Only positive....or flying under the radar

My theory about work-related stuff is one of two things:

1. Only positive interaction when necessary.

2. If it's not necessary, just fly under the radar.

What am I talking about?  Let me give you an example: last night was my end of the semester work dinner.  Now, my school TRULY does not have a lot of social activities/meetings.  Usually around 4 times/year, which is actually extremely minimal compared to all the other places I've worked in Korea.  And the thing is, there were some people who actually didn't come for various dubious excuses or another.  It's not like it was terrible: it was a delicious, free dinner with all the alcohol you could drink. 

It's all so bizarre to me.  Some dinner and some drinks go a long way to making life happier at a Korean university. And it's a 100% positive interaction with the admins.  And, it's not "mandatory" but it actually kind of is, so it's not one of those things you can just skip and try to fly under the radar.  Like people actually notice.   Whatever.  Each to their own I guess, but if you skip stuff like this, don't be surprised when your contract doesn't get renewed for some reason or another, or you get no lucrative OT offers, or you don't get classes beyond the freshman English.