Don't Become the Office Holiday Fool

Posted on December 6, 2005

Personnel Today has a funny article about the rise in copier service requests around the holidays -- thanks to some inventive worker fun at holiday parties. The article says photocopier manufacturers expect a 25% rise in service calls because workers abuse the machines during holiday parties.

Manufacturer Canon said a third of its technicians called out over the Christmas period have to deal with the consequences of staff sitting on photocopiers to make pictures of their bottoms.

In response, the company has increased the thickness of the glass on the machines from 3mm to 4mm to take the strain.

David Smith, marketing director at Canon UK, said: "People obviously let their hair down at Christmas time and the photocopier tends to get a bit of extra-curricular activity."

Speaking of holiday parties an article from Today says that they can actually be an opportunity as long as you don't play the fool.

Office holiday parties are like blind dates: Wear the wrong shirt, tell the wrong joke or drink one too many martinis and your potentially happy future is over before it began. Each year amid the jovial flow of cocktail franks, gin-and-tonics and choruses of Fill Me Up, Buttercup, someone becomes a footnote in their company's holiday folklore, forever labeled as the guy who thought it would be funny to teach the boss's wife to dance the Macarena.

Executive coach Marjorie Brody says in the article that most workers make the mistake of seeing the office party as a chance to actually party with coworkers or they don't want to attend. Instead you should really be thinking business and networking. Brody says, "Most people think it's a party, and either they don't want to go or they'll go and just eat and drink with their friends. Both of those are mistakes. It's a chance to be talking to people you don't normally speak to and a good opportunity to create an impression."

The Glassdoor also has an entry about potential career damaging mistakes to avoid making at holiday parties. We didn't see "don't photocopy your bottom" mentioned but it probably goes without saying.

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