Surviving The Office Christmas Party

The office Christmas party (or holiday party) is a great chance to catch up with your colleagues in a social setting before the holidays and to look towards the upcoming New Year.

Having said that, it can also be an opportunity for you to make career-limiting mistakes in front or your peers that in some cases you probably should already know about but in other cases, may not be aware of.

Here are some considerations to help you get through the office Christmas party in one piece.

Should You Even Attend Your Office Christmas Party?

The holiday season can be a busy period as it is and you might have to prioritize which functions you attend and which ones you skip. I have a friend whose office party never gets attended by his manager or his manager's manager. My friend's manager actually told him that he doesn't attend the office party because he "sees enough of his staff during the day without having to see them at night" (he wasn't kidding).

Talk about being anti-social. And this guy is a manager.

I haven't yet heard of a company that makes their office party mandatory but before you choose to skip it, think about how it could look in the eyes of your co-workers, subordinates and superiors especially if everyone else is attending. Besides, no one says you have to stay for the whole evening.

Know What To Discuss

If you attend the office Christmas party but do nothing but discuss work related topics all evening, expect to be left standing by yourself for a significant period of time during the evening. People are there to have some fun, not to discuss work.

Now if your manager wants to do nothing but discuss work-related topics while at the party...

Know When To Say When

How many urban legends of the office Christmas party gone bad have you heard? The one where the guy drinks too much and then walks up to [insert name of manager here] and embarrasses himself by [insert bad behavior here] and gets fired/demoted on the following Monday?

You don't want to be that person.

Now is not the time to take advantage of the open bar unless you wish to look stupid in front of people you work with.

Remember The Popularity of Cellphone Cameras

I remember seeing a funny commercial a few years ago for a new cellphone with a camera on it. The ad detailed how a new staff member brought his cellphone to the company's holiday party and took embarrassing pictures of his boss and other senior managers acting up and upon showing the pictures to his boss, suddenly got promoted. As he showed other senior people in the company the pictures of them, he kept moving up the ladder until he was shown in the corporate jet with the CEO who asked the staffer if he'd mind bringing his camera phone to their upcoming party. The young staffer was obviously happy to oblige.

If you decide to do something at the office party that would make you look pretty stupid on the following Monday morning - especially if someone took a picture of it with their cellphone camera - you probably shouldn't do it. [insert sarcasm here]

Surviving the office Christmas party is actually pretty simple. Don't drink too much, don't eat too much, don't say or do the wrong thing.

Use common sense.

And have fun.