The Day We Broke Christmas (Sleep Lab version)

So for the past 20 years the lab here has had a Christmas party at the same location. Also normally they give you the option to have the day off to come or you can stay at work. This year the only option was come to the party and we will book the patients to come in late. Now for most of the staff that is fine but for in Cambridge would have a 40 min drive each way. We asked them if we could have the night off to attend as it is too long of a drive. The response was something like "money, money. Money, money, therefore we can't give you the night off. And that we should rearrange the schedule so we could come." The two of us replied in a joint email saying we would not be attending and to book patients at the normal time - which seemed like a sane response. Next thing we hear is the Christmas party has been cancelled because of a negative response to the party. Which has all fine by us but apparently not to our owners. We are now being punished. All of a sudden there are problems with my studies, the other tech who sent the email is now being booked for meetings at inconvenient times and on her days off...including a meeting on the original day of the Christmas party. We obviously can't prove that is what is happening but it certainly seems that they blame us for the party being cancelled. They said 20 year tradition ended do to negative feedback from techs. So because we stood up and said no, they are punishing everyone by cancelling the party and then punishing us further for saying no.

This is my job. This is my hell.

So amazingly the situation has escalated since my first post. I received a series of rude emails picking my work apart. Extremely small issues that no-one ever in any work environment has ever cared about, including my current job, until now. I replied and very politely told them to go fuck themselves. I thought I handled the situation well but apparently not and I have received more emails stating it was my fault the other emails were rude.

I need to quit. My mental and physical health is paying a heavy price now.

I thought this was going to be some sort of folky-gloomy Youtube song... maybe it will be someday?

Why makes miserly people so insistent on having their victims smile at them? They want to make-believe their snatching and sneering doesn't stink in everyone's noses, they will even resort to causing a giant stink to protect this illusion. Throwing tantrums is a privilege that even unions have yet to tame.

You think white South Africans would shy away from petty tyranny just to avoid the stereotype. Maybe they just want to hear your South African stories because they are home-sick. Maybe Xmas must be sacrifice to be reborn - Santa eternal exploding into flames and flayed skin -

Sorry to hear about the work stress. At least you got a good song title out of it.

Maybe you are part of a larger trend...

Holiday office parties as we know them are dying (businessinsider.com)

"80% of companies plan to host holiday parties this year, which is about the same as last year. But 11% will not host a holiday party this year after organizing them in the past, up from 4% in 2016.

Business Insider's Rachel Gillett that getting drunk at an office holiday party is a big no-no. She recommended setting a limit for yourself before the party starts, and sticking to it. Other holiday-party faux pas, according to Pachter, include dressing inappropriately, gossiping about colleagues, and posting photos or comments that could get you in trouble."

Another 'holiday-party faux pas' abusing your workers by making them work that same day and then enforcing party attendance with verbal threats.....

So just to update what has happened since. I got into a long email fight with management and another employee which they finally backed down on. However, my coworker who was part of this isn't fairing so well. They have gone after her with ridiculous accusations about the work environment here. They are suggesting moving her to a new site or letting her go to ease tensions. Now the problem is none of this is based in reality and all accusations are false. From the moment I began arguing my case they kept going back to the toxic environment at our site. I think I figured out what the issue is. My coworker and supervisor is actually a good person who picks patient and staff issues over the companies bottom line...and more recently we have been acting as a unified front in emails to management. I think a lot of these insane accusations are to try and split us up to keep us weaker and more controllable. Well when I leave it will hurt the company a lot. She is planning to leave by February at the latest which will be devastating to the company. Combined we bring nearly 20 years of experience and expertise and prior to the holiday party fiasco we were the best in the company. I don't think they will learn from this though. We have discussed making a united letter of resignation just to prove a point but it doesn't seem like it will make a difference. So we will see.