a bunch of holiday letters from years past

by Alison Green on November 23, 2017

It’s Thanksgiving, so in place of regular posts the rest of the day, here are some holiday posts from the past to enjoy.

1. I punched a coworker at the company Christmas party

2. my manager insists on assigning seats at a holiday lunch that we pay for ourselves

3. workplace holiday disasters

4. Christmas tantrums, Hanukkah balls, and other workplace holiday disasters (includes the origin of Hanukkah balls!)

5. do I really have to attend my office holiday party?

6. the rules you need for office gift-giving (which your coworkers are probably violating)

7. my office wants us to chip in to send our CEO’s family on a ski trip

8. my coworker booked all the best vacation days for the year and no one else can have them

9. time off at the holidays: can my employer do that?

10. sending our boss on a Christmas trip, being fair about time off around the holidays, and other holiday questions

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{ 41 comments }

{ 41 comments… read them below }

    1. Specialk9*

      Yeah, wow. And the personal Christmas trip for the President who deserves it because he did generously gave bonuses.

  3. Lissa*

    Oh man, the “assigned seats” one led to (in the You May also like) a bonkers letter from 2013 about a manager who assigned seats based on race. All I could think when reading those comments is that if that were posted today, it’d turn into a 1300 comment slugfest….

  4. Can I retire yet?*

    this has totally strengthened my resolve to give the shared potluck workplace Christmas lunch the big miss — already opted out of the evening restaurant meal some time ago. Just gotta get something defensible into my calendar first thing tomorrow for plausible deniability!

    3. Candi*

      Apparently, someone adapted cooking Kahlua pig to ovens and turkeys.

      And someone had a sense of humor… the images kicked up in the search included a well-cooked turkey with a lighter bikini pattern.

    4. Anon today...and tomorrow*

      Was there ever an update to the ski trip question? I am curious about how that played out.

  6. LadyPhoenix*

    Allison, if you are still taking suggestions for “Update Season”, can we please get an update on story 1, 2, and 7?

  7. WeevilWobble*

    Not approriate for work but the spray painted Barbies are kind of hilarious. I might do that for my Christmas party with friends.

    1. Coywolf*

      It can be as pg as to mean “dummy” but I hear it most amongst people who insult others with the word “retard” and are trying to censor themselves so…

  9. Rainbow Hair Chick*

    Our company once gave us $100 gas cards (YAY)! The catch was the nearest gas station that we could use them at was an hour and half away. Apparently no one in our head office (different province) thought about that. I was eventually able to use mine while on vacation but many were not.

  10. upinalather*

    At ToxicJob several Thanksgivings ago (the day before, when we were dismissed at 2pm company-wide), I was packing up to leave. I put my laptop in my drawer to lock it up. My “manager” (the commercial real estate broker I supported) asked me what I was doing. I told him, incredulously. He told me I had to take my laptop with me to my sister’s TWO STATES AWAY over the COMPANY HOLIDAY and be “on call” in case he needed me. Over Thanksgiving. He asked me, “Do you know how much I work?!” I replied, “Yeah, and I know how much you get paid!” ($3-5 million/year)

    I was a marketing assistant (paid ~$24 hourly), not a heart surgeon. Of course, nothing ever happened that needed my expert and immediate attention (it was just another power play by him), but I felt stressed all weekend. I arranged a meeting with him and my actual departmental manager on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Broker ripped me two new buttholes and departmental manager allowed it all. Broker was a narcissistic bully. I had to carry my laptop home with me from then on. I regularly worked until 7pm as it was.

    Fast-forward to our getting another (young, white, entitled male) team member team member. He left his laptop on his desk every night.

      1. Specialk9*

        Because they pointed out that white males often get special treatment? That’s pretty well documented.

      2. upinalather*

        I’m white, too. I was the only female on the team. I was also older than the rest of the team, the only non-conservative and non-former-Greek member (college fraternity/sorority). Men were paid more and promoted more than women. There was something like one woman to every eight men. There were four people of color on the entire staff of ~75. The brother of the new guy on our team was hired. The place was so broken. I left in August after trying to make things work and talking to everyone for three years.

  11. Red*

    Happy Thanksgiving, American readers!!
    I’m from Australia and I’ve noticed that we’ve started “black friday” sales for no reason other than the fact that we can. \o/

    1. babblemouth*

      Same over in Europe. I don’t know why we’re doing this. We import the worst of the Thanksgiving traditions (rampant consumerist culture) while skipping the best (hanging out with loved ones and eating delicious food).

    2. Felicia*

      Same in Canada, it’s weirder without Thanksgiving before it. I’m hoping it doesn’t catch on as much because it’s a regular work day

    1. Specialk9*

      Oh my gosh my husband was just saying how much Soneone needs to write a book like that, a ‘how to act at work’ book.

  13. Rivakonneva*

    Alison, the link to #4 isn’t working. It takes me to another site that looks like your stuff was copied onto it and asks me to download a free ebook.

    Which is a shame, because I wanted to revisit Hannuakah balls! :)

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