Bah Humbug

Maybe it was because I was spoiled when I worked in Britain. Even though we never had company Christmas parties (and we would have to pay for our own Christmas lunch invites to the canteen!), it never really mattered that much. Because around this time of year I would be inundated with cards and packages filled with all sorts of goodness, not to mention hoards of Christmas lunch and dinner invites at nice establishments, courtesy of my loving and caring agencies that I worked with. Believe it or not, there are quite a few nice eateries scattered around the outskirts of Bracknell.

Moving here has been a bit like living with none other than Scrooge himself. One year in particular, I remember getting a cardboard tube in the mail from one agency (with whom I did a particularly nice amount of business with that year). With much excitement, I opened it up... only to find a rolled up piece of paper with their signatures on wishing me a "Happy Holiday". On closer inspection, the piece of paper was a scanned, mass produced copy, with my name nowhere to be seen, other than on the mailmerged postal label.

For years, I found this really strange. Not even one lunch invite or Starbucks run in sight. Though one year I did get a grapefruit, shipped in from a partner in Israel.

After speaking about the matter to one of my respected colleagues of European background, he told me that it was due to a "business ethics" issue. Apparently such seasonal gestures could be interpretted as bribes over here, so even if I did receive something nice, I probably wouldn't be able to accept it.

So Christmas is apparently not the time of year to give or receive. Sometimes I think people need to let their hair down and loosen up a bit. Incidentally, I received my first business-related Christmas card today. It was from one of my agencies in England. Oh how I miss them!