T’is the season to be jolly, tra la lala, la la, la laaaaaa…..

So, we had our company Christmas lunch today, and since it was my first day back this week, I wasn’t sure if I would be up for work for a rough period of 4 hours… This is the play by play analysis of how today went down!

830-930am – Followup on weekend and Monday emails.

930-1030am – conference call with unreasonable client who wants us to develop the software not only using the written requirements, but also the possible requirements that they are thinking of but havent actually told us yet.

1030-1031am – Director and I unanimously agree to hire a crystal ball reader.

1032am-1pm – Did some random work, without being too productive.

1pm – Company briefing – the management did a couple of presentations on company performance, how we did in the past year (our company made a lot of money for the whole group) and what the vision is for the new year (us making more money for the group, while other areas of the group try and cope with the economic downturn). I think at one point I fell asleep (with my eyes open!) during the presentation…. and I was sitting in the front row…. zZzZzZz…..

2pm – We walk the short distance to the restaurant where we were having our meal. We stood around the bar mingling and having drinks (Cranberry juice for me, thanks). I was chatting to a South African guy and a Kiwi, and somehow our conversations always seem to hover around binge drinking, and how the English drink to get pissed.

2:30pm – We are shown to our tables, I end up sitting with an interesting bunch of people – senior management, company lawyer, 2 testers, 3 developers and one of my team members.

2:45 – 4pm – The meal was quite good!* The tomato soup with cream (which looked like this) was absolutely YUM! It was creamy, with a lot of flavour (presumably tomato!), served with warm and lightly toasted bread, and the temperature was just right to enjoy it. The main course was grilled salmon, again well cooked, and served with a nice creamy sauce, and boiled veges (which were done just right!). The desert was cheesecake with rhubarb on the side. The meal itself was very very nice, good sixed portions, and the staff who served the meal were very very friendly! The restaurant, if anyone is interested, is Browns.

4pm – 7pm – This is when the fun happened! Lot of socialising, lot of talk, jokes, discussion – my type of environment. I was disappointed that a lot of people left before 5pm…  As the wine flowed through the afternoon, my colleagues got more and more entertaining! Firstly – a new joiner grabbed a seat on our table, and was rambling random stuff about how he and his partner are THERE wherever there is free booze or food (or possibly free stuff)…. ummm… great impression on your colleagues dude! Then, when there were “enough” people remaining, we gathered around in a corner for a more relaxed session. The people who now remained were the regulars, and a couple of new joiners. I don’t quite get why people would want to get drunk in an environment like this, or more specifically – don’t know when to stop drinking and not make a fool of themself.

So, as the drinkers sipped on their whiskey, beer, wine or whatever else, I drifted in and out of conversations amongst the different groups. Conversations ranged from Politics, to how our competitors are crap, talking about how management can do certain things better, problematic knees (yes, you read that right), ice skating (which we might go as a group next month), planning on company events, diamonds, what a good gift was to buy women, weddings, travel…. At one point, one of the directors (who has had a few drinks by this stage), began “interviewing” me for a possible opening (Non-UK (woo hoo)) in the future. As “unstable” as he was, he did mention that he would speak to the folk in the decision making process about me.

The drinks kept flowing, the drunk antics and conversations kept coming, and a couple of litres of water later, I called it a night at about 7pm. As a non-drinker, I guess the smell of alcohol does get irritating after a while, and I really didnt fancy topping up on water or juice through the night.

On the bright side, I guess I also achieved something which I have been prodding recently. I have been casually asked if I would be interested in taking up a role abroad, and it’s good to hear that 3 people are now pushing my name forward. All I want from Santa now is the opportunity to materialise, and for me to demonstrate what I do at a higher level of responsibility.

* Last year I has a random soup which was sweet, salmon which was a tiny portion and not too good, served with blended spinach, and that gave me a really tricky stomach for a couple of days! Atleast the desert was good – Chocolate cake.

Tagged as: Alcohol, christmas, England, Home, Ice skating, Kiwi, New Year, Santa, South Africa, United Kingdom