Grosvenor Casinos Survey Uncovers Top Christmas Party Pitfalls

With the holiday season now in full swing, Grosvenor Casinos has released a special survey showing the top ways in which British people often embarrass themselves at Christmas work parties.

The casino firm owned by London-listed Rank Group is responsible for more than 50 gambling-friendly venues spread across the United Kingdom including the Grosvenor Casino Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth and London’s Grosvenor Casino The Victoria. The operator told Berkshire Live its investigation could well help revellers make it through the annual ‘silly season’ as well as the attendant minefield of potential awkward outcomes.

Compromising Conclusions

The survey from Grosvenor Casinos showed 57% of people have embarrassed themselves at a Christmas work party with speaking unpleasantly about a colleague sitting top of the gaffe list at 18%. This was followed by getting sick in front of a workmate at 17% while 14% of respondents admitted to telling someone what they really thought about them.

Lower down the catalogue of awkwardness was getting caught kissing a co-worker at 12% while 11% admitted to having had some sort of a wardrobe malfunction. Almost one in five women at 19% described vomiting in front of work colleagues as the most embarrassing thing that could happen at a Christmas work party versus just 13% of the males surveyed.

Sage Suggestions

To help British workers who may have humiliated themselves at a Christmas party, Grosvenor Casinos tasked its resident poker professional, Jamie Nixon, with issuing some valuable tips for keeping calm in the face of potential embarrassment. Top of this roll is a recommendation to ‘be confident’ and ‘stick to your guns’ by owning up to any of the previous night’s mistakes.

“There are no half-measures when it comes to bluffing as people will easily see straight through it,” Nixon said. “You must be totally convincing to others and yourself. If you don’t believe it, then no one else will believe it.”

Truth Telling

Nixon moreover advised having logic behind any indiscretion so as to avoid saying something to cover up a faux pas that could be ‘a bit out of the blue and wouldn’t realistically happen’. The English card specialist went on to counsel consistency and to remember ‘each step of the story’ before instructing the potentially embarrassed to ‘have an alibi’ and garner the support of ‘a select few’ for the purposes of sharing any stress.

“Often in poker you might have to bluff three or four times in a row,” Nixon said. “It’s vital to keep track so following a party faux pas you need to make sure your story links together. What you’ve said the next day and what you’ve said the following week need to add up.”

Advantageous Ability

Lastly, Nixon advised anyone dreading the next work day after an awkward night out with colleagues to utilize a tactic often exploited by professional poker players, the ‘live read’. The agony uncle proclaimed behaviors and body language make up ‘so much of being able to read someone’s poker face’ while the effective utilization of such real-time observations could well see people avoid getting ‘caught out’.

“First, look them in the eye,” Nixon said. “If they can’t look at you, they’re likely lying. Another trick is to try and physically see your opponent’s pulse racing in their neck. A fast pulse means panic and, therefore, bluffing. Keep calm to keep the heart rate down, and if you can’t, wear a scarf or a roll neck.”