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Staff Xmas Parties - Old News Archive

Posted On: Monday, 15 December, 2008

hello again!!!! At present I am in a crisis with my computer as it has decided to go on the fritz with me and keep crashing for no apparent reason so I am writing this as HYPERSPEED!!!!!!!!!

Inspiration for this article comes from my last visit to a bingo hall last weekend. The bingo finished early because it was the staffs Xmas party......making me think of all the staff Xmas parties that I have gone to since being in bingo!

In every walk of working life there are Xmas parties......my girlfriend works in a doctors surgery and they had theirs last Friday in the centre of town and had a great time.....and its the same in the bingo: however the opportunity to have a Xmas party is very slim in the bingo world. In our industry the doors open at 10am and shut at 10pm (sometimes later) which leaves little time for a few drinks in a restaurant afterwards to celebrate the festive period. Before the late licensing laws came in it was even harder and it regularly became a race to see how much booze you could neck down before last orders!!!!

Bingo managers and operators are aware of this and adjust the situation accordingly. My first three Xmas staff parties were all held in the same place: a local hotel whose landlady played bingo in the club and would let us stay and have a nice relaxing late meal and drinks until the wee small hours. This ensured a good time was had by all. Future staff parties were held in bowling alleys (not literally of course!) Chinese restaurants and even in the bingo club itself. All of them however ran along a similar theme:

Firstly not everyone would turn up, for various reasons: some wouldn't go because of the late start/finish; these would be the people who had family at home, or who couldn't eat and drink that much that late at night, or had to go into work the next day......secondly in my experience the party gets segregated very quickly. Bingo staff turnover is very fast and I guarantee you that about half a dozen people at the event have been working with the company for less than 4 weeks (mainly due to the manager hiring more staff in the run up to Xmas!!) My first Xmas party was just like that. I had been working with them for less than 3 months and at the venue I was put on the 'kiddies' table whereas the more 'experienced staff' all sat together. (The annoying thing was I had two more Xmases with the same company and I was ALWAYS on the kiddies table with the new staff.......I wasn't that bad was I?!) Next off the generation gap would be exposed. The young staff would be on a mission to see who could get drunk and cop off first whereas the more mature staff would quietly enjoy there wine and turkey before leaving five minutes after dessert! Then there would be the managers and there assistants who would be wavering between the 'gotta keep the professionalism' and 'wheres the tequila?' One of them would always break and end up dancing on the table and snogging the girl that works on booksales.....only to regret it the next day when the staff would show him there mobile videos!!!!!!

Some of the Christmas parties were courtesy of the company.....but some however were also paid for by the staff themselves. A little cheeky I always thought when you had to fork over £20 for a three course meal that you wouldn't normally eat, especially at 11o'clock at night! but I 'm sure that I am not the only bingo employee who has been in this situation. There was even a year when we had to have our party in the bingo club, because our budget could not afford a proper do.....so we brought in our own nibbles and drinks....and to be honest with you, we had a cracking time!!!

This year is the first time however that I am missing out on a christmas celebration courtesy of the bingo. Working in the TV bingo world means that someone has to work every night till 2am and this year it was my turn whilst everyone else enjoyed themselves!!!! Ah well better luck next time.

Please feel free to leave any stories about your xmas parties here for me to have a chuckle over. Maybe you did something you lived to regret.......or even regretted something you never did!!!!!!!

Oh and P.S. anyone that is a whizz on computers let me know.....I keep on getting the BSOD and it is driving me nuts!!!!!!!!

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