Behind every polished policy, calm advisory call, and well-timed HR save, there’s a team of real humans who have survived their fair share of festive-season unpredictability. And in the spirit of our favourite unofficial slogan, “Trust Us, We’ve Heard Worse,” we thought we’d close out the year by celebrating the lighter side of Salopek.
Every December brings its own blend of cheer, good intentions, and the kinds of moments you simply couldn’t script. The holiday-themed mishaps, the last-minute scrambles, the classic “did that really just happen?” situations – we’ve seen versions of them all. From gift exchanges that took an unexpected turn, to potlucks where culinary confidence far exceeded culinary reality, to office soundtracks that seemed to shift whenever leadership walked in magically… the holidays always have a way of reminding us that people are delightfully unpredictable.
And that’s exactly why we love this work. The season is a reminder of what HR knows better than anyone, workplaces are made up of humans, not robots. People juggling full schedules, family commitments, big emotions, and the occasional questionable decision. It’s what makes this time of year memorable – and what makes the HR world endlessly meaningful.
In this month’s blog, we are sharing a few of our team’s most unforgettable holiday-season stories. They’re funny, honest, and a refreshing reminder that perfection has never been the goal. Connection, empathy, laughter – and yes, learning – usually win out. Read with us, laugh with us, and remember we are all human.
___
“One year, a colleague gave me a cookbook as a holiday gift. It was thoughtful, but I already had a copy. Not long after, I attended a friend’s holiday housewarming and thought, “Perfect, I will bundle this into their gift.” Almost a year later, I learned there had been a personalized message written on one of the pages of the original one, obviously meant for me. The next time I was at my friends’ place, I casually scanned their kitchen shelf, found the cookbook, and did the quickest swap of my life. My signed copy went back home with me, and a clean copy went onto their shelf. No one will ever know, and I still laugh thinking about how close I came to being outed on my re-gift.”
___
“It was the week before Christmas at the local market. I was working in the produce department, taking marketing photos, when a frazzled customer rushed over and insisted she needed a pineapple that “tastes like Christmas.” I wasn’t aware pineapples had a holiday taste, or were even remotely Christmas-related, but I kept that to myself. Instead, I tapped a few, sniffed one like a tropical fruit sommelier, and handed her the most festive-looking pineapple I could find. She nodded as if I’d just resolved a national crisis and walked off completely satisfied. Ah, the magic of Christmas!”
___
“A 20,000 sq. ft. warehouse was turned into a full-blown theme park – and I mean commitment level: extreme. Overnight, forklifts were replaced with bouncy castles, and aisles became race lanes. Employees suited up in inflatable sumo gear, as if we were preparing for the most uncoordinated Olympics ever held. It was chaotic, it was ridiculous, and it was exactly the kind of festive nonsense everyone secretly hopes for in December – full-grown adults sprinting in sumo suits and all. But for a few hours, year-end stress disappeared. People laughed so hard they cried, cheered each other on, and just played.”
___
“One year during a Secret Santa exchange, I decided to re-gift a portable speaker that had arrived in a sealed box. I already owned the same model, and one of my colleagues had mentioned wanting one, so it felt like the perfect match. She opened it during the exchange… and discovered it wasn’t a speaker at all, but a bottle of maple syrup packed inside the original box. I had unknowingly re-gifted a completely different item while confidently telling her I’d gotten it because she “really wanted it.” Thankfully, she found it hilarious, loved the maple syrup, and still ended up with the speaker in the end.”
___
“Every holiday season, I still think about our simple Christmas tree we had when I was a child -decorated with popcorn strings and tinsel that somehow still shows up in my parents’ house decades later. The poor thing was shedding pine needles faster than we could sweep them, and keeping it alive through the season felt like a full-time family job. No matter how much we vacuumed, that glittery tinsel had survival skills unmatched by any modern décor. But there was something magical about those simpler times, when perfect symmetry didn’t matter and the whole family crowded around the tree laughing at our own chaos.”
And with that, we close out 2025!
We’ll be back in the new year – coffee in hand, policies ready, and stories still coming.
-Salopek HR