The Debate: Should you get drunk at the Christmas work party? |
Should you get drunk at the office Christmas party? It’s a question as old as time. We get the case for and against in this week’s Debate
YES: Sometimes you just need to get drunk to show your colleagues the real you
I was in my thirties before I had my first proper Christmas party. I worked at small start-ups where I was the only employee and a party for one would have been rather sad, and when I waited tables for a living I was clocking into work to serve pints to the nine-to-fivers having their Christmas parties. We were working too hard to have our own.
So when I first got a job that came with an invite to the Christmas party, I was delighted. We went to a Canary Wharf restaurant and I remember walking in but not walking out. It was the classic situation in which a glass turns into a bottle, and a bottle leads to heart-warming moments of connection over a cigarette on the terrace between courses.
I wasn’t used to being in a work setting but feeling like I could be myself. Typically I played the role of a more restrained, sensible version of myself in the office – but that first Christmas party helped me bond with colleagues in a way I hadn’t before, and helped me feel more like I could be........