End-of-year parties are a nightmare: You have to drink to your heart's content, and there are lots of annoying games too.

Handsome guys drink, unattractive guys drink even more, if they get a bonus they have to treat everyone, if they get criticized by the boss they punish themselves, and then there are the bizarre games... Year-End Parties (YEPs) are meant to be fun and bonding, but many have become a nightmare for employees.

A true year-end party is a time for celebration, bonding, and creating more enthusiasm for a better year of work - Photo: AN VI

In late December or early New Year's, it's not uncommon to see lavish banquets organized by various companies or businesses at restaurants and eateries for their Year-End Party celebrations.

The "summary" was all about beer and liquor.

Returning to Ho Chi Minh City after a two-day year-end company trip to Vung Tau, Manh Hoang (26 years old, residing in Thu Duc City) still felt nauseous when talking about the beer and alcohol.

With a company size of around 30 people, Mr. Hoang's boss rented a 35-seater bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Vung Tau to stay in a homestay for relaxation. Mr. Hoang said that during the meeting, the boss announced the trip as part of a year-end year-end meeting so that everyone could reflect on the past year and learn from their experiences.

"Actually, initially, I and a few others were busy that day and didn't intend to go, but the boss included work in the schedule, so we reluctantly went," said Hoang.

As soon as he got into the car, Mr. Hoang was shocked to see a dozen crates of beer loaded under the vehicle. He said he wasn't a heavy drinker, just had a few drinks for fun, but he always tries to avoid drinking too much.

Although he said he was going on a company trip to Vung Tau, Mr. Hoang didn't even get to experience the sea because from the beginning of the day until he returned, all he did was "alcoholic water" and didn't touch a single drop of seawater.

The main party started in the evening. After about 15 minutes of the boss's speech, everyone joined in. There was no plan, no year-end review whatsoever, and the sound Mr. Hoang heard most often was... cheers!

Hoang drank about two cans before feeling nauseous, while everyone else kept offering him drinks. "Every time I felt it was almost my turn, I tried to avoid it because I have a low tolerance. I never expected the boss to punish me, making me drink two glasses in a row, almost making me dizzy," Hoang said, shaking his head in exasperation.

He admitted that when he was drunk, he felt lightheaded and drank whatever anyone offered him, then kept going to the bathroom to vomit. When he woke up in the morning, he didn't even know who had brought him back to his room.

"Not yet, I'll be busy and have another round of drinks later. In general, at the YEP in Vung Tau, I'm drunk for half the time, and the other half I'm sitting at the drinking table. It's so tiresome, and it's the same every year, not just recently," Mr. Hoang shook his head, considering it a "misfortune" rather than an occasion to look forward to.

Upon arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Hoang lay listlessly all day, unable to do anything. He vomited everything he ate. "I vomited everything from green bile to yellow bile," he lamented.

Many people dread year-end parties because they are often pressured to drink alcohol - Photo: AN VI

"Not drinking shows a lack of respect for each other."

Speaking about his year-end parties, Le Nguyen Quang Minh (28 years old, residing in District 7), currently a freelance graphic designer, shook his head. He always loved the freedom of his profession. No rigid schedules, no lengthy meetings, and certainly no social pressure like when working at a company.

The end of the old year and the beginning of the new year always haunt him. Recently, Mr. Minh was invited to a year-end party of a major partner – with whom he has collaborated for over two years. Initially, he felt happy because it was an opportunity to meet, connect with, and thank those who had worked alongside him. But the party quickly turned into a nightmare when he was constantly pressured to drink alcohol.

"At first, I politely refused and explained that I couldn't drink. But as time went on, everyone kept pressuring me, saying, 'Drink a glass out of friendship,' and even teasing me that refusing would be disrespectful to the person who invited me," Minh shared with a weary expression.

As a freelancer, Minh isn't employed by any company, but he still needs to maintain good relationships with clients, which puts him in a difficult position: "Refusing easily offends people, but agreeing goes against my personal principles. Every time I refuse to drink, they say I'm being disrespectful, which puts me in a very awkward situation."

Minh's "drinking party" has many excuses; handsome guys have to drink, and unattractive guys drink even more. Whoever gets rewarded has to treat everyone at the table, and whoever gets criticized by the boss has to punish themselves...

Currently, Minh is working at three different places simultaneously. If he "goes all out" at one company party, no one will be able to finish the work he left unfinished at the other one tomorrow.

Minh's "misfortune" didn't just happen once; he still has two YEP sessions with two other jobs scheduled before the Lunar New Year holiday.

I pray they don't organize it, or that they organize something else entirely, because every time YEP (Year-End Party) comes around, they force us to drink alcohol, making it impossible to get up in the morning. Drinking together is fun, but if I don't finish my work the next morning, I still get yelled at as usual.

Le Nguyen Quang Minh

Expensive and full of annoying tricks.

Minh said the most tiring part of the YEP meeting was the constant scrutiny and gossip. "Especially regarding year-end bonuses, freelancers like us receive less than full-time employees, so we're very reluctant to share such things," Minh added.

Additionally, during YEP events, younger members often organize artistic activities such as singing and dancing. Minh said that there are trends on TikTok that they imitate, which even people nearing 30 like him find distasteful. "Shaking back and forth is very strange; after all, we're working now, not like college students who can dance and jump around like that," Minh explained.

It's not just alcohol; for the ladies, each YEP (Year-End Party) means buying new clothes. For example, Ms. Thu (26 years old, residing in Thu Duc City), an event organizer for a company in District 1, said that her company's YEP even has a "dress code," forcing her to spend extra money on new outfits.

Ms. Thu said that she usually wears office attire, mostly simple dresses and shirts, but recently her company mandated white and red attire for YEP, which left her extremely confused.

"Of course I didn't have any red because I rarely wear that color. I only wear white shirts to work every day, and I couldn't possibly wear my office attire to the year-end party. So I had to grit my teeth and go to the shop to buy a new shirt that cost me nearly 500,000 dong," Ms. Thu recounted.

Because her job requires a high level of aesthetic sense, Thư's company mandates a different dress code each year. Some colors, she considers so flamboyant that she wouldn't dare wear them.

"In my opinion, since we're all colleagues and know each other well, dressing neatly and politely for the party is enough. It's easier for me, who isn't married, but many married women have so many expenses at the end of the year and still have to spend money on something they'll only wear once," Thư expressed.

Team-building games are also a source of fear for introverts like Thu: "Before, my company organized some 'physical contact' games like passing fruit by mouth, popping balloons with chest... some people like me usually didn't participate because we were shy."

This year, Thu's company organized a different kind of group game, one that wasn't "physical" but was even more annoying. "The whole group would fill out names and slips of paper into a box. People would take turns drawing slips, and whoever drew the slip would ask the person on the slip a random question. The person whose name was on the slip could choose to answer or drink two beers," Thu described.

According to Ms. Thu, this game is only fun when the other person asks appropriate questions. She said there were many questions about family, love life, and even sensitive topics that were very difficult to answer.

Ms. Thu believes that YEP (Year-End Party) is only truly fun if it has limits and fosters a sense of collective bonding: "Because I didn't want to spoil everyone's fun, I participated, but whenever it was my turn, I was asked very strange questions and had to drink two glasses. Many people were too embarrassed to answer and had to drink continuously, collapsing at the table, but they still continued to hang out. Some people told me the next day that they would make excuses not to go to the next YEP."

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhung-bua-tiec-cuoi-nam-am-anh-uong-phai-het-minh-choi-cung-lam-tro-kho-chiu-20250113105941817.htm