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?

Three days? What company would lose a team for three whole days?

Can you offer to stay behind and staff the office instead?

Is it in your own time, ie weekend? Or is it days you would ordinarily be in work?
In which case would you be expected to go in to work as normal if you didn’t attend?
What’s your sickness/absence record like? If it’s good I’d be dining in sick.
Sounds horrific
If you wouldn’t be expected to be in work whilst they’re away,
Sickie
Funeral
Lack of childcare
Poorly relative / child
Burst water pipe and need to sort house
Friends/family visiting

That sounds hideous. We had to do a day out kayaking once and that was bad enough, but three days!! Can't you pretend to be ill?

I've just come back from a 2 day work event, and there were team building activities so you could select the ones you fancied - a city tour, or a cooking class, or dance class, or a few other options. NO WAY was I doing the sauna visit option. We all had our own rooms and got pissed up on booze later.

While I'm a bit fan of faking immense excitement and then being ill, in this case I think I would genuinely stick to my guns and raise it with HR. I'd say that I enjoy the job and the firm and am committed to training and working well as a team but for personal reasons I am not prepared to stay away from home for three nights.

Surely there are plenty of people who wouldn't be able to go because of caring responsibilities, so it's unfair - if not outright discriminatory - to insist that people without caring abilities have to go?

well my experience was very different - I had to do this about 30 years ago, I had small children and was very unconfident about all sorts of things and was quite adamant that I didn't want to share a room with someone I didn't know. In the end I had a whale of a time, it really was a team building event and supported each other and even the people I didn't really like very much were actually really nice. I surprised myself and I think you might be surprised too

I dont see how they can make you do this. What if you had a hidden disability or a dodgy knee? You shouldn't have to explain yourself.

I would have to find a way out of that. Sounds like a nightmare.

That would be a flat no from me. I can't see how they can sack you for it & I'm pretty sure you won't be the only one who would rather not go anyway.

How do you know you'll have to share? DH does these sorts of events regularly and never has to share with anyone.

Tactically I would pretend to be THE keenest participant. Talk of how much you enjoy such things. Offer to be an official helper. That way, when you are struck down by norovirus, they will believe you are gutted, not faking it.

This

What an utter waste of everyones time. Surely it's not compulsory?

It sounds like hell. I would refuse to do it on the basis of shared rooms alone. Bloody horrendous.

I feel for you OP.

Tactically I would pretend to be THE keenest participant. Talk of how much you enjoy such things. Offer to be an official helper. That way, when you are struck down by norovirus, they will believe you are gutted, not faking it

This ^^ is dishonest, unprofessional and absolutely brilliant. I would probably do this if I couldn't think of anything else to get me out of it.

My idea of hell too, I just couldn't, wouldn't ... 😬

This ^^ is dishonest, unprofessional and absolutely brilliant.

Mumsnet at its finest, natch

I can guarantee that canoeing will be on the agenda, OP

Sick bastards

What's with doing outdoor activities in winter. Particularly those that involve getting cold and wet and not being able to get warm and dry. Im an outdoors person but there is No WAY I'm getting g wet at this time of year and not being able to get warm and dry in private.

I hate this stuff. I once got told that my team had to get a marble across the room without it touching the floor. I threw it....,,needless to say this didn’t go down well with the hyper energetic instructor

Is it like an Outward Bound Course

Dh did one back in the day and loved it but it would be a cold day in hell before they dragged me on one. Just refuse, OP. You might even start a workplace trend.

Sicky. Irrelevant of whether they know you're dreading it or not. You worried yourself sick

Honestly, I couldn't think of anything worse. Particularly the sharing the room bit.

No, no, and then no.

@Loverunandwine
I like your style!!