Wild Office Holiday Party Behavior: Are You A Crazy Coworker?

With the holidays right around the corner, now is the time to get ready for office Christmas parties. Many companies celebrate the hard work of their employees by throwing an office holiday party that often ends up with some embarrassing moments for some workers, according to a study performed by Nonfiction Research.

While employees like to let loose at these parties, the results are often more than anyone expected with severe consequences in some instances. Employees have lost their jobs over their wild behavior while others sit back and watch the crazy events unfold right before their very eyes.

Some of the wilder activities that these employees engage in may surprise you if your office holiday party is more on the tamer side. But there are plenty of office holiday parties out there where staff members let go of all inhibitions and engage in some less than professional behavior.

Some of the wilder behavior employees have displayed include cheating on their significant other. As many as 17 percent of employees have seen a coworker cheat on their partner or spouse with many office onlookers witnessing the entire act, the survey, which polled 1,055 Americans who have attended a company holiday party, said.

One survey respondent recalled just this saying, “I’ve witnessed a coworker and superior associate being very flirtatious, and later I walked into the women’s restroom where I saw the same two people enter a stall. That’s when decided I didn’t have to use the facilities.”

Flashing coworkers is also a popular activity as the survey indicated that as many as 13 percent of employees have seen a coworker reveal themselves at their office holiday party. Others have witnessed illegal drug use (10 percent) and damage to company property (11 percent), the survey reported.

One survey respondent recalled a particularly damaging act of property, saying one time she witnessed a coworker smash her boss’ car at the holiday office party.

“My coworker Nancy decided — after she had way too many — to throw the company printer out of the third story window, crushing the bosses car below. Everyone was silent except for the boss who was screaming his head off. He ran at Nancy and tried to strangle her, and had to be held back by everyone else there. Let’s just say she didn’t have a job in the morning and a huge lawsuit on her table.”

With drinks flowing liberally at many office holiday parties, it is not surprising that vomiting is a common occurrence too. As many as 23 percent of employees have seen a coworker vomit at their holiday party, according to the survey.

“Somebody threw up in the Christmas tree at an ad agency party. It was me,” one survey respondent admitted.

And what happens to these employees that get out of hand at the office holiday party? Many lose their jobs while others get kicked out of the venue completely with 13 percent of employees saying that they have seen a coworker removed from a party venue for their inappropriate behavior, according to the survey.

“I saw someone get kicked out of our company holiday party at the Natural History Museum for trying to climb the full T-Rex skeleton,” one survey respondent remembered.