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Around this time of year, corporate acts of parsimony often come under withering attack. When an employer, for example, fails to pony up a few bucks for a nice holiday party, with snacks and booze, it won’t be long before the office grunts take to the e-mail channels with Grinch references. This sort of activity is especially robust at print-media outlets, which have been suffering a bruising business climate. For example, here’s a snippet from a holiday-party-planning memo penned by a Washington Post Metro reporter: “Remember last year, when the economic situation was said to be so dire that staffers had to bring their own food to the holiday party? Guess what? This year, it’s worse. This year, we work for a Fortune 500 company that is asking us to not only feed ourselves, but buy our own beverages, paper plates and even the doilies.” (Jeez, how come the Post doesn’t showcase such snappy writing in its daily editions?)

Some papers are going above and beyond, supplying doilies as well as soft drinks at this year’s office festivities. Yet, as the survey below makes clear, don’t take a job at a local paper if your dream is to lure an officemate under the mistletoe after a night of company-sponsored grub and cheer.—Jason Cherkis and Erik Wemple