Office team building gatherings

[Anonymous]

We have a clique in our department that plans this stuff and takes it super seriously.

My rule is like PTA stuff...I'll be a good sport and participate and bring something like paper plates and get a gift card for baby showers but I am not going to organize games and stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I hate this stuff too. Two week ago I was basically forced to an "escape room" team building exercise with my co-workers. And even though I was teamed up with people I really liked, I still hated it. I feel like it's still work.

My office did this a month ago otherwise I'd think we were colleagues :o

[Anonymous]

At federal agencies with no budget for anything this stuff is terrible. One time our office decided to go to Phillips seafood buffet (gag me) for our "holiday party." I felt forced to go. It was $40 to attend one of the shittiest lunches of my life with people I hated.

[Anonymous]

Do the people who "hate this stuff" hate their work in general? Or social events in general? I guess I just don't understand why it's such torture to participate

[Anonymous]

I don't mind potlucks, but I can't stand it when the office has happy hours and events on weekends. It's such an infringement of my personal time. When you have kids to pick up and activities they need to get to, drinking beer with people I wouldn't otherwise socialize with is not what I want to be doing. What I really can't stand is the Secret Santa stuff. I don't like throwing money away on junk gifts for coworkers. And what can you buy for $10"that doesn't suck?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the people who "hate this stuff" hate their work in general? Or social events in general? I guess I just don't understand why it's such torture to participate

I like my job a lot, and I don't mind socializing with my co-workers, but I don't really like the "forced fun" activities, and I loathe activities during non-work hours. A holiday lunch or whatever is fine, if the food is provided, but I don't really want to spend my free time preparing food for the office potluck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the people who "hate this stuff" hate their work in general? Or social events in general? I guess I just don't understand why it's such torture to participate

I don't hate my work, but I certainly didn't get to choose my co-workers, and none of them are the sort of people I would be friends with outside of work, so socializing with them is more of a chore than a fun activity.

And it's not exactly torture to participate, but if the activity is going on outside of work hours that's my time that I could be using to do things I actually enjoy.

Life's too short to waste on things you don't want to do. I simply don't see the point in going to any of these events.

[Anonymous]

I don't hate it at all. But I work with a lot of people who are really into this stuff, and there are a lot of events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I hate this stuff too. Two week ago I was basically forced to an "escape room" team building exercise with my co-workers. And even though I was teamed up with people I really liked, I still hated it. I feel like it's still work.

My office did this a month ago otherwise I'd think we were colleagues :o

We just did this too. I hate this stuff. People become friends on their own in an office or they don't...no one should force this stuff on people.