Research proves: not saying goodbye at parties saves you 2 days a year
‘Bye then!’ ‘Yeah, byeeee!’ ‘Have a great weekend, you too!’ You’ve been trying to leave the drinks party for at least an hour, but there seems to be no end to all the goodbyes. Research shows that you’d be better off stopping saying goodbye at parties. Choose a silent goodbye? Then you could save a whole 2 days a year.
Uhm… What?! Are we spending 2 days of our lives every year saying goodbye at parties? Yep. According to research by UNSW’s Time Management Institute in Sydney, it takes us an average of 45 minutes to leave a party. To give someone a kiss, a hug, a firm handshake or a fist bump. It doesn’t matter how you do it; on average, it costs you about three quarters of an hour. That starts from the moment you decide you want to leave the party.
2 days a year
So how do we arrive at 2 days a year? The UNSW study was conducted among 2,000 Australians. They said they attended around 25 parties a year on average. If you calculate 45 minutes per goodbye session, you end up spending 18 hours and 45 minutes saying goodbye. Almost 2 days, then. Bizarrely, some respondents said it took them even longer to leave a party. More than 45 minutes, that is. So you’re practically spending longer leaving than at the party itself?!
I’ll text you
The reason it takes so incredibly long before you can finally close the door behind you has everything to do with the partygoers left behind. Think about it. How often do you have to justify the fact that you’re leaving? Come up with a brilliant excuse, and then repeat it around 20 times? That’s what costs you 2 days a year.
So there’s only 1 solution: leave without saying goodbye. Just text that you’ve left, and that’s it. You now have a good reason: you can go out and about for an extra 2 days a year.
Read also:
- Step-by-step guide: how to pop your champagne bottle like a pro from now on
- We hate this: drinks parties where the promised food isn’t there
- Gift guide: these are the best gifts for drinks enthusiasts
Sources: JFK, UNSW
