12 Guidelines For Employees To Insure You Survive The Office Holiday Party With Your Job Intact

Most times when we are posting on this blog, we are directing our comments to employers. This holiday season we thought we might speak directly with employees in an attempt to limit the number of calls we get in the next week or so from HR folks regaling us with tales of bad behavior at holiday parties.

So, you want to make sure you don't damage your career, or worse, get fired at the office holiday party? In the spirt of the 12 days of Christmas, we have come up with 12 rules for employees attending office holiday parties. Follow these simple guidelines and you should be fine.

Pace yourself just because there is an open bar, does not mean you need to try to see just how much of that open bar you can consume. Remember, this is a work event, not a party I know the title Holiday Party is misleading, but you should think of this as a work obligation, not your friend's party. If it were your friend's party, then you might be forgiven for breaking a crystal vase in your exuberance demonstrating your air guitar skills to AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long." Save those skills for the Air Guitar World Championships. You are not at a club See above re: work obligation. Ladies, grinding on your female friend to get the attention of the guy at the bar may be successful at a club but is not appropriate at your office holiday party. Dress appropriately See #s 2 and 3 above. It is great if you want break out of your boring business casual or professional attire and dress in festive attire for the party. If any part of your outfit could be described as "too," i.e., too short, too tight, too low-cut, or simply too much, then you should rethink that festive attire. Attend Someone or some people in your office spent a good amount of time planning this event. In addition, the powers that be have dug into their pockets to pay for the event. If you cannot be bothered to attend (absent a good reason), you are telling the powers that be that you do not care about your company or your job. Talk to...