Holiday Office Parties

Have you had your office or company party yet?

The stereotyped party usually involves people drinking way too much resulting in saying or doing things that they will regret or lose their job over the next day.

I've never been to one of those parties.

Most of the office/company parties I've attended have been pretty tame - with no wild life of any kind.

Just this week, our office team of six, ended the work day a little early and headed over to a nearby restaurant to socialize over a convivial beverage, some appetizers, and a decadent dessert.

I saw a lampshade, but it was over a light instead of someone's head.  Whose bright idea was it anyway to put a lampshade over their head?

Larger parties might have a bit more excitement.  When I was working in TV, the holiday parties included guests and the whole station.  A few featured live music and dancing.  However, my time in TV was spent working as a bureau reporter away from the rest of the station so I knew very few people.  It made for good people watching.

You never know what to expect and many don't know how to act.  It's difficult to relax at an office party since you have to work with these people every other day of the year.  What if the boss says something?  What if the boss says nothing?

Some of the parties I've attended featured a gift exchange of white elephants.  Oddly, no elephants were ever exchanged.  But there were a couple traditions that baffled me.

One was that you really needed to rummage through the basement or garage to find the dumbest gift imaginable, wrap it and take it.  While I wasn't in for spending lots of money - wrapping junk didn't make any sense.

The second was the stealing of the gift.  If you didn't like the unmarked gift you received you could claim someone else's gift.  There were rules to this, so maybe it was the complexity that wore me out.

Should you attend the party, offer greetings and thank the hosts and look for a time to make a graceful exit?   Maybe one lap around the buffet and some small talk? 

Frequently, the office party is something dreaded by most of us until we get there.  Enjoy the holidays, be careful at the parties.