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Speaker 1: You're listening to a Muma Mea podcast.

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Speaker 2: Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters

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Speaker 2: that this podcast is recorded on.

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Speaker 3: Hi.

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Speaker 2: I'm Claire Murphy. This is Mumma MIA's twice daily news podcast,

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Speaker 2: The Quickie is your work Christmas party coming up in

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Speaker 2: the next week or two, the Mma Mea one is

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Speaker 2: and while we're discussing what we're going to wear and

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Speaker 2: how we're getting home, the company has made a choice

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Speaker 2: on when to hold this event and at what time

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Speaker 2: to ensure that we don't go to wild because, let's

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Speaker 2: be honest, we all have a story about the time

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Speaker 2: we were that person at the party. Today, we're going

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Speaker 2: to hear from people who have major regrets about their

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Speaker 2: work Christmas party behavior and find out how your conduct

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Speaker 2: at the end of the year celebrations could actually be

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Speaker 2: something that gets you moving up the corporate ladder rather

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Speaker 2: than being flung off the rungs. But first, here's the

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Speaker 2: letters from the Quickie newsroom. Friday, December sixth A funeral

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Speaker 2: will be held for Bianca Jones today, the nineteen year

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Speaker 2: old from Melbourne who died after drinking contaminated alcohol in Lao.

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Speaker 2: The service will be held at mentone Girls Grammar School,

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Speaker 2: where miss Jones graduated just last year. Guests have been

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Speaker 2: asked to wear colour and donate to a GoFundMe fundraiser

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Speaker 2: in lieu of flowers. Biancer's family released a statement saying

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Speaker 2: their daughter was a private young woman with a wonderful network,

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Speaker 2: but she was not a celebrity, saying it's our wish

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Speaker 2: Bianco be farewelled in a manner that reflects her life.

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Speaker 2: Thai authorities where Bianca was taken after she and friend

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Speaker 2: Holly Bowles fell ill after a night out at a

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Speaker 2: bar and their backpack as accommodation in Lao confirmed that

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Speaker 2: she died of brain swelling due to the high level

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Speaker 2: of methanol in her system. An official working closely on

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Speaker 2: the murder of a health insurance CEO in the US

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Speaker 2: has revealed that the shell casings from the bullets used

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Speaker 2: in the attack had words written on them. United Healthcare

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Speaker 2: CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside the Hilton Hotel

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Speaker 2: in New York, where he was attending a conference. The

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Speaker 2: man wearing a mask, stepped out from behind a car

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Speaker 2: and opened fire, seemingly laying in weight for his targeted victim.

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Speaker 2: The official told AP that the ammunition used in the

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Speaker 2: attack had the words deny, defend, and depose written on them.

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Speaker 2: The words may refer to strategies insurance companies allegedly use

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Speaker 2: to try and avoid paying clients claims. The government remains

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Speaker 2: at large and the motive remains unclear. After Donald Trump

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Speaker 2: announced that crypto advocate Paul Atkins was nominated to be

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Speaker 2: his next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the

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Speaker 2: world's most popular digital currency hit six figures for the

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Speaker 2: first time. Bitcoin has been rising since Trump was reelected

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Speaker 2: last month, climbing from sixty nine thousand to one hundred

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Speaker 2: and three thousand, just two years after it fell to

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Speaker 2: seventeen thousand following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. Trump,

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Speaker 2: who was once a skeptic of digital currency, has now

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Speaker 2: pledged to make the US the crypto capital of the planet.

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Speaker 2: He also launched World Liberty, Financial and new business with

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Speaker 2: his family members that trades in cryptocurrency. Those in the

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Speaker 2: digital currency space are hoping Trump will push through legislation

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Speaker 2: and regulatory changes that they've been lobbying for to reduce

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Speaker 2: red tape and give crypto more legitimacy. Travis Kelcey has

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Speaker 2: been nominated for the NFL's Walter Payton Man of the

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Speaker 2: Year Award, which recognizes the positive work football players do

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Speaker 2: off the field. Kelsey has multiple programs running in the

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Speaker 2: Kansas City community through his Foundation eighty seven and Running

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Speaker 2: the Time tnd crediting his mum and dad for giving

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Speaker 2: him a beautiful childhood and putting him in the position

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Speaker 2: to be able to give back. One program Kelsey singled

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Speaker 2: out on the video acknowledging his nomination is Operation Breakthrough,

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Speaker 2: which helps Kansas City youth living in poverty. The Chief

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Speaker 2: Star says working with the kids makes him a better

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Speaker 2: person and a better man. The awards will be announced

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Speaker 2: on February six. That's what's going on in the world today. Next,

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Speaker 2: we learn from people who urge you not to end

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Speaker 2: up being them at the work Christmas Party. The work

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Speaker 2: Christmas Party is an opportunity to get together with your

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Speaker 2: colleagues without the pressure of deadlines, to unwind, acknowledge your

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Speaker 2: co workers, and celebrate the year's success. It's supposed to

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Speaker 2: be a thank you from your employer for your hard

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Speaker 2: work and dedication throughout the year, but for some assies

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Speaker 2: they go into the end of your work celebration purely

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Speaker 2: to drink up big on the boss's dime. The stories

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Speaker 2: of Christmas parties of the past to those who were

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Speaker 2: not directly involved seem hilarious. To the person who makes

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Speaker 2: the highlight real it can be embarrassing, awkward, and sometimes

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Speaker 2: even career altering. For Ruth, it was horrible at the time,

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Speaker 2: but had a happy ending.

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Speaker 4: I was an intern on a magazine and he was

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Speaker 4: the editor. We had actually got together, but nobody knew,

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Speaker 4: and it was the Christmas party, and we'd had a

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Speaker 4: few too many and were not as discreet as we

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Speaker 4: should have been, and we started dancing together, and because

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Speaker 4: we'd had a few drinks, we didn't realize that the

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Speaker 4: mirrored war which we were sort of dancing against and

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Speaker 4: saw sort of leaning on for support, had a fire door,

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Speaker 4: and that it was a jar, And so we both

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Speaker 4: fell out of the fire door in front of everyone,

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Speaker 4: and we both got concussion, and we sort of came

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Speaker 4: to to this circle of colleagues and workmates and bosses

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Speaker 4: all looking down on us. That was a bit awkward,

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Speaker 4: but next year. We've been married twenty five years and

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Speaker 4: we've had five kids.

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Speaker 2: So kind of been all bad for Michelle. She became

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Speaker 2: the butt of the joke for years to come.

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Speaker 1: So I ended up getting the microhme from the DJ

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Speaker 1: and singing karaoke even though nobody asked for it. At

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Speaker 1: some stage, I swung around a pole thinking I was

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Speaker 1: Britney Spears at an arena show. Little to my knowledge,

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Speaker 1: someone had filmed that. That footage was shown the following

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Speaker 1: year as part of the invite. It was something like

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Speaker 1: back for her follow up performance, So please learn from

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Speaker 1: my mistakes. Young Ones.

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Speaker 2: Barbara had an absolute mic drop moment with her husband's boss,

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Speaker 2: but was told after to maybe not do that again.

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Speaker 5: My husband had just started at a new job as

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Speaker 5: a junior accountant. It was a sit down meal of

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Speaker 5: a group of about a dozen staff and their partners.

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Speaker 5: One of the owners commented that I had ordered the

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Speaker 5: stake and that it was a bit boring and that

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Speaker 5: I could have had that any night of the week.

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Speaker 5: I very quickly told him that on what he paid

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Speaker 5: my husband, we could not afford to buy stake.

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Speaker 2: This anonymous responder told us that she turned into someone

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Speaker 2: she definitely is not.

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Speaker 6: On the night, I decided I had to show the

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Speaker 6: young ones I could keep up with them and thought

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Speaker 6: I would join in on the tequila shots. After a

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Speaker 6: combination of cocktails, wine and vodkas, I gave my colleagues

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Speaker 6: way too many long hugs. I tried to have a

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Speaker 6: DM sitting in the garden bed with another, and then

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Speaker 6: I attempted to go out with the young ones to

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Speaker 6: crack on. Luckily, my husband stopped me. I was violently

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Speaker 6: ill when I got home and the next day ended

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Speaker 6: up in hospital on a drip to rehydrate. More than

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Speaker 6: ten years later, it still comes up where accountants guess

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Speaker 6: it's not really on.

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Speaker 2: Brand and another anonymous tale I later us realize that

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Speaker 2: even those in charge of educating our children can get

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Speaker 2: unruly at the work show.

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Speaker 3: I'm a high school teacher and in my second year

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Speaker 3: of teaching, we had an enormous night at our staff

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Speaker 3: Christmas party, which was on the Thursday night before the Friday,

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Speaker 3: last day of the school year. We partied on at

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Speaker 3: a colleague's house until three am, and we were at

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Speaker 3: school by eight forty five am the next day ready

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Speaker 3: for a game of softball at nine am, staff versus students.

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Speaker 6: I believe that was.

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Speaker 3: Probably still under the influence although I did play a

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Speaker 3: pretty good game, I spent the rest of the day

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Speaker 3: on the sick bead in the school office, blaming food

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Speaker 3: poisoning for my bad tummy.

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Speaker 2: Now we can laugh at these things now, but at

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Speaker 2: the same time, the fallout from work party shenanigans can

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Speaker 2: be really serious. The Fair Work Commission heard a case

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Speaker 2: in New South Wales in twenty fourteen where an employee

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Speaker 2: was dismissed for telling his boss to wear off, making

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Speaker 2: an unwelcome proposition to a female colleague, bullying another female colleague,

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Speaker 2: sexually harassing the colleague by kissing her without her permission,

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Speaker 2: and telling another female colleague that his mission that night

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Speaker 2: was to find out what color nickers she was wearing. Now,

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Speaker 2: the employee had been warned that the company Code of

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Speaker 2: conduct applied to this event. The Commission, however, found that

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Speaker 2: the employee's dismissal was unfair, saying this behavior was isolated

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Speaker 2: and out of character. Now, they blamed the company for

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Speaker 2: the free drinks which the employees served themselves and were

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Speaker 2: unsupervised doing so, saying it was contradictory to ask for

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Speaker 2: employees to adhere to the code of conduct while providing

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Speaker 2: them with unlimited free alcohol. In another case, an aldi

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Speaker 2: store employee was dismissed for throwing a beer at his colleagues. Now,

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Speaker 2: the company in this case did also supply free alcohol,

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Speaker 2: but it was through a licensed venue and more controlled,

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Speaker 2: so the commission found in this case the dismissal was fair.

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Speaker 2: So how do we navigate the work Christmas party without

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Speaker 2: ending up like these guys? Lisa Leung is the host

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Speaker 2: of this working life podcast Lisa, Look, we all love

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Speaker 2: about that time that person did that thing at the

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Speaker 2: Christmas party, but do we really need to be mindful

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Speaker 2: that something we do on the night could actually be

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Speaker 2: career altering? Yeah?

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Speaker 7: Look, work Christmas parties are still about work, and that's

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Speaker 7: not just under law, but also the mindset that you

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Speaker 7: need to have as well. And so if you're thinking

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Speaker 7: about it being an extension of work, then you really

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Speaker 7: shouldn't be doing anything that you wouldn't want your work

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Speaker 7: colleagues to be reminding you about forevermore.

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Speaker 2: Exactly, and also to be mindful for bosses too, that

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Speaker 2: you're saying, like the work Christmas party is still work

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Speaker 2: if one of your staff members gets hurt or injured

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Speaker 2: or something happens to them at the Christmas party, you're

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Speaker 2: liable for them, right, Yeah.

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Speaker 7: So if it's a work related function, then there will

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Speaker 7: be responsibilities on both the employers and the employees. So

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Speaker 7: one of the suggestions from human resources is that the

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Speaker 7: leader actually send out an email reminding people of their

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Speaker 7: responsibilities and the fact that this is related function. So

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Speaker 7: maybe that's why I'm tip to do, just to set

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Speaker 7: those expectations early.

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Speaker 2: Can we talk about how Christmas parties have seemingly changed

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Speaker 2: a little bit over the years though, so even just

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Speaker 2: across my own career, Like back in the day, they

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Speaker 2: were a Friday night and they were a massive binge blowout,

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Speaker 2: whereas like now, Mama Mia, we have a lovely two

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Speaker 2: till six pm on a Thursday where we are a

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Speaker 2: lot more reserved. Do we feel like maybe we're changing

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Speaker 2: our culture around Christmas parties?

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Speaker 7: Do you know you're completely on trend?

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Speaker 2: Clear?

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Speaker 7: Because the work Christmas parties back in the day were

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Speaker 7: definitely night affairs, and not only was there an expectation

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Speaker 7: of the Christmas event, but you did actually have an

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Speaker 7: expectation that it would kick on and that you would

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Speaker 7: have after party and then after after party. But because

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Speaker 7: of these responsibilities, whether it be around responsible drinking and

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Speaker 7: also just keeping yourself nice under work laws. They've moved,

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Speaker 7: and a lot of them have moved to daytime or

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Speaker 7: very early like your own Christmas party, and many of

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Speaker 7: them have turned to experientials. So even avoiding the alcohol

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Speaker 7: or making you pay for your own booze so that

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Speaker 7: you keep it kind of under control.

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Speaker 2: Is it important for us though, even if we think

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Speaker 2: it might be a bit lame to go, you know,

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Speaker 2: in daytime on a Thursday and not have a big,

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Speaker 2: massive rager, is it important to go to these things

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Speaker 2: at all? Like, because I remember talking about this with

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Speaker 2: a former football or about mad Mondays and how we're

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Speaker 2: all looking at it when we like that is ridiculous.

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Speaker 2: Why would you do that? You get in trouble? Boys

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Speaker 2: are dumb And then he went no, but actually it's

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Speaker 2: an opportunity for the younger recruits to sit down and

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Speaker 2: have conversations with the veterans and they learn things and

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Speaker 2: they make connections, and so it's actually really important for

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Speaker 2: them for their footballing career to attend functions like this.

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Speaker 2: Would you say something similar is happening at work Christmas parties? Clair?

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Speaker 7: This is spot on such a really interesting point because

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Speaker 7: especially if you've got hybrid work conditions, they are actually

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Speaker 7: not that many opportunities to get together with those who

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Speaker 7: aren't part of your team. So it is worth getting

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Speaker 7: out of your trackied acts and making an effort because

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Speaker 7: if you're trying to think about, well, what is the

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Speaker 7: Christmas or end of year function about, it's about reconnecting

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Speaker 7: and the best way to do that is definitely face

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Speaker 7: to face, and even though it is a work related function,

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Speaker 7: it's just a little bit more fluid and relaxed so

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Speaker 7: that you can go and have conversations. If you're the

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Speaker 7: elder statesperson, then it might be about meeting some of

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Speaker 7: the younger people and sort of having curiosity around them

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Speaker 7: and having them asked questions of you, and then vice versa.

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Speaker 7: If you are new to an organization, what an amazing

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Speaker 7: opportunity to go and meet some people who are not

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Speaker 7: in your team.

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Speaker 2: Well, can we talk a little bit about the etiquette

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Speaker 2: guide then, because I mean I have said some things

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Speaker 2: to bosses at Christmas parties which I regret to this day.

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Speaker 2: So how do we make or that we're having conversations

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Speaker 2: that are social but also still work okay, Because you know,

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Speaker 2: the lines get blurry. It functions like this.

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Speaker 7: Clah, and I must say that nothing if not inconsistent.

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Speaker 7: So if I say these things, there is the right

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Speaker 7: way to act, really, but know that I've broken all

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Speaker 7: of these rules as well. And sometimes you just have

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Speaker 7: to reach those boundaries so that you know whether those

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Speaker 7: boundaries are So the best practice is trying not to

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Speaker 7: drink too much. You don't need to drink your Christmas bonus.

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Speaker 7: And because there's so many non alcoholic beverage options nowadays,

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Speaker 7: even if you're just doing one for one, so it

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Speaker 7: used to be have one beer and then have one water.

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Speaker 7: Now you can just have a beer and then a

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Speaker 7: zero alcohol beverage as well, so going one for one.

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Speaker 7: And the reason why you're trying to do this is

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Speaker 7: because you're really just trying to connect with people, and

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Speaker 7: the best way to do that is to be lit.

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Speaker 7: And sometimes our listening skills, you know, they could decrease

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Speaker 7: if you drink too much, So that's kind of one

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Speaker 7: reason why you might not want to drink too much.

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Speaker 7: Another rule is don't remove too much clothing. And then

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Speaker 7: I've got another one, which is don't corner your manager.

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Speaker 2: So that's one I've been really guilty of I'm a

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Speaker 2: shocker for like getting the boss in a corner and

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Speaker 2: just berating them with things like it is, I'm so

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Speaker 2: embarrassed by my behavior. But anyway, continue on.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, so, like maybe just maybe set yourself a timer

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Speaker 7: so you want to say something nice to them, but

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Speaker 7: just notice if you're just taking up too much of

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Speaker 7: the oxygen there, and generally with behavior, try and tone

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Speaker 7: down any gossiping or obnoxious behavior. I know that it

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Speaker 7: feels like you've had a big year and you want

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Speaker 7: to let rip, but just remember it to work function

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Speaker 7: and pace yourself when it comes to that. It is

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Speaker 7: ultimately about connection. As you mentioned with the baller and

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Speaker 7: the wise words there, It's about saying thanks to your

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Speaker 7: work colleagues and try to stay professional as much as

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Speaker 7: you can.

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Speaker 2: What about for our work colleagues who might be a

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Speaker 2: little bit socially awkward, like this is their worst nightmare

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Speaker 2: to be stuck in a room full of people that

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Speaker 2: they're kind of acquaintances with, not really friends or close with,

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Speaker 2: and then having to try and make conversation. How do

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Speaker 2: we help our colleagues who are a little bit on

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Speaker 2: the quiet side through something that's meant to be a

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Speaker 2: really great networking situation.

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Speaker 7: I reckon this is part and parcel of our COVID

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Speaker 7: experience as well, Claires. So because we're quite used to

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Speaker 7: maybe working hybridly, working from home, just feeling that little

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Speaker 7: bit more socially awkward. So you know, the rule with

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Speaker 7: conversations are to really just be curious. So each of

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Speaker 7: us are human beings with usually amazing stories, and we

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Speaker 7: only see a little part of this when we're in

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Speaker 7: a work situation. So if you're curious about the person

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Speaker 7: and what they might be doing over summer. So when

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Speaker 7: I mean be curious, I don't mean go and ask

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Speaker 7: a really deep question which is like a little bit

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Speaker 7: too much, but just being a little bit curious about them,

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Speaker 7: and then the pressure is off you, so you don't

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Speaker 7: have to be an amazing storyteller, you don't have to

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Speaker 7: do anything fancy. It's actually just trying to find that

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Speaker 7: connection with others and it's usually through something that you're

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Speaker 7: mutually interested in. So if they mention that a big

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Speaker 7: traveler and so are you, then you know, beautiful go there.

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Speaker 7: If you love watching movies, you could talk about Christmas

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Speaker 7: movies that you love, or what do you do. You

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Speaker 7: could even ask them if they're traditional and they love Christmas,

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Speaker 7: then ask them a little bit more about why Christmas

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Speaker 7: is so special in what they do there. I've got

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Speaker 7: a little tip which could seem a bit strange, but

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Speaker 7: if you don't know many people in your workplace, even

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Speaker 7: in your teams, would you consider doing a bit of

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Speaker 7: a Google search and a LinkedIn search on them because

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Speaker 7: you might just find either that they've lived in a

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Speaker 7: place which is really unusual and interesting. Maybe you lived

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Speaker 7: there too. I once found out that a producer of

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Speaker 7: mine lived in Belgium, which is quite strange, and so

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Speaker 7: had I, and we both spoke Flemish, and that was

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Speaker 7: an amazing thing to connect on because it's so different,

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Speaker 7: so fun facts that you can sort of, I don't know,

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Speaker 7: show that little curiosity around the people that you work with.

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Speaker 2: So the moral of the story is, don't be that

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Speaker 2: guy or girl at the Christmas party. Take it from

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Speaker 2: Lisa and I because we've been there too.

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Speaker 7: Back in the day, I was someone who used to

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Speaker 7: have a party trick, which is that I could actually

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Speaker 7: drink a lot because I'm really really small. Anyway, we

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Speaker 7: kicked onto the after party and in the after party,

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Speaker 7: I just got really sloppy and so so I kind

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Speaker 7: of fell into this. It was kind of like a

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Speaker 7: fake water feature. And the thing is that not only

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Speaker 7: did I fall into the water feature, but I actually

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Speaker 7: I don't swim, but I mean it was really shallow.

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Speaker 7: But it became a bit of folk lore because everyone

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Speaker 7: knew that I didn't swim, and also I chose to

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Speaker 7: test out this water feature, and the rumor was that's

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Speaker 7: how I first learned how to swim right as an adult.

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Speaker 7: So yeah, just getting messy. So do you know what

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Speaker 7: the rule is that I've actually have kept to this

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Speaker 7: day go for it is that nothing good happens after

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Speaker 7: two am and never do you know the next venue

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Speaker 7: when everyone goes, oh, let's just do one more venue. Oh,

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Speaker 7: and the other one was if you ever see me

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Speaker 7: with a cigar, just tell me to go home. What's yours?

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Speaker 2: Clear though, Oh, Lisa, I was the girl who threw

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Speaker 2: up on her own shoes. But do you know what

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Speaker 2: silver lining? Someone else was worse than me at that

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Speaker 2: Christmas party, and so she was the focus of the

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Speaker 2: stories come Monday morning, and it wasn't me. So I

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Speaker 2: dodged a bullet.

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Speaker 7: And also You're very, very thoughtful because you didn't actually

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Speaker 7: throw up on someone else.

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Speaker 2: No, that's why I applaud you. Thank you, I appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: I'm sure everyone else around me appreciated it too. Thanks

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Speaker 2: for taking the time to feed your mind with us today.

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Speaker 2: The quickie is produced by me, Claire Murphy and our

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Speaker 2: executive producer Taylor Straano, with audio production by Seek and

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Speaker 2: Sadler