the company Christmas function.
Drinks and dinner at the South Perth yatch club, that's where the client is having their Christmas function. I have heard of some others which are having lunches or dinners in ritzy city restaurants or drinks at a tavern or bar. Being the year of one of the worst global financial crises when most corporate expenses are cut and pays frozen - it is a wonder that our firm has still decided to keep ours. But instead of having it at one of the glitzier restaurants of yesteryears, we are going to have a barbeque in a park instead.
The corporate Christmas function is a strange beast.
It is one of the very few events in year (if not the only one) where corporate employees fret about what to wear, whether to buy a new dress, how to do their hair and how much make-up to apply just so they can parade in front of their colleagues - people whom they see each every weekday of the year in their black suits, white shirts, pencil skirts and glasses. It is that one event where people decide they can let go and have a couple more drinks than usual (sometimes more than what is best for them) and do or say things which they would not do or say at any other time of the year (and somehow believe they can get away with it just because it's a Christmas function). And I'm referring to actions that are worse than flirting with that "married with kids" colleague of yours - which is not a good place to start anyway.
Now if you're not careful and you fall into one the following categories 1) wear something overly tarty or 2) do or say something which you would regret the following day after the alcohol wears off (if you remember it that is) - you bear the risk of losing respect within the organisation, or being referred to as the fruitcake (or loser, or other form of crude references) for years to come, or even worse, if the scale of your mistake is too unforgiving, of losing your job.
With the above knowledge and the overbearing pressure that comes with it, how can one truly say they anticipate and look forward to enjoy the corporate Christmas function??
I suppose one way to look at it is to see it like any other corporate event of the year and not as something overly unique. Why worry about it more just because it is an event closer to the end of the year? Why go through the extreme pain of contemplating what to wear to appear like you are actually cooler than those white shirts and pencil skirts? (not unless you are really attending with the aim of flirting with the married man). It is after all, just another networking event and an opportunity to get to know the other people within the organisation with whom you had little time or contact with throughout the year. It is a chance for you to talk to your colleagues about the festive season and all the good things that come with it (religion, family, yummy food) instead of work-related matters. And talking about non-work-related matters is really a bridge to creating closer future working relationships with those colleagues.
It is Christmas and it is time to be jolly, be concerned about the well-beings of people around you and have a good toast to the year to come.
So with this I hope you lots of fun at your corporate Christmas function this year. Stay out of the heat. Dress safe. Drink safe. Party safe. (And don't do anything you'd regret).
No comments:
Post a Comment