No matter what industry you work in, having to work over Christmas is the stuff that festive nightmares are made of (this is not what Santa Claus wanted).

Everyone tries to console you with the idea that it’s ‘just another day’ in the calendar, but that’s easy to say when you’re drinking a Bucks Fizz and eating your body weight in turkey, rather than slaving away.

Here are 17 things you only know if you’re working over the holiday period.

1. Having to plan your route to work like a military operation.

2. Wanting to enjoy the empty trains but seething inside.
3. Being unable to enjoy any festive cheer because bah humbug.
4. Explaining to your grandma why she can’t just call your boss and get you the day off. 
5. Having to stop Christmas Eve drinking six hours before everyone else.
6. Knowing you’ll be hungover no matter what you do.
7. Turning up fifteen minutes late because you presume no one cares.
8. Eating your way through the communal box of Quality Street.
9. Procrastinating more than usual as a reward to yourself.
10. Doing more Christmas quizzes than ever before in your life.
11. Wanting to smash your computer every time you get a smug ‘out of office’ reply. 
12. Forcing yourself to mute all the drunk Whatsapp messages from your friends. 
13. Refusing to like anyone’s Christmas pictures on Instagram.
14. Trying to remember why you agreed to do this. 
15. Calculating the likelihood of getting fired if you just sacked this off and went to the pub.
16. Having a little self-pitying cry to yourself in the toilets instead.
17. Vowing to be out of the country next Christmas.