Employees Are Sharing Stories About Company Holiday Parties Gone Wrong, And These Events Are Literally The HR Nightmare Before Christmas
Like nearly every other holiday gathering, work Christmas parties can be delightful...or become unpredictable, uncomfortable, and slightly unhinged. And there's nothing like free drinks and a year's worth of grievances to ensure an *interesting* experience...
So, when Redditor u/HeavilyDisappointed recently asked, "What's the craziest thing that has happened at your work Christmas party?" employees did not hold back on the nitty-gritty details. From bathroom "rendezvouses" to surprise layoffs — here are stories from 15 office holiday parties where everyone ended up on the Naughty List:
1."It was the late '80s, and my father-in-law worked at a small law firm in the Midwest. That year, the company decided to do a white elephant gift exchange and invite spouses. One of the motivations for inviting spouses was that one of the named partners had passed away, and they wanted to invite his widow — a prim and proper older conservative woman."
"My father-in-law let my mother-in-law handle everything since she was also invited. At the time, my mother-in-law was a stay-at-home mom and the embodiment of domesticity. However, she thought it would be hilarious to pick crotchless panties as a surprise gift. After buying them, she wrapped them in a gorgeous gift box adorned with ribbons and sparkles.
On the day of the party, they let the conservative widow pick her gift first...and you know where this is going. She chose the crotchless panties. There was never another white elephant exchange.
I’ve heard that story many times, but my in-laws never tell it in front of my father-in-law's former coworkers — he’s still friends with most of them. To this day, no one knows who brought the panties to the party."
2."I once worked at an agency where the CEO had an awesome tradition — he paid for the entire Christmas party out of his own pocket every year. It was the highlight of the holiday season. But then he retired, and the new CEO had, let’s say, a different approach to festivities."
"In his first email about the Christmas party, he declared there wouldn't be one. Instead, he kindly suggested everyone could pay their own way at the bar across the road. Naturally, this didn't go over well — especially with staff on the lower rungs — and to make things worse, word got out that the senior executives were holding a fancy dinner party on the same night.
However, the new CEO was also known for two things: his love of a good drink and the impressive liquor cabinet he kept in his office. So, after a few drinks at the self-funded 'party,' a small group — who were fueled by liquid courage — hatched a plan. Among them was a young IT intern who, conveniently, knew how to remotely disable the office cameras and had swipe card access to the CEO's office. The group headed back to the office to raid the CEO's liquor stash."
"The plan worked like a charm. They polished off the entire liquor cabinet and were just about to leave when one guy had to make a statement. He climbed up on the CEO's desk and, cheered on by his inebriated colleagues, proceeded to relieve himself all over the desk and chair, writing 'F*CK YOU' with his yellow stream of injustice."
"Just as this grand act of defiance reached its soggy conclusion, the CEO and his dinner party crew returned — presumably for a little nightcap. The scene they walked in on? Legendary. The fallout? Brutal.
Let's just say that the office Christmas 'party' ended with termination notices for several people. On Christmas Eve, no less. Fun times!"
3."The boss and an employee snuck off to the bathroom together, got 'busy,' and broke the handicap rail off the wall."
"The boss’s wife showed up, went into the bathroom to compose herself after hearing what had just transpired, then proceeded to run out of the bathroom with said handrail and chase the boss around the sales floor with it.
10/10 party."
4."I used to work for a finance company. They spent serious money on the yearly Christmas party, which was usually held at a museum with a theme and games related to the year's theme."
"Our last Christmas party was a James Bond-themed bash held in a sports museum. The games were related to gambling; everyone was wearing suits and cocktail dresses, so when two women jumped up on tables wearing dresses that almost matched and had a uniform look, we all thought the company had sprung for go-go dancers.
A few songs in, the dancers simultaneously dropped their tops and were in the process of getting fully naked when they were pulled down from the table. It turns out that they were not only employees — but they were also related. The 'dancers' were an aunt and niece who had gotten so drunk and angry about having similar dresses that they turned a 'who wore it better' dance-off into a strip tease."
5."One year, I was asked if I would be willing to dress up as Santa for our holiday party. I didn't think I would be very convincing, but I reluctantly agreed. On the day of the party, we were all hanging out in the warehouse, eating cookies, drinking coffee, and having breakfast when I told the people I was sitting with that I had to go outside and make a call. I was actually leaving so I could change into my Santa costume."
"I came back yelling 'Ho ho ho' as loudly as I could, put on my best jolly old man voice, drew names out of a hat, handed out prizes, took pictures with staff, ate cookies, and then said I had to leave because my sleigh was double parked...
After changing back into my work clothes, I walked back into the warehouse and was greeted by a surprising number of people who legitimately thought I missed Santa. The grown adults I had stood next to and posed for pictures with told me how I missed out. I couldn't believe it. At first, I thought people were being nice or teasing me, but throughout the day, people kept asking who Santa was.
Sh*t was wild."
6."They had layoffs immediately after the potluck."
"The gift card prizes to be given to the first and second prize winners of the cookie contest were taken off the prize table by an executive — as both the first and second place winners were part of the group being laid off."
7."One year, our company decided to fire 10 of our best employees...after they had received their Christmas party tickets."
"Nearly half of the scorned ex-employees showed up to the open bar, ordering doubles and triples and pouring them into bottles. I heard they completely drained the bar.
There was lots of low-key sabotage and shenanigans over the course of the night. Apparently, one person managed to stealth-urinate in one of the management table's alcohol bottles.
I left that year but was someone's plus-one the following year. By that point, it was back to drunken brawls between two distant departments and an offer of a promotion if I returned (I did not)."
8."My first job was at a shipyard; as you can imagine, the Christmas parties were always beer-filled and raucous. During one party, two employees who hated each other got drunk. We'll call them 'Small Guy' and 'Big Guy.'"
"Near the end of the party, Small Guy decides to walk up behind Big Guy and piss down his leg. At the time, I was conversing with both of their supervisors — who abruptly ended the conversation as they watched what Small Guy was doing. We held our breath to see what Big Guy would do; however, he was extraordinarily drunk and completely oblivious to what happened.
The supervisors talked quickly to each other, out of my earshot. Small Guy's supervisor ushered him out of the room at lightning speed. Big Guy's supervisor quietly and surreptitiously spilled a beer on the floor and placed the bottle at Big Guy's feet. He tells Big Guy he must have spilled the beer and told him to change his clothes (our lockers with coveralls were nearby) and that he would mop up the mess. Big Guy thanked his supervisor and went to change without a question. No one but the three of us saw what happened, so the damage was contained.
When I was leaving, both of the supervisors came over to me and asked if I had seen what transpired. I told them I had. Both swore me to absolute secrecy because if Big Guy found out what had just occurred, he would twist off Small Guy's head and then come after the supervisors. I told them I didn't want him coming after me either — he was a nasty piece of work — so 'forgetting' it was no problem."
9."At our school's holiday party, the principal got pretty drunk and calmly walked up to a troublesome teacher (who was red-faced drunk and loudly obnoxious)..."
"The principal proceeded to pick his nose, wiped the booger on the teacher's shoulder, told him, 'You're an asshole,' and left.
That sobered the teacher up fast. He said he was suddenly very concerned about his upcoming performance report."
10."Years ago, the company I worked for threw a ritzy Christmas party. An important detail to note about this event is that, unfortunately, the company owner's wife lacked both sense and self-control."
"The TL;DR version of the story is that she got absolutely hammered and admitted to sleeping with both her father-in-law AND brother-in-law — over the P.A. system.
After this 'announcement,' her now ex-husband, who was sitting five feet away, PISSED his pants from simultaneously laughing and crying.
I quit two weeks later. Last I heard, they went through a VERY nasty divorce, and she moved overseas. The guy somehow managed to keep most of his fortune, sold his business, and retired to Florida."
11."You know how you can order photo booths for parties? My old office got one during my first Christmas party there. It was a digital booth with screens that spit out strips of the photos taken."
"Apparently, my coworkers were going in there and making out, flashing, and doing all sorts of raunchy stuff. No one mentioned that all the photos would be saved and put on a website for everyone to see.
The site was up for 15 minutes before the plug was abruptly pulled."
12."I worked at a large call center, so Christmas parties were thrown on a team-by-team basis. Ours had around 18 people."
"During this particular year, the party was held at a local pub that specialized as a carvery (in the UK, it's a buffet that serves big slabs of beef, turkey, pork, and trimmings). The food came out, and one of my very drunk coworkers was unimpressed with her two slices of meat.
She complained to the staff, but they reiterated that customers received only two slices of their chosen meat. So, she returned to her table — still grumbling and drinking some more.
Eventually, she snapped, went to the counter, picked up the entire hunk of roast beef, and ran off into the parking lot with the pub staff in pursuit — leaving the rest of us dumbstruck."
"She seemed to be heading for her car, but a few yards outside of the pub — just before being caught by the following pub staff and our manager — the burning hot roast beef made its feeling known throughout her hands and brain. Burned and defeated, she dropped the beef and fell to the floor."
"She was given a written warning at work and was asked to reimburse the pub for one lost roast beef.
We had expected her to get sacked, but as was typical for this company, they waited another month and engineered her dismissal for something else.
The whole saga went down in company folklore as 'Beefgate.'"
13."Our company once threw a massive party in a posh hotel. Afterward, it was revealed that we had acquired a $250 cleanup bill because someone took a shit in the hotel foyer."
"There were a few rumors as to who the suspected culprit was, but no proof until one day, a video appeared of the CCTV footage of a colleague stumbling out of the party room, stopping, unzipping his pants, and just letting loose in front of horrified staff — who were too shocked to stop him in time.
If you're wondering, 'mystery' pooper was exactly who everyone expected him to be."
14."I used to work for a small business with about a dozen employees. The owner was very impulsive — when he got anxious or cranky, he'd make us bust our asses until his mood improved."
"His son worked with us part-time and sometimes just came around to hang out. He was very much his father's son but didn't get mad as often because the stresses of adulthood hadn't hit him yet.
So, during one Christmas party, we all got drunk, but the boss and his kid got the drunkest. After everyone left the company party, they went to Applebee's. While there, they got into a ferocious verbal argument. The son left quickly, took the car keys, drove off, and left his father stranded at Applebee's."
"The boss walked back to the office, realized he didn't have his keys, and walked to our other location, but couldn't get in there either. He then walked back to Applebee's, hung out in the waiting area, and didn't leave until he was permanently banned from the restaurant. Eventually, he got in touch with his girlfriend (his phone had died earlier), and she came and got him."
"For the rest of the time I worked there, my coworkers and I would eat lunch together at Applebee's whenever he was in a bad mood because we knew he couldn't get to us there."
15."One of our managers became incensed when he discovered that liquor was only covered by the corporate tab for the first hour of the holiday party. Beer and wine were covered for the whole party, but the manager wasn't in the mood for either one."
"He said, 'I don't want free beer, I want booze,' and decided that his best move was to load up on booze in the first hour. Double shot after double shot as some form of protest. He 'protested' that the rule promoted dangerous drinking behavior.
He got carted out about 15 minutes after the hour was up, which was around 7 p.m.
It was me; I was the manager."
Did any of these "naughty" holiday party moments surprise you? Have you ever witnessed an unhinged event at an office Christmas party? Let us know in the comments! (Or if you would prefer to stay anonymous, you can use this Google Form).
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
