LONDON (dpa) – “Don’t sit on the photocopier,” is the tongue-in- cheek advice offered by British tabloids to office workers as the country faces the annual binge season with all its after-effects.
The consequences could include “serious injury” to sensitive parts should the glass break, and even the possibility of broken bones if the subject should fall from the photocopier, according to the Sun.
The advice will seem bizarre to those unacquainted with the British predilection for copying unclothed intimate parts of the body for the general amusement of inebriated colleagues.
A survey commissioned by the BBC revealed that 20 per cent of all workers will take three days off work as a result of the ensuing hangovers.
The scientist who conducted the survey estimated that the average male office Christmas partygoer would consume the equivalent of 11 glasses of wine, and his female counterpart five, in an attempt to make up for the long year working together in an atmosphere of sobriety.
In a country where the average pub still shuts at 11 p.m. and where traditions like Carnival, at which other nations tend to let their hair down, are unknown, the annual office party is the sole chance to throw inhibition to the winds.
British office workers will spend 45 hours celebrating with business associates and colleagues, according to the company Office Angels. It describes the prolonged Christmas celebrations as a “minefield” for companies.
Embarrassing moments provide material for gossip for the rest of the year. What is the junior employee to say when he throws up on the dance floor and the managing director’s wife slips in the mess and breaks her arm?
Owen Warnock, a partner in a legal firm, knows that January brings with it loads of work in settling the consequences of the festive season.
“It has mostly to do with punch-ups, insults and damage to property,” he says.
Employees appear to relish the opportunity to confront the boss face-to-face. Around nine per cent of the participants at the celebrations announce their resignation during the party, according to the Daily Telegraph.
A further 25 per cent demand a raise, fortified by a couple of drinks beforehand.
Up to a third acknowledge becoming involved in scuffles, quite apart from the 54 per cent who seize the opportunity to cuddle up to the colleague they have secretly fancied all year.
“This can lead to problems, particularly when one of the parties is already in a relationship,” staff consultant Ashley Gerrish warns.
“Incidents of this kind can lead rapidly to charges of sexual harassment,” he adds.
Warnock tells a similar story. “The excuse that it was the Christmas party simply won’t do anymore,” he says.
Damages after unsolicited Christmas advances easily reach levels around 30,000 dollars, and some – employers and employees – regard the celebrations as so dangerous that they resort to flight, using illness or holiday as their pretext.
This year things are to be quieter in British concerns, but this is not a result of wisdom gained from past experience, rather fear of a looming recession.
London has been particularly affected by the terror attacks on the United States.
Last year the U.S.-based financial news agency Bloomberg raised eyebrows in the usually blase London City with a party costing around 1.5 million dollars.
“This year there will be no parties at all,” is now the refrain.
The London operation of Germany’s Commerzbank intends to collect money for the victims of the World Trade Center attack instead of holding a party, and at Warner Music, where 1,500 danced the night away last year, things will be a lot quieter.
“We think this is more in line with the spirit of the times,” a staffer says.
