Employee "Appreciation"

Something I find to be very interesting where I work is our Employee appreciation cookout we have in September every year. You would think that if your employer were going to appreciate you that this would be their deal but nope, they provide cheap burgers, hot dogs, and buns and we have to buy everything else and bring it. I just don't get that particular concept of appreciation. Not to mention these things, like our staff meetings, are so ridiculously segregated they probably make Martin Luther King, Jr. roll over in his grave. I'll never understand why it happens that way but it does. Anyway, I wasn't feeling so hot this morning and just decided that it wasn't worth all the stress of going, so I called in and stayed home to catch up on some sleep. I'll be back at work tomorrow and have missed the whole ordeal. Maybe I could find an employer one day that appreciates their employees instead of the employees having to appreciate themselves.