'This is mandatory. You WILL attend the trivia contest': Accounting department rallies against boss who demands they have mandatory fun

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jun 1, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

The mandatory trivia will continue until morale improves! 

There are differing schools of thought on how much fun employees should really have at work. There are the types of offices that bring in foosball tables and nap pods, and as nice as that sounds, these places tend to overwork their employees. Other workplaces have occasional days out to baseball games, or full-day employee BBQs. These events can be nice for team building, but it requires that the employees take time out of their personal lives to attend. And other jobs have a culture of meeting up for happy hours every day, which seems exhausting. It's all about balance, and no one has the exact right answer to what is the correct amount of "fun" activities employees should do.

The boss in u/MN-goldengirl's story doesn't have all the answers, but he has the ability to shout his workers down. He's insisting that they will have fun, even though they're very stressed out and swamped with work. It's hard to concentrate on an activity like trivia when your mind is racing with other things. That didn't stop this dude, as you can read in this person's malicious compliance story down below. 

After that, take a look at the tale of the administrative assistant who gladly deleted all of their work files after giving their two week's notice. 

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  • 01
    DECIMAL 402346F 'Show 'em how smart the accounting staff is at trivia games? Okay, boss!' anon 20DHII POWER OFF ON PRINT TAX- M* MO
    via StellrWeb on Unsplash
  • 02
    Show 'em how smart the accounting staff is at trivia games? Okay, boss!
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 03
    At the turn of the century, I worked as an accountant for a major sports team. The owner hired a new VP of Human Resources who immediately fired the Chief Financial Officer. The CFO's duties were shifted down the accounting staff, and we were a small staff of six. We were swamped.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 04
    At the same time, the new VP of HR organized an all-staff trivia contest between departments. When those of us in accounting saw the email, we immediately deleted it. We were already working evenings and weekends just to keep up; we had no spare time to spend an afternoon playing games.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 05
    When the VP of HR saw that no one from accounting had signed up, he called another accountant and me into his office. He insisted we form a team and participate in the event. We explained how incredibly busy we were, pointed out the deadlines we were facing, and told him how many hours everyone in the department was working.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 06
    His face turned red. He stood and pointed a finger at me and said, "This is not a request. This is mandatory. You WILL attend the trivia contest, and you WILL show the entire staff how smart the accounting staff is." He glared at both of us in turn. "Do you understand?"
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 07
    We nodded and left his office. Halfway back to the accounting office, my co-worker gestured to the restroom, and we ducked inside.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 08
    "If we've got to do this..." she said with an evil grin, "let's REALLY do this."
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 09
    I nodded, catching her meaning. She was a highly educated, brilliant person who was well versed in politics and current issues. I'll call her IvyLeague.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 10
    My talent is a bizarre memory for odd and normally un-useful factoids. The trivia teams had to be three- player, and we decided to recruit another co-worker who knew sports statistics to the point of being overzealous. I'll call him Sportster, and he was the perfect fit because we knew they'd have a lot of sports trivia in the game.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 11
    We pulled him aside and went over our plan with him. We would show 'em how smart the accounting staff was, and we would do it as fast as possible so we could get back to the piles of work waiting for us. He was all-in!
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 12
    On the day of the trivia game, all staff met in a bar in the empty arena. Ironically, the VP of HR was called away on an HR emergency, so he didn't show up at all.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 13
    There was an open bar, appetizers, and a few of the sports team's players and broadcasters attended. The other trivia teams represented ticketing, guest services, operations, security, marketing, broadcasting, IT, the foundation, etc. I would estimate nearly 200 people were there. They were all drinking liquor and filling up on the bar food.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 14
    The three of us from accounting drank caffeinated soda and stayed sharp. And we DOMINATED! The game was structured so two teams would play each other while the rest of the staff watched. When a team lost during a round, they were immediately out of the
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 15
    competition. It started as a fun event, with laughter and teasing between departments. During the first round, our team easily and fiercely trounced the competition. The three of us stayed deadly serious and focused throughout the game. Ivy League was superb at answering the classical knowledge and politics questions, Sportster covered the
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 16
    world of athletics, and I was able to pull up anything they couldn't get. As our team quickly routed our opponents and moved up in the tiers, the laughter died away, and the fun atmosphere disappeared from the bar. We won the competition, were each awarded a small plastic trophy, and we left immediately, going back to the piles of work awaiting us at our cubicles.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 17
    That evening, I worked quite late, quietly plugging away. Our middle-manager accountant was in his office working and probably didn't realize I was still there. Someone stormed into the area and went right to the middle- manager's office. "What the happened at the trivia thing?" It was the VP of HR.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 18
    The middle-manager talked about how Ivy League, MN Goldengirl, and Sportster were so intent on winning, it made everyone uncomfortable. I realized I had to make my presence known, so I grabbed my trophy and stood, prairie- over the cubicles. "Hey, you forgot to tell him..." I said.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 19
    "They tried to distract us by bringing in the players and the on-air talent!" I laughed and set my trophy on the corner of the cubicle. "But we showed them how smart the accounting staff is!" I didn't wait to see their reaction. I just sat and got back to work.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 20
    In the ten years I worked for the organization, there were no more all-staff trivia games played.
    via u/MN-goldengirl
  • 21
    SlooperDoop Mandatory fun always works out so well!
    via u/SlooperDoop
  • 22
    [deleted] Honestly that's just how I play trivia though. Isn't that normal?
    via u/[deleted]
  • 23
    [deleted] As also an overworked accountant, there is no bigger waste of time than. dealing with HR. We would work weekends just to make time for their silly mandatory seminars about the most pointless subjects.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 24
    Hey Debra, if you really want to be a team player how about you hop in this accrual workbook with me instead of folding shirts in the promo closet
    via u/[deleted]
  • 25
    sn... I remember the "fun, team building activity" my new boss planed at my first job (a paid assistantship/internship) during grad school. I needed the small salary, tuition benefit and the academic credit I'd receive so I figured I had to go along with anything the boss demanded.
    via u/snappyland
  • 26
    White-water rafting. I was scared to death, mostly of getting bashed against the rocks, but also scared of looking like a fool in front of the other staff members. To cope, I paid very very strict attention to the guide's instructions about which direction to lean and when to lean.
    via u/snappyland
  • 27
    When our raft of four went through the first rapids, I was the only one of us who did NOT fall out! I relaxed and had a better time after that.
    via u/snappyland

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