me at lunch time, when I walked into the break room and saw that EVERYONE had the same colors on, I said out loud, “OK, this has to be a joke, am I being recorded? Am I gonna be in YouTube tomorrow?” Some people smiled at me, but nobody openly recognized it. It was obvious at that point that it wasn’t a coincidence, but a lovely joke they had planned for me, so I had to stop doing the Twinkies Math.

You know people really miss you when you are away for a couple days, and all they do is plan a joke to play on you. Good team work CARSON people!! I love you too!!

Carola