Christmas - How to survive it

You do it all the time. A few drinks with colleagues, a glass of wine or two, or three after work. It’s always innocent, harmless fun, isn’t it? So why is it that come the season to be jolly we throw all caution to the wind? Is it the rum punch? The brandy-soaked xmas pud? Or just a plain old devil-may-care-I’ll-not-see-these-people-again-for-a-few-weeks attitude?

This month Regenerate dedicates its careers page to keeping you in a job post-Christmas office party by offering advice on what to do after a few typical sticky moments. Now that’s what we call professional development.

In vino veritas

You tell your boss what you really think of them

Ooops! The best thing you can do is apologise sincerely. Explain how much you enjoy working for them and that you always talk rubbish when you’ve had a few. Alternatively, don’t say anything and hope that they were as drunk as you were. They might have forgotten the whole incident.

Romantic discovery

You catch two colleagues canoodling in the cupboard

Discretion is key here. What they get up to is actually none of your business, however much you think it might be. Promise them that you won’t breathe a word to anyone – and keep that promise. Who knows? You might need to rely on them keeping tight-lipped next year.

Open mouth syndrome

You reveal your deepest darkest secret to the office gossip

Don’t we do the silliest things when we’re drunk? This one needs to be tackled head on. Ask to meet them for a quiet chat as soon as you get in the next day. Explain that you have always admired their professional attitude and how grateful you are that they won’t go blabbing. This should make them feel guilty enough to keep schtum. To be on the safe side, try to arm yourself with an equally damaging piece of information about them. Release as and when needed.

Reckless moments

You “accidentally” steal something from the restaurant and get caught

Stealing is not big and it’s not clever even if it is Christmas and the table decorations would go so well with your new wallpaper. If you do find yourself in this embarrassing position, you must ‘fess up straight away (it will be obvious to everyone anyway). There’s no use pretending it wasn’t you when there’s a plastic Rudolf sticking out of your shirt-sleeve. Apologise, say you were too drunk to know right from wrong and offer to donate some money to a charity of their choice as penance. There’s a chance you could even come out looking like a good guy.

Letting it all out

You throw up all over the office

There’s nothing for it but to laugh it off. You’ve got to accept that what you did was awful but make it clear that you will only be teased for so long. Let them have their fun, but after that enough is enough. Oh, and don’t forgot to offer to pay for any dry-cleaning/carpet-cleaning bills.