Office
Holiday Party Do's and Don'ts
By
Elizabeth Hanes
Each
year the dilemma arrives wrapped as a colorful flyer adorned
with crappy clip art, created by an overworked fellow employee
who long ago ceased to care. It's the invitation to your company's
holiday party.
All the office advice gurus say attendance at the office holiday
party is mandatory, not optional. After all, you've invested
too much time and effort climbing the corporate ladder to
risk looking tacky for snubbing the pathetic, grudging attempt
your company makes once a year to look as if they appreciate
you.
So
how should you behave once you get there? This simple list
of dos and don'ts will help you maximize your office party
experience this holiday season.
- Don't
bare your cleavage or wear suggestive clothing - unless
your boss has previously shown a sexual interest in you
AND you have a typed statement authorizing a 15% raise
in salary for yourself, which you can get him to sign
after he's had a little more to drink and gotten a gander
of your silken orbs.
-
Don't give a gag gift in the office gift exchange, unless
it's a really hilarious looking sex toy.
-
Don't drink until you're drunk. Your superiors will notice
(and frown on) your repeated trips to the cash bar. Instead,
do your drinking beforehand and show up already drunk.
- Don't
gossip or get too personal in your conversations, unless
you know for a fact the frilly pink underpants you found
in the boss's desk drawer really belong to him.
- Do
take an interest in others, especially those you don't
know well, by listening to their stories and trumping
them with your own. Also, use this time to lecture co-workers
you've never met before on how to solve all their department's
problems.
- Do
keep one hand free to offer a handshake. You can accomplish
this by grasping your buffet plate, napkin and drink
glass all in your left hand. Alternatively, you can balance
your drink glass on top of your head.
- Do
remain standing as much as possible, as it makes you
look more approachable and demonstrates to your superiors
that you're not falling-down drunk yet.
- Do
bring plenty of rum or vodka to surreptitiously spike
the eggnog bowl.
- Do
conceal a tiny spy camera on your person to capture everyone's
hilarious drunken antics for inclusion on the traditional "year in review" video shown to stockholders at the annual
meeting.
Above
all, remember: it may be an office event, but it's still a
PARTY! Don't be afraid to let your hair down and show your wild
side. The stockholders will thank you for it next spring.
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©2001
Elizabeth Hanes All Rights Reserved