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PayScale’s Weekly VIP Blog Roundup: Hilarious Holiday Tantrums and December Job Searching

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The holidays are a challenging time to be a working person. Half the people you need to talk to seem to be on vacation, or at least mentally checked out, your office is filling up with sugary treats you don’t want, but can’t stop eating, and the nonstop social whirl seems to bring out the worst in your co-workers. Fortunately, some of PayScale’s favorite bloggers and writers have tips on staying healthy and sane during the season — while maintaining your sense of humor, to boot.

holiday decorations 

(Photo Credit: JD Hancock/Flickr)

Life is short. Let’s start with the humor.

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Alison Green of Ask a Manager, at The Fast Track: Christmas, Whether You Want It or Not

At Intuit QuickBase’s blog, Alison Green shares 10 workplace holiday disasters that are hilarious — as long as they didn’t happen to you. Possibly the best (worst?) one happened to Jane, whose boss was determined to get her to celebrate Christmas … despite the fact that Jane is Jewish, and celebrates Hanukkah.

I am a Jewish 26-year-old. I’ve been on the job about a year, and I moved from a large city to a smaller suburb of New York City for this job. My family is not super religious but we certainly never celebrated Christmas growing up.

My boss, a usually nice lady, has taken it upon herself to educate me about Christmas this season. She is super into the holidays, which I appreciated for Halloween, but has been declaring to the whole office how this is ‘Jane’s First Christmas’ and taking that opportunity to spend well over $500 on Christmas decorations which she has strategically placed mostly around her and my office. She has bought me my own Christmas stocking and ornament which says ‘Jane’s first Christmas’ with a date and her signature on it. She has placed red velvet bows around anything they will stick to and she has replaced our office coffee K-cups with eggnog. She has put up lights in the hallways and decked my door with some kind of tinsel that keeps sticking to my clothes and following me home.

She keeps reminding me what ornaments are and is amazed when I told her that I know the words to some Christmas songs.

She also has invited me to her home for Christmas because ‘no one should celebrate their first Christmas by themselves.’ When I mentioned something about celebrating Hanukkah instead of Christmas, she went out and bought this Hanukkah inspired contraption, which was really just eight round traditional ornaments with a light in each of them. She said they were Hanukkah balls.”

Alison Doyle of About.com’s Job Searching Site: 11 Reasons to Keep Job Searching During the Holidays

Think your job search is stalled, because it’s the coldest, darkest, busiest time of year? Don’t despair. Alison Doyle writes:

“Contrary to what you might think, hiring doesn’t stop during the holiday season. Employers hire when they need new employees. A slower holiday season for some businesses means more time for hiring. It can also mean less competition for available jobs because of the number of job seekers who do take a break from their job hunt.”

For more on how to make your search a success, see Doyle’s tips.

Erica Diamond at Women on the Fence: How to Stay Healthy This Winter

Erica Diamond offers many tips on keeping colds and flu at bay, but the one you probably haven’t read before involves staying socially active. If that seems counterintuitive — see more people and get sick less often? — let her explain:

“People who are socially active get fewer colds! Research shows that social and sociable people tend to be more positive, which is tied to strengthened immunity.”

Still skeptical? WebMD backs up her. Extroverts are less likely than introverts to get viruses, despite possibly coming into contact with more people, and folks with diverse social groups appear to be less likely to catch a cold or even develop heart disease. They may even live longer.

So get to those office holiday parties. Just wash your hands, eat your veggies, and get some rest while you’re making your plans.

Tell Us What You Think

How do you stay sane at work during the holidays? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.

Jen Hubley Luckwaldt
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