My name is Melissa, I’m 30, and I work for a mid-sized marketing company in Orlando, Florida. Our office culture is one of those places that constantly talks about “team bonding” and “positive energy.”
Most of the time it’s harmless stuff like pizza lunches or birthday cupcakes in the breakroom.
But last month our manager took things to a whole new level.
One Monday morning we got an email with the subject line: “Mandatory Fun Team Event!”
Already a terrifying phrase.
Inside the email our manager explained that we would all be attending a team mini-golf outing to build morale and strengthen workplace relationships.
Sounds fine, right?
Except for two small details.
First, the event was scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
Second, attendance was labeled mandatory.
A few people in the office replied asking if this counted as paid time or if it was optional since it was outside normal work hours.
Our manager responded with something like, “We really expect everyone to make an effort to attend.”
Translation: show up or look bad.
Most of us reluctantly agreed to go.
So Saturday arrives and about ten of us show up at this neon-lit mini-golf place in Orlando that looks like it was designed for children’s birthday parties.
Our manager was extremely enthusiastic about the whole thing.
He kept talking about “team spirit” and how this was a great opportunity to relax together outside the office.
For the first hour, things were actually kind of fun.
Then Monday morning rolled around.
Two coworkers who didn’t attend the mini-golf event noticed something strange on their HR portal.
They had PTO hours deducted.
Apparently the manager had reported the event as a work-related activity and marked their absence as time off.
People were furious.
One of them had skipped the event because she had a family commitment that weekend.
Another had simply said he didn’t want to spend his Saturday playing mini-golf with coworkers.
Neither of them expected it to affect their PTO balance.
That’s when I decided to get a little petty.
You see, during the mini-golf outing I had brought a small notebook with me — mostly as a joke.
But while we were playing, I started keeping very detailed score records.
Not just the usual scores.
I tracked everything.
Extra strokes.
Ball nudges.
One coworker moving his ball with his foot.
Even our manager “accidentally” improving his ball position several times.
By the end of the game I had what can only be described as the most accurate mini-golf scorecard in human history.
So when our manager proudly announced on Monday that he had “won” the outing…
I politely pulled out my notebook.
According to the official tallies, he had actually come in fourth place due to several rule violations.
The office went silent.
Then people started laughing.
He tried to brush it off as a joke, but at that point the mood had already shifted.
Because if we’re being forced to attend “mandatory fun” on our weekends…
The least we deserve is honest scoring.