THE SECRET SANTA GIFT THAT LEFT A SCAR

It was the holiday season, and I was working at a major label.

We had a team party, with probably 40 people on the floor, all gathered.

My boss’s boss threw my Secret Santa gift at me across the room.

It was a mug.

It hit me on the temple.

Blood erupted and immediately turned my green dress red.

There was an audible gasp.

I ended up in A&E, and I still have the scar.

He called me the next morning to check in and apologise.

He was heading off on vacation to Lapland with his family.

I didn’t make a fuss.

About a year later, I met his wife at an industry event.

I was introduced - awkwardly - as “the woman your husband hit in the head with a mug.”

She looked horrified.

She’d never heard the story.

Maybe he was ashamed. I don’t know.

But it struck me how something that left a scar for me didn’t even make it into his holiday stories.

The music industry lets a lot slide under the banner of “just how it is.”

And if you’ve worked in it, I bet you’ve got your own version of this; quietly carried, laughed off, never really unpacked.

It’s time we stop pretending that’s normal, and start talking about it.

If you have a story to share, I’m all ears….contact me here.