Yet again, it's the dreaded office party season! Not to say that these things can't be fun, yours truly managed to get slippy in record time at a Russian vodka bar one Christmas not so long ago. The results of which were highly cringeworthy and provided work colleagues with nearly a year's worth of quality ribbing material.

We have all heard stories or seen first hand the kind of festive faux pas that can occur at these events, but what comes as a surprise is the sheer extent to which all of this happens.

A staggering (quite literally) four in ten workers have been sick at their Christmas party while more than a third admit to snogging their boss or a colleague, according to research by Sussex internet outfit Sigmer Technologies.

As well as throwing up and snogging, a quarter admitted to insulting their boss while a similar number said they'd engaged in some "embarrassing behaviour" such as flashing, falling over or photocopying intimate body parts.

Part of the reason for this behaviour appears to be because many firms offer free booze for their Christmas parties, which in sufficient quantities will fuel all sorts of shenanigans.

But it's not all fun and games. A quarter of respondents said that their office Christmas party was "so poor, they wished they’d stayed at home". While one in 20 professionals felt their office Christmas party could be improved by a change of location to an ice-rink, supposedly so they can watch their colleagues fall about sober.

The survey was conducted in 2004, a few years ago now, but, smoking ban aside, could that much have changed in just 3 years?  Probably not...