SURVEY:IF PROOF were ever needed that we're a nation of talkers, it has arrived in the shape of new research statistics indicating Irish holidaymakers spend the most time sharing holiday stories with their co-workers when back at work.
So far so sociable, but it turns out that all that standing around chatting about our summer holidays is costing Irish bosses up to €14 million in lost productivity.
The What's the StoryEuropean report by travel and leisure retailer lastminute.com found that we like to spend an average of 26 minutes gassing on to our colleagues about the time we had. The Norwegians, on the other hand, like to keep it to a more snappy postcard-sized 19 minutes.
And if this isn’t bad enough, it turns out that we’re not even giving an accurate account of our experiences to our colleagues while we’re boring each other senseless.
Apparently the Irish exaggerate more than other Europeans when recounting holiday stories. Nearly a third (29 per cent) admitted to embellishing stories to make them sound more interesting and exciting. The French are the least likely to exaggerate at 13 per cent. Stands to reason, they have the weather, the food, the culture, the panache – what’s there to lie about?