Christmas parties can be hotbeds for work drama and embarrassment (Picture: Getty Images)
When drinks are flowing and inhibitions are lowered by the seasonal merriment, work Christmas parties often prove dramatic.
What starts as a bit of fun can become a disciplinary matter, and it’s not uncommon for people to get swept away and spill feelings they’ve let bubble under the surface all year.
There will be plenty of people waking up with hangxiety this party season. The question is, will you have the fear over your embarrassing (but harmless) dad dancing, or will you be expecting your P45?
To help you avoid the latter ahead of your office bash, victims of festive faux pas have shared their own cautionary tales.
From arguments to ill-advised flirting, they ended up on the wrong side of the annual morning-after cringefest – so as you can imagine, they’ve chosen to remain anonymous.
This year, to save you from tears, we give your their words of warning.
A colleague heard everything I said about him
I really wasn’t getting on well with someone quite senior at work and I was really pleased when a colleague mentioned that person wasn’t going to the work Christmas party.
We all started pre-drinking in the office and I was far too drunk by the time we got to the venue. I was slagging off the colleague I didn’t like loudly with someone else when I realised he was right behind me – he’d decided to come after all and had heard every word.
Luckily he wasn’t my direct manager but I had a disciplinary meeting the following week and he asked not to work with me again.
Be wary of drinking and bitching (Credits: Getty Images)
I gave someone a black eye
I ended up getting into an argument with a colleague at a work Christmas party and it led to a bit of a punch up. I’m not sure I even remember what it was all about but I gave the other guy a black eye and my boss saw everything.
I was taken outside by security and my boss spoke to me, telling me I would be expected in her office first thing on Monday.
I was told my behaviour wasn’t acceptable and suspended under investigation. Eventually, I lost my job and I still feel like such an idiot for losing my temper like that.
I hit the bar… literally
I once attended a newspaper’s Christmas party in a swanky Manchester bar. It was the early 00s and I was wearing turquoise patent leather boots from Gina, with five-inch gold stiletto heels.
I was holding court on a bar stool, for several hours, swigging champagne, with my legs crossed. I eventually uncrossed my legs to stand up, but because patent leather sticks when it gets warm, I did not uncross my legs, and simply toppled forwards like a sequioa, face first, with my boots welded together, in front of the entire bar.
I woke up in my boss’s bed, full of regret
My boss had been flirting with me for a while and I had told myself I wouldn’t go there because I really loved that job and knew it could never end well.
At the Christmas party, I had a few too many drinks and we ended up sharing a kiss before going home together.
The next day, I woke up and was full of regret. I knew she had feelings for me and I just didn’t for her. I tried to let her down gently and said I wanted to keep things professional. She seemed to take it well.
In the weeks that followed, she made my life hell at work. I eventually ended up resigning because our relationship got so bad. I felt like it was either that or be fired.
You don’t want hangxiety like this (Picture: Getty Images)
I went out snogging
I had an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction while wearing stockings and suspenders. The suspenders undid themselves, my stockings came down straight away on a relatively empty dance floor, and everyone saw. I simply had to take off my shoes, step out of the stockings and causally go to the loo, holding the offending underwear. It was very funny.
I had planned to resign the day after the party. Being an advertising company in the 90s, the party was awash with champagne, and as I was wildly drunk, I snogged someone on the dance floor and told them of my plan. They told the MD.
I got called down in the morning and was told off for being ungrateful and snogging the MD’s golden boy, before my resignation was then accepted. I had a massive hangover, and had to accept daily ribbing of my snogging as I still had to work the six-week notice period. They got the last laugh.
We set fire to the venue
My husband’s small firm went for a lovely Christmas do at a posh hotel in the New Forest. He and another colleague went to the bar to get some sambucas which they asked for to be lit, then on the way back one fell off the tray and set light to the curtain.
We had to evacuate and felt mortified being part of the offending group. We were thankfully invited back in as we were all staying, but it sobered everyone up quickly!
I threw up on my boss
I had one too many drinks and a shot of tequila tipped me over the edge. I started to feel myself throwing up as I was on the dance floor and tried to run towards the bathroom.
As I turned, I lost my balance and threw up over a pair of shoes – I looked up to see them connected to my very straight-laced boss and I knew I was in trouble. He told me to clean myself up and go home.
I went into work after the weekend and was called into his office. He told me that they wouldn’t be renewing my short-term contract and that was it.
I flashed my favourite breast at a new colleague
On a crowded minibus on the way to the Christmas do, I decided to showcase my favourite breast (the left one). However, the guy in the firing line was new and hadn’t actually started yet – he was invited on our Christmas do to meet everyone.
In my appraisal the following week, my manager did not see the funny side and gave me a disciplinary warning.
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‘My manager did not see the funny side.’