1.10.2012 "How were your holidays?"

For those of us in the working world, this phrase is the most common question around the office in the week after New Year's. When you're filling up your morning coffee or waiting for a report at the printer, it's the best way to break that awkward silence with the people you rarely speak to unless venturing beyond the walls of your cubicle.

Better than the "how's your family?" and the "what did you do this weekend?," the "how were your holidays?" line has an extended shelf life and generally produces a positive response (you'd be surprised how many people have bad weekends or less-than-newsworthy families to speak of). However, there reaches a point when you can no longer play the vacation card.

The time is now approaching when routine conversation about the unpalatable taste produced by the Reagan-era coffee maker and the irregular two-sided printing on the copy machine must return. Let's hope "How was your Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend?" can fill this void.

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