A Third of All Employees Will Probably Embarrass Themselves at the Office Holiday Party

You might want to rethink that third cup of spiked punch at this year's holiday office party. That’s because the odds of embarrassing yourself and saying something you can’t take back are about one in three, according to a new survey spotted by the New York Post.

OnePoll and social planning website Evite surveyed 2000 office employees about previous work-sponsored parties they’ve attended, and not all of them had fond memories (or any clear memories at all, for that matter). One-third said they did something they regretted, while two-fifths had been privy to some sort of office drama.

Be warned: Free booze coupled with a celebratory atmosphere can lead to a bad case of loose lips, which makes for some awkward encounters at work the next day. The average office worker hears seven new pieces of gossip about other employees while attending a holiday party, many of which are fueled by office romance rumors. Some of them, of course, end up being true. Of the survey respondents, 37 percent said they had witnessed two coworkers getting affectionate at a holiday party.

According to the survey, Friday is everyone’s favorite day to attend an office party—and for good reason. In cases where holiday parties were held on a weekday, 35 percent of respondents showed up late for work the next day, and another 17 percent took the day off. Of those who came late, suffering from a hangover was the top explanation given, followed by sleeping through an alarm.

And in case you needed another good reason to keep your wits about you at an office party: there will probably be lots of flashing cameras (expect to participate in six group photos, on average).

“One thing you can always look forward to the next morning is seeing those moments caught on camera from the night before,” Julian Clark of Evite said. “But as the results tell us, sometimes the party can slightly get out of hand.”