A friend who shall remain nameless recently went on a work trip to DC. It was a very productive trip, and she had lots of meetings 
with the right people and was feeling pretty good. Her company had set up a party for the company at a bar/restaurant the night before everyone was supposed to head home. Sounds super fun, right? A chance to relax, celebrate the good work, and visit with people you won’t see for a while.
Then someone got the bright idea to buy a round of shots. No big deal, right? As long as it’s just one? The instigator of the shot-taking took it a few steps beyond that, and threw up in my friend’s purse. Loooovely. Judging the purse a lost cause, she pulled out the essentials and then tossed the bag in the trash.
Not one to let an old purse get in the way of out-of-town festivities, she returned to the party no worse for wear. As you can imagine, shots and the overall merry environment led to a late night for everyone. When my friend was D-O-N-E done, she went to grab her coat from the pile. Except all the coats were moved around and she was unable to identify her black puffy coat in the pile of black puffy coats. So after a few minutes of looking in vain (and, you know, after a couple of shots plus a ruined purse), she gave up and went back to the hotel.
Luckily, even after all of that she made it to the airport by 6:30am for her 8am flight. Several of her coworkers, however, did not. Whoops.
So in the future, I would advise people to not take shots the night before an early flight. I know it’s fun to party with people you don’t see often, but it would be pretty embarrassing to explain to your finance department that you missed your flight because you got tanked the night before. Or another option—if you know you like to live it up at the company party, try to schedule your flight for later in the day. Although, it would help if event planners stopped scheduling those parties for the last night.
And the best part? Several wallets had been stolen from various purses and coats, hence the giant puffy coat pile. Who would have though throwing your purse away would be a good thing?
Readers, ever miss a flight because of a work party?
Wow, there is so much wrong with what you described, I don’t know where to begin. Let me just focus on one thing – it is never never NEVER a good idea to drink with colleagues. Scheduling a flight for later in the day is so beside the point.
Work hard, play hard. Take the shots…enjoy the party and worry about the mess later.
Party on but always have your designated sober coworker! You need them to make sure you make the early flight! Or drag to your room in case you get too out of control!
@Elle – It’s never a good idea to drink with colleagues? Lighten up. Life is short. Enjoy it while you can.
One of my favorite travel party stories came from a night traveling for work. What was supposed to be a day trip (fly in, attend a meeting, come home) turned into an overnight fiesta involving lobsters, Tortilla brand Tequila…and who knows what all else. Based on the fact that we were given a Pink Floyd DVD by the end of the night…I think we had a good time.