I just got home from my day job’s holiday party, and I have to say, I was pretty underwhelmed. I didn’t even want to go, due to my general distaste for people, but I like being at work even less and I was promised (erroneously it turned out) that there would be free drinks. I mean, there were, in the sense that you can drink soda and juice, but I was more than a little disappointed.
So I’m wondering how you all feel about office holiday parties. Do you go? Make up excuses for skipping out? Do you like them? I am really only interested in them if there is free (good) food and liberal quantities of alcohol.
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My rule is that I only go if It’s during the weekday (i.e. I get paid to go).
At my last job we had some sort of cheap gift exchange, and I abhor the waste of those (it’s mostly cheap crap that’s gifted). So I campaigned for us to pitch in to donate to a needy family instead, and that’s what happened every year after that, so I feel like I left that holiday party in better shape than it was when I started.
My old retail job’s holiday party consisted of them buying bagels and muffins and throwing them in the break room before we opened. Yeah, you had to show up to work early if you wanted to partake, because they got bitchy if you were eating during your shift. Also, once the break room emptied out as people started working, the mice would get into the food and we’d have to throw out the rest. So if you didn’t work that shift, you got nothing.
My husband’s jobs tended to have fancier parties, but they were always either on a day when I had to work a night shift or else they didn’t invite significant others to keep costs down. Bastards.
And the prize for worst company holiday “party” goes to Hillary’s old retail job. Hot fucking damn, mice? Getting to work early? The break room?
I don’t mind them, but they can definitely be awkward. Mr.B throws a pretty mean office Christmas party, but then a) making parties happen is a big part of his job and b) we know most of his clients and vendors pretty well so it’s more like a casual barbecue than an office party.
I used to hate them, but this year it’s my job to throw one. Thankfully it’s a small company and we all get along, so to mitigate the factors I always found repulsive, there will be: copious wine, potluck so people can bring food they like, no obnoxious games/activities, optional attendance, families welcome, on a Friday night so more available to families, and not super long.
I figure if we’re going to spend out-of-work-hours together, it should be as relaxed and stress-free as possible.
I’m at my first real job and they put me in charge of planning the office holiday outing/party. I planned for us to volunteer at Toys for Tots and then go to a tapas bar (full bar, obviously) afterward. Because I was able to keep costs down by organizing a volunteer event beforehand instead of what they used to do before I came on board, dinner and drinks are free. Honestly don’t know what to expect, especially since I’m the youngest person here and everybody except for the guy I hate is at least 10 years older than me.
That’s an awesome idea. Expect to see people drunker than should be appropriate for a work event.