Pitfalls Of The Office Christmas Party

December 15, 2009

Interview with Barbara Pachter, author of the book New Rules @ Work: 79 Etiquette Tips, Tools, and Techniques to Get Ahead and Stay Ahead

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Mike Carruthers:
If your employer is having a Christmas party you really should plan on going.

Barbara Pachter:
It is important that you attend the party and that you mingle with people there. A holiday party is still a business event and your absence will be noticed.

Business etiquette expert Barbara Pachter, author of the book New Rules @ Work, says how you dress at a Christmas party is also very important.

It is still business, nothing that is too tight, too low, too short and you don’t want people talking about how outrageously dressed you were the day after the party.

Of course the big danger at the holiday party is drinking too much.

People get drunk and say and do all sorts of outrageous things. Also pay attention to your spouse, your spouse getting drunk. There’s a story of a bank, during the holiday party one of the employees spouse got drunk and during the President’s speech thanking them for how wonderful they had done that year her husband, who was drunk, screamed from the back of the room, “If everybody is so wonderful why do you pay them so little?” And a week later she was fired.

And you need to be careful even after the party.

You don’t want to post any negative comments about the holiday party on your Facebook page or on any of your social media sites. People will see them and what you say will come back to haunt you.
 

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here