Party advice: Avoid bare copier sitting

LONDON (AP) - British workers have been told: Have a merry Christmas - but skip the mistletoe, don't dance on the desks and definitely don't perch bare-bottomed on the photocopier. Such are the horrors of the modern British office party highlighted Friday in a welter of advice which, to some minds, would kill the fun.
The Trades Union Congress and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents advised:

- Nix on candles, flaming puddings and cigarettes.

- Careful with the Christmas trees, which injured a thousand Britons in December 2002.

- Skip the mistletoe. A sexual harassment case is no fun.

- No dancing on the desks.

- Use paper cups, not glasses.

- No indoor fireworks.

- "Resist the temptation to photocopy parts of your anatomy - if the copier breaks, you'll be spending Christmas with glass in some painful places."

Such advice provoked resentment.

"The purpose of Christmas parties is to encourage team spirit, encourage relationships and so on," said Nick Goulding, chief executive of The Forum of Private Business.

"If you tie them down with pettifogging regulations, you really undermine the whole thing you are trying to achieve.

"It is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut," Goulding said - perhaps highlighting a potentially dangerous practice overlooked by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.