Drunk at the Christmas Party Warning!

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Whew,...nothing worse than an obnoxious drunk that thinks they're the life of the party. Moderation is paramount at such festivities. Not so hard to do if one avoids the hard stuff and merely sips a few beers,...carefully.[angel] Some people learn their lessons from past mistakes, and some never seem to learn. :eusa_doh: The first time I had too much was the last time. My behavior wasn't so bad, but I did have to be driven home that night, and I felt like a zombie for 2 days after.
Anymore I actually dread these affairs for the most part, and would opt out if it were at all possible. But then my boss was always kind of a jerk I'd never want to party with under any circumstances anyway. lol

 

[Lincsong]

The Union's Business Agent comes down to work and tells us the Local is having it's Christmas party on a Wednesday at NOON!!! Oh gee, thanks, while we're all at work.

 

[Doh!]

One person can indeed "ruin it for everyone."

For years at my job, temps were welcomed to attend our Holiday parties, and did so without incident -- up until 2 years ago. At that party, one of the temps got so blotto he was escorted out of the hotel by Security.

And then he passed out on the lawn in front of the hotel.

And then an ambulance arrived.

And then the police.

Yep, no more temp invites.

 

[Flivver]

I never attend company Christmas parties. I don't enjoy them and, in my opinion, there's nothing to be gained from them.

I don't drink, and back when I did attend these functions I often became the "odd man out" as others got progressively more sloshed. I believe in maintaining a healthy distance between my work life and my personal life. Not fun, I'll admit...but practical.

 

[John in Covina]

Party vs no Party

One place I worked at was always having a hard time with the bills but always managed to put together a pretty good Xmas party. We never did get a Xmas bonus there but the party was always fun, however some people complained and they took the money that was for the Xmas party to use a a gift for every one, so we all got about $45-50 instead of the party. What a let down, the 50 big ones could not hope to match the fun the party was. It literally was a "Be careful what you wish for" scenario.

As to plastered at the party, a big no-no but when we go for the SEMA AAPEX show in Las Vegas all bets are off at night,but you are expected to hold your own and not be an embarrasement, funny yes, embarrasing no.

 

[Elaina]

I seldom drink (I'm not a teetotaler, I just don't do it much) and I used to have to go to business parties. The first one I didn't drink anything. I got passed for a promotion. The second one, I held (JUST held it now) a glass of wine. I got a mediocre promotion. The third year, I poured 2 vodka sours out in creative ways and got a good promotion.

Something sort of weird, I asked a businessman I knew why. People tend to think not drinking means you're not social and you'll get passed. As a woman, drinking women drinks will get you sneered at and drinking something stiffer, and a couple of them, shows you can play ball (according to him, at least, and why he saw it go the way it did.)

I don't understand why you're expected to socalize with your boss anyway, truth be told. If I wanted to do that, I'd do it other times of the year.

 

[RondoHatton]

I used to dread dread dread company parties with a passion -- fake smiles, backstabbing, passive-aggressive manipulative nonsense.

You just reminded me of the Christmas party of a TV commercial production company circa mid seventies (in the building now "Cat & Fiddle" on Sunset Blvd.) where the majority got pink slips along with their meagre "bonus" envalopes; the hatchet man got a fat bonus and then proceded to wrap his just-bought SL around a phone pole (but lived). We all knew he was a crud.

 

[Paisley]

A lot of these stories show an unfortunate fact of many businesses: the management cares about everything but working and making money.

 

[olive bleu]

I will say that the aforementioned episode where i did go a tad overboard, it was not a party that involved management, it was us minions letting our hair down after months of back to back catering jobs working 16 hour days.I felt idiotic enough after that, i don't think i could go back to work if the boss was actually there. Mind you , my boss was a pretty fun woman herself and i do remember her tying one on a few times...

But that was in my foolish youth...

These days, i never go to staff parties. I no longer make a point of forming friendships with my co-workers, although many of my collegues do. I feel bad sometimes because they really encourage me to go, and they are really nice people, but i spend 10 hours a day (11 if you count commuting time), at work already,and i find i really always just want to be home relaxing with my family.

 

[Mark from Plano]

Not really a "Christmas Party" story per-se, but in a similar vein:

My wife owns her own lawfirm with a couple of other women and runs the office in our suburb (see name above). A few years ago she decided that she would have each of the staff attorneys and paralegals over to the house for separate dinners (rather than one big party) to get to know them and their spouses/significant others.

Most of these dinners went great, no issues. One of the younger attorneys, however was pretty well gone when she showed up to the house. Her new boyfriend (who we were meeting for the first time) was stone sober (he's a pilot and was flying the next morning).

We didn't clue into the fact that she was drunk for a while so continued to serve wine, etc. both before and during dinner. So she went from bad to unbearable. It was embarrassing for everyone, but most especially for the sober boyfriend who she was bringing to her boss's house for dinner.

She's still employed, though not exactly setting the world on fire. But believe me my wife still remembers that night and views it as saying something about her judgement. Fortunately we've been at work/social events with her since then and she has not repeated the behavior.