To feel like resigning to avoid a horrible team building event

[evilharpy]

It's been announced that my team (of about 15, all of whom I like but most of whom I don't know very well at all) is being sent to a team building event at the end of February. It's three days. Residential. Outdoor physical stuff. In February. It will be wet and freezing. We will have to share rooms. I hate the outdoors, especially when it's wet and freezing. I hate physical stuff unless it's a nice gym-based class. I will have to buy suitable outdoor clothes. And most of all I hate hate hate sharing rooms even with very close friends and will be desperately uncomfortable and miserable the entire time. The only way it could possibly be worse is if it involved camping.

I won't actually resign obviously (for one thing my notice period is longer than the end of Feb) but I will probably worry about it every single day until it's over.

Has anyone been on anything similar and can either confirm that it will be miserable or convince me that it might actually be fun?

I have refused an overnight teambuilder. There were no consequences for me.

I had to do something similar recently. Decided to go back to uni so MSc field trip with 50 people half my age. Bunk beds in room of 6, canteen, queuing for shower, stressful presentations to do, best part of it was doing a bit of MN when I got (climbed) into bed. I like my own space at the best of times and it was really tough but now it's O-V-E-R, I made it!

You can do it if you have to, OP, and time is brilliant - it brings these things closer but it also takes them away again.

We also had to do some slightly bizarre things on the way. Whole thing was as if someone had taken a bag labelled "Shit you hate most in the whole world" and dumped it over my head.

I wouldn't go as well. It sounds absolutely miserable and includes everything I hate doing. Don't you have a very close family member wedding to attend then op?

Blimey I quite enjoy getting away from the usual drill for a night or two. All the better if someone else is paying for me to do so!

OP if you can't get out of it, suggest the following:
(work out if there is an odd or even number of women in your team - if odd, ask to have the private room. Even better, offer to organise the hotel arrangements and you look both like an eager team player AND you get to have your own room FOC).

1. Request to pay extra for your own room.
2. If you can't do that, request to share with a specific person who you quite like. Either get drunk at the meal that night OR go to bed super early. Do not go to bed at the same time - WAAAAYYYY too awkward.

In terms of toileting, use the hotel facilities elsewhere - do not under any circumstances do a #2 in your shared bathroom.

As for the outdoor stuff, I'd be totally in my element. But either just be really late and claim that you had to take an urgent work call and stay in the hotel reception (so that noone can claim that you were sleeping in) OR nip out early from the outdoor sessions, again claiming that you had to do something urgent and just meet up with everyone at the lunch break. Just borrow the outdoor clothing off someone, given you're not likely to use it in the future.

Getting excited for you now - can we job swap?