I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been riding this Turkey Day food coma since Thursday. I hope you all enjoyed your time off from work with family and friends, eating mounds of stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pie, wine and beer, and enough bird meat tryptophan—is that right? Tryptophan? Yes, I Googled it—enough tryptophan to tranquilize 2011 Charlie Sheen.
I love Thanksgiving. Americans come together to do what we do best: eat ridiculous portions of genetically-modified food while we prepare to indulge our deepest consumerist tendencies on Black Friday—the one day of the year when at 4am, we line up at the doors of the shopping malls and let our most primal instincts take over as we fight through the stampede to obtain the best deals we’ll see all year.
America. Hell yeah.
Now that that’s over, we can look forward to the upcoming days of the holiday season. It’s a wonderful time of the year. Beautiful snowfalls, lights strung all about the neighborhoods, amazingly bad Hallmark movies, Christmas cookies, and mulled wine. It’s almost magical enough to keep our minds off the X-mas shopping stress, frigid pitch-black mornings and evenings, year-end deadlines, and coming up with a New Year’s Resolution I can actually keep.
Luckily, I’m here to hopefully ease some of that stress. So without further ado, Café Sessions—December Edition.
Should I get my boss something for Christmas? If so, what?
This is going to depend on the type of person you are. I feel like most people don’t get their boss gifts for Christmas, and that’s totally fine. It’s a job. You put in your best effort and in exchange, you get a monetary compensation. That’s all you need to do, and I don’t know many bosses out there expecting anything more from you in regard to presents.
But maybe you are just the kind of person who gets everyone gifts. Awesome! I’ll be waiting for mine! If this is you, just keep it simple. A simple card and maybe some fresh Christmas cookies will suffice.
Gunning for that promotion? Throw a bottle of wine in there. That’ll make you stick out amongst the competition.
Are you hanging on by a string and really need to impress? I don’t know if a gift is going to do much. Knock yourself out and get your boss a holiday gift basket if you want. But I’d start by doing your job better.
I’ve been dating this person for a few months and things are good, but I really don’t want to spend Christmas with their family. How do I dodge my partner’s family holiday plans?
Oh, I’ve been here before. I get it. You like her, you’re sure you’ll like her family, but you’re not ready for that yet. The holidays are meant to be spent with friends and family, but if you spread yourself too thin, you sacrifice some of magic by catering to the masses.
If you were dating for a while and this thing was really serious, I’d say a compromise was necessary. But it being a few months, I think you do you.
Use the weather as an excuse if you can. Or say you’re getting sick. You can also use your family as the excuse. “My family wants me home. It could be my grandma’s last Christmas.” Something of that nature.
Or you could use honesty—always a good policy. Just tell your partner that you’re not ready.
I’m new to my company and want to make a good impression at the holiday party. Any tips?
DON’T PREGAME
Sorry, just speaking from experience. Don’t pregame the party. Save that for your friend’s or family’s party. Chances are you’ll have enough alcohol while you’re there. No one wants to see you slurring your words, arguing about politics, or fighting with your significant other at a holiday party. Especially your boss.
I would suggest, if you have one, to introduce your significant other/plus one to your whole team, including your bosses. They’d love that. It’s important to show your office a different side of you every now and then. Show them you’re human. Give them a little peak into your personal side. They’ll love you for it. Because you’re awesome!
My final nugget of advice would be to stay for the company photo. Don’t leave before that. Make sure your visible. The photo is how people will remember that night. Make it look like you want to be a part of the company—something bigger than yourself. Also, don’t do the Irish Goodbye. Wish everyone Happy Holidays. Don’t be a jerk.
Thanks for reading everyone! I’ll be back in January for the next post and to share my thoughts on the New Year’s Resolution. In the meantime, come up to Rise and give me some new content to write about. Mention you read this post and I’ll give ya $1 off your next Peppermint Mocha!
Happy Holidays!
If you have a topic or question you’d like Steve to tackle for next month, don’t hesitate to ask! Submit an anonymous question or problem here. No name or email is required.
