Work away day AIBU to not fancy doing this in a SPA!

[chubbleigh]

Away day fine, but don't really want to float about with assorted work colleagues, they happen to be all women but not really the point. My manager is lovely and wants us to have a nice time and bond and all but I would rather keep my fat arse under cloth.

How to get out of it without sounding like a spoil sport or up tight or uncooperative?

You can wear a robe all day if you wish. I went to a spa for a hen do at 38 weeks pg. Oddly I didn't fancy lounging around in me cossie either so I stayed robed apart from 5 minutes on the jacuzzi. Still had my massage and stuff.

I agree with Eric, you can either be underwater or covered in a freshly laundered robe provided at your employers expense by the spa.

Give it a try, you might like it, and you might miss out on something if your'e not there.

Or use the timeless fall back of 'women's problems'

Can you not just say you can't afford the time/money? Or is work paying for both. If so, I think it is a little unreasonable for them to think that everyone is comfortable with it.

I hate Spas.

YOu are so not being unreasonable, I'm at work now trying to imagine what it would be like if we were all in towelling robes (let alone swimsuits), I just couldn't face them. Weird thing to do on an away day if you ask me, perhaps you will have an urgent reason why you can't attend.

I've been to one (just in my team, 5 including me) as a little reward thing for a particularly tough project being delivered on time and under budget.

it was just after i'd returned from ML (they delayed it as project was delivered BEFORE i went off, so that i could join in properly - talk about a nice "welcome back"!!) - i kept my robe on all day, and no one blinked an eyelid. the place i went to also did lovely Mum to Be Spa Days, which a colleague went on - i'm sure lots of the ladies there choose to robe up, i know that i'm self concious enough at that time that i don't want to be walking around in a bikini all day.

go, robe up, have fun - it'll be a wonderful time!

i can't think of anything that would mean you can get out of this in any of the environments i've worked in e.g. smaller teams - unless they're sending whole departments off in which case a sickie a few days beforehand and then "not feeling up to it" on the day might suffice!

Ugh, I hate spas. Last year, my (female) boss, who absolutely loves spas, suggested a little treat for all the staff. She said she wanted to pay for all the 'girls' to have a spa day, and all the 'boys' to go go-karting for the day.

I asked to go go-karting instead. Just said that I wasn't being ungrateful but I don't like spas. So she let me. Then my assistant and a couple of the other women said they'd rather go go-karting too. We had a great time .

I'd just say "I'm really grateful for the offer but I don't really like spa days. I hope you all have a lovely time, though", and leave it at that.

I wouldnt go, I couldnt even pretend to want to be there so the bonding would be out the window as I'd sit there with gritted teeth thinking what a waste of time, effort and money. I find spas cringeworthy and would be irritated that your manager is imposing her desires on everyone and assuming all women like spas. It is my idea of hell.

It's almost as bad as the time there was a fire drill at the conference hotel where we were staying and having to go out in my nightie and dressing gown with no make-up. Horrid!

YANBU
My idea of hell, doing that with work collegues

Sounds awful. I'd be making increasingly obvious comments about how poorly I was feeling up to the day before pulling a sicky.

Dossing around in a dressing gown is what you do when you have a hangover, and being massaged rubbed by a stranger hasn't been my idea of a good time since I was in my teens.