AIBU or are team building events really f*cking awful...

[rOsie80]

Especially the variety that ask you for an "interesting" fact about yourself so you all sit around and reel them off in an awkward, stilted fashion for an hour.... does anybody really enjoy this stuff ?!!

brokeforyou Are you David Brent?!

YANBU. You could honestly achieve more genuine teambuilding in the pub.

'We took the team to Vegas! It worked brilliantly'

Can't think of anything worse than a long-haul enforced holiday with work colleagues. I've been to Vegas. Thought it sucked, tbh, would rather boil my head than go back there. Also would really resent having to go on a junket like this and take time away from my family.

As an addendum to my drumming video/post earlier, I should also say this was just after a company had acquired us, so over half the people there knew they were about to get the chop too.

Needless to say, the drumming was not our idea.

woolythoughts

There is always some wanker who thinks they are good (because they have the maturity of a teenager) and some of these people make it to management just because they know the job.

There is a budget for it and it’s easier to open the first email that lands in your inbox and ticks the wanky boxes and go along with the system.

The whole thing is a con that some companies have fallen for.

The question: “what were you doing before you worked here?” Had to reem off every job back to school. She wouldn’t stop pestering, then asking follow up questions about every bloody job. For 12 people, thankfully people cottoned on and said they’d only had 1 job before. I think her aim was to find all out secret hidden skills but it was like an interrogation.

Most memorable was when the leader over heard my conversation with colleague. Was very sweary (cause that’s who I am) and said “you swear an awful lot for a lady” I said I’m not a lady (as in I’m female, I’m a woman but I’m not a lady, I have no title and I don’t confirm to the weird delicate infantilising title). He thought I was being aggressive and we spend an hour with HR. I apologised and explained that I was merely responding to his patronising tone. He asked HR to ban swearing. I went home but apparently people said beep instead of swearing.

Since becoming more senior, I've always made sure I and more senior colleagues leave so more junior staff aren't watching their backs or what they say. I also pick up the bar tab as I leave (well, the company, but I don't tell them that).

Of course the stupid junioors know that you don't really pick up the tab and you just pretend you do to stroke your own ego. Jaysus.

I think they are acceptable if...

They are done on work time (and not in the sense that you'll have to stay late another day to finish off the presentation that you would have been doing).

The activity is actually fun and something you wouldn't do otherwise (we did an Indian dancing one once which was great).

The trainers/organisers aren't too annoying.

No one takes it too seriously.

It's topped off by a nice meal and free booze.

You generally get on well with your colleagues.

I would hate to go on a long haul trip with work colleagues, especially to Vegas.

@TERFragetteCity

Well, I hope they know that I personally pick up the tab for drinks at the Christmas party.

Should I stop that?

I detest team building events. Especially the ones where someone has already been on it and swears that although these things are really crap, this one is different and actually really brilliant. In my experience that means it's 100% guaranteed to be hideous!

My laptop is not trusting the horse link.

But it's probably for the best.

This is a good reason why I work for myself.
A company declaring a 'random' Friday afternoon off with drinks available at the local pub goes down quite well.

We often do various team building events and it is hell on earth. The worst by far was when we spent 3 days on a boat non stop team building and ted talks! There was no escaping the forced fun! I feigned sea sickness and sat in my cabin for a few hours alone on day 2 as I couldn't take it anymore. I think it was the making a collage out of old magazines that represented us becoming a new ship about to set sail that tipped me over the edge, there was grown men and women fighting over scissors.

Most recently we did escape rooms which everyone really enjoyed and only lasted an hour and we could either leave or join in the BBQ after. Surprisingly most stayed, but I think it was because we were given the choice rather than it being forced on us. Although I still left. I spend enough time with these people, given the choice I'd rather be at home.

I'm on one, now, today, awful!

brokeforyou

You try to put one over on them with your prison/vegan/meat eating wanker crap.

They think you are an idiot!

I've done various team building activities over the last 3 decades with various different companies and all of them make me want to claw my own skin off.

They are loathsome and should be banned. I don't want to know interesting things about my colleagues, I just want them to crack on with their jobs and be efficient. All the time I'm "teambuilding", I'm just thinking of the billion emails stacking up in my inbox and how I'll need mind-bleach to remove the image of Kevin & Penny passing balloons between their knees!

I've been on a team building event which culminated in two guys having a fist fight over how to build a raft, followed by them both being arrested. And these were (usually) mild mannered fairly senior civil servants! Something about these things just brings out the worst in people.

My friend went on a team weekend event which involved a hotel stay. The hotel was awful and she was woken at 3am by her male line manager kicking her door in! He'd drunkenly thought it was his room and was pissed off the key wasn't working. After he did that, he staggered across the room and pissed in her wardrobe. He was very shamefaced next day and had to pay for the damage, plus buy her some new clothes given hers were soaked in urine. They'd been doing this event for years but it was permanently abandoned after that episode.

Weekends away with work

Bloody hell I thought a day at an outdoor activities centre was bad.

YANBU. The worst one I experienced was a day doing drama at RADA. It was toe-curlingly awful and the seconds dragged by. I couldn't even make myself stay for the free booze afterwards I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
These days I just don't go if I don't want to.

I work in an international team, but 'the management' are in California. We have an annual meeting where we have to do team building and also present our sub team information in a 'skit'. I have now learnt that it is best to find a group with the Swiss and Finnish members as then we can just chat about work and avoid the teeth itching bit. Once an american tried an icebreaker with a group of my german engineers, and they refused to do it as a waste of time. It was a beautiful moment

When I do training, my only icebreaker is to ask them what they most need to get out of the training. Or if I'm talking generally I usually tell them about prostates which makes everyone laugh (honest, it is relevant) and we go from there.

A day doing drama at RADA

I think that's just knocked Vegas into second place.

No one likes them eh ! I've made (thinly-veiled) excuses to leave / not attend for any in recent memory... suggest everyone does the same and bring an end to this foul corporate tradition

I worked in a company that had a 3 days work 'conference' once a year, somewhere overseas, with everyone staying in luxury accommodation, all expenses paid.

It was fab. There was usually 1 day of work stuff and the rest was free time. Only works if you like your colleagues though.