Oh, and!
Last year, there was the Christmas music. Now, this wasn't any normal Christmas music, oh no. This was A CHRISTMAS NIGHTMARE. It was an album of every traditional Christmas song but it had this constant loop of jingling bells that went throughout all the songs. This had the effect of just blurring all the songs together until you had this constant stream of Xmas music that made your ears feel like they were about to start bleeding.
(the nightmare of cake, Sun 19 Dec 2004, 20:20, Reply)

At our staff Xmas party...
...We all have to pay for our own food and drinks as the company only provides money for management. So, all of us who get paid the least have to shell out. Bastards.

Oh, and did I mention it's not until January because the boss couldn't be arsed to organise it before Xmas?
(the nightmare of cake, Sun 19 Dec 2004, 20:04, Reply)

Humbug!
I work for WHSmith as a sunday part-timer. In about mid-november I see in the staff room a notice about the forthcoming xmas party - it was to be just a dinner in a hotel, and we had to pay money towards it ourselves.
Needless to say, a couple of weeks later I see another notice saying "christmas party cancelled due to staff apathy" - although one of the weekday staff had crossed out 'apathy' and put 'working', which is true because theyve got people working until 9pm every day.

I wasnt going to post that, its not great, but I found out today that I have to work next sunday. Seems our manager asked a few people if they would volunteer - noone did, so he enforced it. I dont get a choice in the matter. 11-5 - I have to go home, tired and ratty, to a house full of my family who are probably having fun.

Bunch of cranberries. I dont care if smiths is going down the pan, we should at least get a damn choice!
(costie, Sun 19 Dec 2004, 19:37, Reply)

A few years back...
I worked for Somerfield, joy of joys, but it was quite a small store and all the staff were mates, and we did watermelon all work, so it was just about bearable.

One of the managers organized a christmas meal at one of the local pubs, ended up with about 25 people going, all the old staff down one end of the table, all us young 'uns down the other. We finished the meal and decided us whippersnappers should go to the better, cheaper pub across town.

On the way our slightly drunk 31 year old head cashier asked us the immortal question "So, am I the only virgin here then?", then when we arrived at the other pub, one of the guys girlfriends told us about how he was a little 'nervous in the service' and that she sometimes had to 'finish herself off'.

I don't work there any more.
(Jon Norris, Sun 19 Dec 2004, 16:27, Reply)

I work for the NHS
What's Christmas ?
(sandman0733, Sun 19 Dec 2004, 12:50, Reply)

Miserable gits
I work for a massive multinational, which was bought out earlier on this year. We have had no pay rise this year (which is not good for a 1st year graduate) and there is no Christmas party. We can leave at lunch time on Christmas eve, but my family lives at the other end of the country and I need to get the train in the morning, so I have to take a days holiday. We were sat down by HR a few weeks ago and told that the company has made the savings it wanted to make over the next 3 years, but do we get any gratitude? Do we buggery.
( bloobloo, Sun 19 Dec 2004, 12:39, Reply)

Last Xmas
The boss took us all back to his place.

Made us sit in a hole in the cellar while he turned the garden hose on us & screamed "IT RUBS THE LOTION ON ITS SKIN!!"

Hoping for better this year.
(simon shitting mason, Sun 19 Dec 2004, 12:03, Reply)

pubs are a fun place to work... honnest
blimey, i'd love to have a christmas bash, last year we won about 200 english pounds worth of fancy alcomahol vouchers for selling the most of something (archers aqua i think) in our group. still no xmas party a year on. this year the same stock problem.... because my boss can't rightly orginise a piss up in his own pub, so yet again no xmas shindig for us... and we are open till 3am both xmas and new years eve... fun to be had by all except the far to sober staff... watermelontards, the lot of 'em (spirit group), oh well.
(subliminal_knickers, Sun 19 Dec 2004, 3:44, Reply)

Ken3005
Yes, it does. Looks like there's a very busy Happiness Nazi going around.
(underachiever, Sun 19 Dec 2004, 1:01, Reply)

No Party : (
About 8 years ago, I had a manager that was very "non-friendly". I say it that way 'cause any other way involves lots of profanity.
Anyway, for Christmas one year, she gave everybody in the office a bag of microwavable popcorn. It wasn't even a full size bag, they were sample bags, so it was half the normal size bag. At least it had holiday colors on it. =)
(Sofanda Peters, Sun 19 Dec 2004, 0:14, Reply)

It's reading things like this
that make me very happy to work for myself with no employees.

When/if I do employ people, I shall be careful to read this QOTW before throwing a chrimbo bash...
(teasus likes tea, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 21:49, Reply)

Panto season
For the last 20 years I've been working panto, not as an actor but as a lighting tech. Luckily the days of working a show on christmas day are long gone.
However, we do only get Christmas day off and have two shows on boxing day and also a show on New Years Day. Not the best if you have a family.

You would think the management would be sympathetic to two decades of this. Not a bit.

This year they tried to dock a number of staff a days pay as the Theatre is shut on Saturday as it is Christmas Day, we told them no and then they have tried to get us to use the lieu day from the next weeks public holiday which we haven't even worked yet!

This type of behaviour is par for the course and only thanks to having a strong union membership do we actually have most of our legal rights protected from this onslaught of madness. We do get double time and time in lieu for public holidays but even then we have to make sure it is calculated properly.

They of course are free to have a decent amount of time off every year.

Never seen a xmas bonus and the xmas party has to be paid for by those attending and it is held on the one night we get to spend at home. Only recently do we get any kind of hospitality on the first night.
(pyrogenius, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 21:19, Reply)

my earliest christmas memory
well, it's not exactly the office, but when i was in preschool, one day we all arrived to class to find that each of us had an unfrosted cupcake on our desk, and an assortment of festive frostings and sprinkles.

of course, being 3, we went ape-shit decorating these things (it must have been an awful mess to clean up). when we all had finished decorating them, the teacher came and collected them on a plate. when asked why we couldn't eat them, she replied:

"oh, these are for the bunnies"

next door there was a rabbit farm, and she told us that they were chrsitmas treats for the bunnies.

several years later i realized that the school had found a quick and easy way to get two dozen decorated cupcakes for their staff party.
(sponch!, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 18:54, Reply)

once when i was a paper boy
i knocked over a pile of coins left out for the milkman (i guess) with my bike wheel. being the nice person i am i picked them up and pilled them in back where they were. later that day i get a phone call from my boss - telling me that the bloke saw me picking the money up and saying i stole a pound (yes a whole pound) i of course told him i was just doing a good deed and i heard no more. when it came to xmas he gave me £10 (i usually got 50p from most houses)

I think he must have found the money and felt guilty for trying to get me sacked
( Rev. Jesse. broke his ankle, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 18:33, Reply)

Not sure if this counts
...but it's to do with Christmas tightness.
My brother used to work as a paperboy when he was about 13. Sure enough, Christmas was coming and he was anticipating some big tips, which by and large he got.
Except for one old git who gave him half a five pound note. He'd literally cut in in half with a pair of scissors, stuck it in a card and written something like "you'll get the other half when you stop clanging the letterbox like we told you not to."
Coincidentally, that very neighbour had a large Land Rover-esque vehicle destroy the rear right-hand side tail lights of his Cavalier in a hit-n-run a few days later. My father was right. Having a battered old car can be excellent for concealing your motoring intentions.
(CerberaSpeedTwelve, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 18:12, Reply)

Rent Demand
My rent demand arrived in the post this morning. 2500 pounds due in on Christmas Day. No card, happy christmas, nothing. Luckily I have no staff so cannot refuse them their Christmas bonus!
( Admiral_Fubar, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 15:17, Reply)

No humbugs here...
I guess ill delurk merely because its my xmas party on monday.

Its actually a half decent one, held in the club i work in (behind bar), free food, entry and all that jazz. Whilst being a nosy bastard and snooping around the boss's office, i stumbled upon the drinks prices-virtually everything £1 or £1.50 a drink, not bad. They offered us double time for bar staff to work it, but im much happier to go and get plastered.

However, this pales in comparison the the end of (academic) year party they throw. Where they bring in 25+ crates of beer, plus anything in the cellar likely to go rancid over the summer, sit us in the bar with free chilli (plus the inevitable people turning up with drugs of choice), and leave us to it. I stumbled home at 9.45, having to move out of my halls by 10.00 that morning.

Then again, we damn well deserve it (and better), because its the bars we work our asses off on that make ours the best Student's Union in the country.
(Ikkle, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 14:40, Reply)

we held a christmas raffle with free entry
and i won a TV/DVD combi.

No scrooges where I work. :)
(psykit, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 13:24, Reply)

secret stash of booze
Last Christmas my boss was given a huge load of beer and wine by her own manager to pass on to the workers. However she just kept it locked in a cupboard, and throughout the year occasionally hands out a bottle to anyone who's been particularly good at their job, claiming the gift is from her.

It's now a full year later and most of the booze is still sitting there under lock and key.
(Corks O'Reilly, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 13:05, Reply)

The same Friday...
when I abused the team leader. Fat C NT.

In walks our boss, Buys me a bottle of champagne and lets me suckle her left bell when we cross paths in the toilet area.
Result!
Hopefully I can poke her and her daughter for Xmas.
(makavel1, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 12:09, Reply)

Our office Christmas party is on the 15th...
...of January

This is so they can have an excuse to combine with Chinese New Year (early Feb) and avoid 2 parties. A bit like planning your kids to be born at Xmas to avoid 2 sets of presents.

Spouses are not invited. My wife is thrilled.
(Freegan Bikefascist, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 3:49, Reply)

Our official Chrimbo Party
In late January. I organised the office Christmas party..it was last MONDAY, a pot-luck affair and a good time, with a white elephant, but no booze, and get your ass back to work afterward. and on a MONDAY. It was a long lunch. Bastards.

The "official" Chrimbo is in late January. F*cksocks! At least there will be booze and pheasant sausages and Pad Thai and creme brulee.........
(April, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 3:40, Reply)

Re GodofStella
I bet you your Happiness-Nazi once worked for the organisation I now work for.
I can only give you the smallest of clues, but I suppose every little helps.

My previous employer (well known High Street book retailer) was ok for Xmas and we got plenty free bar jollies through out the year from publishers anyway.
( Fire & Forget it's the only way to be sure, Sat 18 Dec 2004, 0:06, Reply)

Cheers
Long time ago , I was working in one of the nastiest pubs in Bexleyheath
all the other casuals had quit as they didn't want to work Xmas & New Year.
But I needed the money so finished up doing all the sessions in the week up to
Christmas (this was the 'Olden days' when pubs still closed in the afternoon)

So at 2.00AM Christmas morning after clearing up the spew , broken glass
and party popper detritus from the parents of the current crop of B/Heath Chavs,
whilst fending off threats from the Cro-magnons who wanted just 'one more drink
ya bastard, it's Christmas'
The landlord presented me with my wages and an envelope, with thanks for all
my hard work. Inside was a Christmas card and £20, very nice I thought, being as my
take home was only about £80 anyway.

When I got home, I found my wage packet was £20 short, the twunt had used
my own money to give me my Chirstmas 'bonus'.
When I called him on it the next day, he told me I should've checked it before I left the pub
and it was right when he did it.

I still smile at going in New Years Eve watching him try and work the bar by himself.
(sumo_san, Fri 17 Dec 2004, 23:44, Reply)

ASDA
Yes, i am a por student, therefore also an ASDA colleague. Last week, after being treated to a slap up dinner by my dad, was truly stuffed when i went into work - i usually arrive early to talk with mates. Upon entering the canteen, i noticed that all the tables had been pushed into crude lines. I also noticed that instead of using a tablecloth to cover these individual tables, they had just used xmas wrapping paper, and where one roll had run out they put a fresh one in - of a different colour.

I was then asked if I wanted anything to eat, being fat, I said yes. I was brought over my "starter", or as I prefer to call it "SmartPrice tomato soup". Yum...
Main course was awful too, the meat was just warmed up turkey ham, with add-water-for-instant-gravy, and an odd little sausage in the corner of the plate. Yum.
Dessert couldn't have been any plainer. It was just a mince pie, on a plate. No cream, no spoon, still in the foil.
Afterwards, I was really full up, but was glad to experience the "ASDA xmas treat" as described on various propaganda posters.

Me and mates had a good old chuckle though....
( Goon, Fri 17 Dec 2004, 22:36, Reply)

Can't quite bring myself to say thanks
for the measly fifty bucks. Whoop.
(dlloft, Fri 17 Dec 2004, 21:22, Reply)

Exactly seven days ago...
I was involved in the organisation of our work party.

Total budget: £18000.
We managed to take over a hotel, have dinner for about 300 people and pay for DJ and balloons and stuff, leaving...
£13250 behind the bar.

I can't remember large sections of the night (although there is photographic evidence of what I was doing), and between the 300 guests we managed to drink all but about £750 of the bar tab... that's £42 per person AVERAGE. Stingy, no. But then about 100 people in my office are losing their jobs this year...
( Gizmo.mp3 does not exist, Fri 17 Dec 2004, 19:47, Reply)