Christmas parties

[lnr]

Is your work having a christmas do? Are you looking forward to it or dreading it? Is it free or do you have to pay? Are partners invited?

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Mike's christmas party was a proper corporate do, for 25 quid a head with partners invited:

• Meet in hotel, one free drink (mulled wine) then expensive bar
• Move to ballroom where there are lots of big tables, 4 or 5 other companies, large meal, drink too much wine (extra)
• Lights are dimmed and there's a disco at the end of the room

It seemed mad to have a ballroom and then only have a dancefloor the size of a postage stamp, and the music was mostly dreadful (70s disco, ABBA, modern R&B and dance), though kudos to the DJ for playing two Jam tracks back to back. I asked if he could do anything rock and his best suggestion was "Bon Jovi?".

Still, it was fun.

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Our lot aren't inviting partners, but the computing group is having a free buffet christmas lunch next Wednesday which is also the leaving do for one of our long-standing colleagues. And by genuine coincidence it seems the departmental support staff Christmas party is that evening, 5 quid a head for an enormous spread of food and an impressive array of drinks and another bad disco. Since that starts at 5 and the lunch will no doubt be quite long I rather suspect the computing group staff aren't going to get much work done that afternoon.

I'm rather looking forward to it.

Comments

[pm215]

There's usually a work-funded one, but this year they're postponing it to next year (when there will be money available to do it properly rather than having something on the level of "pizza in the staff room" or "fish and chips" :-)). So there's an unofficial one which is a Christmas lunch down the usual Friday-lunch pub, self-funded. I'm missing that because I'm already away for Christmas by then. I think I've missed more work dos than I've attended for the same reason. I enjoy them when I can get to them (after all, free food and I get on well with people at work) -- if I didn't I just wouldn't go...