Fiducial | We help your business grow and be profitable.

by Stephen Parezo

October 31, 2005—A number of Fiducial offices were transformed last week into supernatural-looking haunts thanks to the company’s Halloween Decorating Contest with the location judged to have the most festive decorations winning an upcoming lunch party for the entire staff.

If the interest demonstrated by employees dressing up Fiducial’s Technical and Administrative Support Center (TASC) in Columbia, MD, was any indication, then the judges will certainly have their work cut out for them. Photos will be submitted from each participating office with a winner chosen later this week.

Marion Sarhy, a business analyst in the IT department, was walking through the marketing department’s eye-popping displays at TASC when she heard a loud shrieking sound that literally stopped her in her tracks. Momentarily shaken, Sarhy admitted that she had been startled by the remote controlled sound effects coming from a speaker in the shape of a tombstone.

“I was not expecting that,” said Sarhy who was smiling but still had been taken aback by the shrieks not to mention streams of spiders embedded in thick cobwebs strewn above the walls of the surrounding cubicles.

When System Support and Development director Jim Layton wandered past the plastic wallpaper lining marketing’s area he thought that he had “stepped into a graveyard.” That’s only natural considering the walls were filled with cemetery scenes while employees there had their own custom inscribed headstones.

Stopping traffic were the green legs and curled up feet seemingly of the wicked witch of the east of the Wizard of Oz fame which were underneath one of the partitions. The ruby slippers were, of course, no where to be found. Sources indicated that some goblins had probably walked off with them. But if it’s any consolation for the departed sorceress, there was a cauldron bubbling near by.

Two gargoyles stood watch at the entrance to the accounting section. Office doors were adorned with skeletons telling visitors in no uncertain terms to Keep Out.

On the other side of the office, a menacing vampire bat with a five-foot wingspan flew over the entrance to the Executive Suite. Those able to make it past the bat had to deal with a giant spider and its six-foot diameter web. When some people first noticed the spider, “it creeped people out,” said Amy Sens, an administrative assistant in the Field Operations department.

Even accounting has a spooky side

Of course, things didn’t get any easier for folks going past the field support and development and legal offices around the hall where a yellow caution tape stretched across the entrance warning entrants to “enter if you dare.”

Office doors there had signs saying “K. Daver Motel—check in but you won’t check out,” “Boo-Doo Lounge—Tonight Howling Wolf and Witch Hazel,” and “No Broom Parking—Brooms left overnight will be toad.” Up on a cabinet shelf was a coffin occupied by a spirit with a scream mask and a bunch of spiders crawling around. The coffin’s owner, presumably a corpse, would be arriving shortly.

While the descriptions sure made it seem like a scary movie, these were just decorations designed with one thing in mind: to convey a sense of fun.

“I’m impressed by the level of enthusiasm and the level of participation from the departments,” said human resource generalist Karen Vander Maas Walsh. “Frankly, who thinks of accounting as having a spooky side? With marketing, I kind of expected them to come out.”

Walsh believes when employees engage in activities like decorating their work environment it brings levity to the office.

“People interact on a whole different level,” she said. “It’s given us a real opportunity to compete between departments.”

As a banner complete with skulls and crossbones hung overhead the tax department area cautioned “Beware! All that enter here will be audited.” Now that’s really scary!

Stephen Parezo is the Media Manager for Fiducial.

Whatever your small business needs, your Fiducial tax and financial professional can analyze your situation and recommend an appropriate action plan. To locate a Fiducial office nearest you on fiducial.com, see the Zip Code Locator located in the upper right hand corner of the page. Do you have a particular topic that we should be writing about that can help your business? Please send your suggestions to: stephen.parezo@fiducial.com.

DISCLAIMER
Although we do our best to provide our users with useful and accurate information on our web site, we do not update this information which is derived from sources believed to be accurate. Users must understand that information presented does not serve as an endorsement of any particular company or individual and that this information changes frequently and is subject to differing interpretations. Users are hereby advised that they are responsible for ensuring that the facts and general advice obtained from our site are applicable to their specific situations and should discuss their specific tax, business, financial, and legal matters with pertinent professionals.