please empty your brain below

Bah! Humbug!

(BTW Isn't this post breaking your rule about never writing about events to which you have been invited?)

But we don't know if he attended or not.



Me and three other like-minded curmudgeonly old gits make a point of going for bangers'n'mash'n'pint in a proper old man's pub in the City the day of the office xmas party.

Miserable anti-social bastards? You betcha.

At least you have a job to go to which organises a party.

Golden rule: Never party with the people that you work with. Saves so much embarrassment later. ;-D


My issue with the works Christmas "do" is, rather like "New Year's Eve", the enforced jollity of the whole thing: "YOU WILL HAVE A GOOD TIME BECAUSE WE HAVE TOLD YOU YOU WILL".

To be blunt, these people are my work colleagues, not the people I have chosen to be friends with. At least this year our "Do" is in the afternoon, meaning I don't have to sacrifice too much of my precious "free time" to watching some of my colleagues get very, very drunk. Which is what happened last year. I will be driving, which gives me a fantastic excuse not to have to drink, and hopefully the food willbe better than that of last year, when we were at a hotel on the edge of an industrial estate, and the food was practically thrown at us.

Don't get me wrong, I'm (hopefully) not "bah humbug" about the whole thing, but really, in this day and age, when people don't all live and work within a half mile radius of their house, why are they forcing us all to act like the best of chums - the office politics that occurs for the rest of the year certainly suggests that we're not!

Nice to have the choice. Some of us just have to watch everyone else going to their 'do', moaning about said 'do' and planning the next 'do'. And that is far more depressing than shall I-shan't I attend, believe me!

I agree with Anne. I tend to avoid Christmas do's if I can. This year I'm only going to the lunch time one which is fine by me.

And you missed last year's cut-down version too. Sensible bloke. That's a social policy I can relate to. Don't ruin it by attending next year's...

The company I have the unfortunate task of working for (major uk construction co) want us to pay £34.50 to attend a party that is 40+ miles away. Maybe they want people to get done for drinking and driving. We have no payrise this year,no Christmas bonus and no thanks for putting our lives on the line in one of the most dangerous environments you can find yourself in during peacetime (M25 incident unit).
Party ?,luxury !,you try telling young people about good times and they won't believe you !!. Merry Christmas fellow readers.

I've never worked in a job where they've had a Christmas do! As I'm not particularly adept at making small talk and a non-drinker to boot, it's probably just as well!
BTW I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as an office cleaner in my teens. A nice quiet job where I got to listen to my walkman as I did the rounds!

Last one was three years ago; as was last raise. And a good thing too - we shared the flash venue with two other firms, members of which fell out with one another and began brawling. No thanks.

There's around 400 of us in our office, and up until a couple of years ago the company used to pay for a very extravagant bash for everyone at a local hotel which I wasn't keen on. However for the last 2 years they felt this was inappropriate given the economy etc, and have given everyone about £40 per person to arrange their own parties, by department, division or whatever you want. I had a very fine low-key meal with about 10 colleagues this week.. It's not always good for everyone to socialise with colleagues I know, but by the nature of our job we're quite close and it's not unusual to spend days stuck in Tripoli or working through the night in Cairo with one of them so it's good to foster some sort of personal relationship. But I'm fortunate in that I work with people I like.

@ ganching

The implication in the penultimate paragraph is 'not'.

Reminded me of an excellent film of a '60s Xmas office party on Adam Curtis' blog here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2010/12/the_office_party.html


@Joe 64

I have to say, if any employer made me pay for my "works Christmas Do", I just wouldn't go (especially at that price!!!), and if they got a bit arsey about it, I'd do a "Wogan" and come up with a "Subsequent Engagement".

Tricky thing the office politic.
Going to a big 'do' and being seen as not much fun (cos it ain't your kind of thing) V being seen as Ebenezer by not going at all. As a social wallflower I properly dreaded these things throughout my 20's, large or small, lavish or otherwise. As I aged I either grew less concerned with the opinions of others or more accustomed to being at those phoney events, to the extent I actually genuinely enjoyed some, got to know one colleague in particular well enough to bring about a terrific 2 year relationship, ended up co-organising the grand posh knees up for 400+ when the company was closed down cos the local authority unilaterally cancelled our contract. Even back when I dreaded them, people watching was always fun while grazing the free provender, we wallflowers can always slip quietly away.
Definitely a good problem to have i.e. job at all and job in which there's any sort of 'do'
Season's Greetings DG

I didn't know you worked at my company.

Anne

Needless to say I will be 'otherwise engaged'!.











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