Interesting Christmas spirit an APS team ...

Although my experience of the APS is now nearly a decade old, back then its was customary for the AS and Directors to have a Christmas lunch or dinner at some restaurant invariably paid for by the AS.

There was always a Branch (and occasionally Division) Christmas party. If you wanted to attend, you paid. I was always amazed at how tight-arsed people were – bitching about having to pay $25 for a lunch with drinks included.

I-filed, this is not so unusual. You’ll find that along with the branch lunch, many sections will have a seperate section lunch, ie director and team. For the AS, the directors are their section or team so it makes sense to have a separate lunch as well. You might also find the FAS has a Christmas lunch with their AS ‘team’ and so on up the line (all paid for by the lunchers, not the APS).

The intention in having a cheaper restaurant for the branch lunch is not to make it a ‘peasant’s lunch’ but, as Watson says, in recognition that some branch members may not be able or willing to pay for anything more – it’s an expensive time of year for many. The restaurants tend to get more expensive the further up the line you go.

On the other hand, if the AS isn’t attending the branch lunch there might be an elitist issue 🙂

I remember the good old days. Public Service Xmas parties in the early 80’s. Chicken & champagne breakfasts, extensive sexual activity in the tea room & other places, music, a punch up or 2 & several people throwing up.

@OP that is terrible! Crap party for the peasants and the good party for execs. Isn’t that bloody terrible. I hate this kind of elitism in any organisation.

Luckily they don’t do that at ActewAGL. They have several Christmas parties all with different themes (not mentioning the small section parties). They are brilliantly run and catered, anyone can go to the parties that correspond with which social club they joined up with (one or all) – workers and execs and you can mingle with whom you like. (this is the opinion of matt31221 and not ActewAGL)

RedDogInCan said :

poetix said :

RedDogInCan said :

You insensitive bastards! We astronomers use the Julian Calendar which doesn’t have years. We never get invited to these sort of parties.

Do you get invited to Christmas in July parties instead?

No, we’re astronomers not accountants.

God’s own accountants, surely…

At my last job I got a generic card, similar to the Andrew Leigh’s ‘street party’ template. So consider yourself lucky with a free meal!

poetix said :

RedDogInCan said :

You insensitive bastards! We astronomers use the Julian Calendar which doesn’t have years. We never get invited to these sort of parties.

Do you get invited to Christmas in July parties instead?

No, we’re astronomers not accountants.

Yep, people don’t seem to realise that in the APS, you pay your own way! It is rude though, having a Special People party, wouldn’t have happened in my day. Or if it did, we certainly didn’t know about it.

Private sector is so different, everything is paid for. And you get a nice present too. I got told off the other day for having breakfast in the hotel dining room rather than getting room service. Bloody hell. Imagine using room service on an APS trip, you’d never hear the end of it, probably get done for fraud.

jonquil14 said :

Lol at commenters who think APS employers pay for our Christmas lunches. Hell to the no, no public money is spent on such frivolities (the same reason they don’t provide tea/coffee, cups, plates, spoons etc in the lunchroom).

Ahh the joys of the private sector, large bonuses and an abundance of Xmas parties paid for by other people. I have RSVP’d for five so far and was invited to another but will have issues getting there.

Just don’t tell them I am only in it for the free food and booze 🙂

And yeah, it’s paid for by the punters. You’re not going to find any budget-funded APS organisation paying for hospitality or entertainment. I’ve worked in areas (including this one) where the director/manager level types routinely throw in for drinks for the peasants.