Thursday, 3 December 2009

rocking around the christmas tree....

The Christmas period in the office can be something of a trial.  I work for a retailer, so this time of year is a really big deal and accounts for something ridiculous like 75% of our profits.  With that fact in mind, it's really not so surprising that the High Street wants Christmas to start earlier and earlier every year, with the first adverts usually breaking cover in September.  I don't know about you, but I don't really start to feel festive until pretty much the week before Christmas, but now we're in December, it seems that almost everyone else is already there.  Even though our stores are at their busiest now, it's as though the office is starting the long wind-down to the holidays: people are planning their team Christmas parties; putting up decorations around their desks; holding their Secret Santa draws and generally spending as much time as they can doing as little actual work as possible.  Envelopes have now started appearing on my desk as colleagues leave me the Christmas cards that will never be reciprocated.

Now, instead of a tightly agendered team meeting, fuddles are being arranged.  Not familiar with a fuddle?  This is where everyone makes and brings along a dish, and then they're all put together and we all have a big, impromptu buffet and what is normally a stuffy business meeting is instantly transformed into a tremendously enjoyable and spontaneous team social occasion.  In a meeting room.   No, seriously, they're great.  Unfortunately I'll be missing my team's fuddle this year as I'm unavoidably busy doing ....um.... anything something else.

I'm no Scrooge though, and I'm not one to say "Humbug" entirely to the festive season.  Oh no.  Why, only this afternoon, in an attempt to get into the spirit of the season that seems to be sweeping through the rest of the office like a pandemic flu, a colleague and I decided today to put up our Christmas decorations.

Well, I say "decorations", but really it's "decoration" singular.

We've taken the tiny Christmas tree off the windowsill where it has sat all year and have popped it onto the little table between our desks.

Oh, and we've added a fairy.



Much better, no?


Yeah, well so it is only six inches high and perhaps it is stretching it a bit to describe a Dark Lord of the Sith as a fairy*.... but at least we're trying.

He is wearing a bobble-hat.


Merry blooming Christmas.

*To his face, anyway....
Posted by at 20:04
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2 comments:

  1. The whole Christmas thing is weird at my place compared with anywhere else I've ever worked. Everyone's on different timetables, so there are no team lunches, and being public sector, there's no Christmas party other than a big piss up in the pub on the last day of term. In terms of classes, it's coming up to the end of the block, so assessments are in full swing. This is totally at odds with the students, who're in full festive tilt already, and think we're complete meanies for still insisting they learn stuff instead of playing Connect Four.

    Still, no fuddles. So that's something.
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  2. You know,I've alwys liked Christmastime. I like to give presents to people, I love wrapping them (weird right?) and I like getting together with my friends and spending a little extra time with them. My work has a christmas party at a bowling alley and we draw names every year. There's a rumor we won't do it this year because of the budget. That makes me sad because my coworkers are great epople to hang out with, and its the only day of the year I go bowling on purpose.

    That said: there was christmas music on the radio at work on Halloween. One of our local hobby stores started putting up trees and decorations to sell in July. One of our local radio stations turns into a 24/7 Christmas station the day after thanksgiving. I think all of these things are awful.
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