Virginia company Paramount Builders gives away $1M in bonuses to unsuspecting employees at Christmas party
Last Updated on Monday, 19 December 2011 09:43
Written by Liz Monday, 19 December 2011 09:43 |
As told by David Gonzalez, a seven-year employee of Paramount Builders, via Facebook status update:
Imagine you go to your Christmas party, and your company’s owner says, “I didn’t just want to make a million dollars; I wanted to give it away. And that’s what I’m going to do tonight.”
And then he did.
Literally.
In the next 20 minutes, he listed off every employee who’d been with the company over 5 years, and every single one got an unexpected, unearned bonus of $5,000 to $75,000.
47 different employees.
$1,000,000.
On top of a fabulous, top-notch, all-expenses-paid Christmas party that clearly cost many tens of thousands of dollars.
This just happened. It’s not a dream, it just happened. What kind of a company is this??
People were destroyed, weeping and staggering around in shock. The cameraman didn’t know which way to shoot.
Some of the recipients were people who hadn’t worked for us in years. They’d worked for us in the past and help build the company up, and they were invited back for our 20th anniversary.
They read off a list of names and then said , “You’re getting a check for $5,000 on Monday.” These are telemarketers and door-to-door canvassers making around 20K/year, if they work full-time. $5,000 is a new tax bracket for them. There was crying, screaming, collapsing, stunned silence, you name it. Then they gave all the 5-year+ veterans $10,00. Then the 10-year+ veterans got $20,000. Who gives away $20,000 to everyone over a decade like that?
Then certain key managers got $40,000 each. That’s a car. A good one. Just like that. Then, finally, a couple of very high-level, top performers from various departments got a check for $75,000. Each. What would you do with an unexpected $75,000?? Buy a Lexus? Pay off your house? That’s a ridiculous sum of money! The total was one million dollars, given away in about 20 minutes, and it got reactions like you normally see on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Oh, and I forgot to mention: every single employee also got 1 week’s pay. Just so no one was left out.
Unbelievable. A once-in-a-lifetime experience I’ll tell my grandkids about.
Employees receive $1 million bonus: wavy.com
David just added this to his post on Facebook: Some of what my coworkers are doing with their gift: “braces for my daughter”, “a big gift to church”, “my insurance for a year”, “cash gifts for my sister”, “big boost for my out-of-work friend and her husband”, “SAVINGS so I can finally stop living paycheck-to-paycheck!”. Even a few thousand dollars, discerningly invested, can radically change the lives of the recipients, their friends and families, and beyond.
What a great Christmas suprise !!!!
Good job, Ed!!