Employee refuses to comply with team building exercise, claiming coworkers are doing it wrong, company fires the employee in response: ‘You failed’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Dec 7, 2024 1:00 PM EST

Part of every job, no matter what field, is to take part in something companies like to call 'team building'. It might sound incredibly silly to some people, and it is quite time-consuming, but companies absolutely love to find ways to make the team 'bond' and explore skills they would never use on a daily basis.

I am a competitive person, and there is something about those team-building exercises that makes me thrive, especially if it involves puzzles and riddles. I enjoy taking charge and leading my team through the tasks, and we all end up having a lot of fun. I honestly don't know what I would do if my team all decided to ignore my advice and do something else, so I can understand the frustration that the employee who wrote this Reddit story felt towards their teammates. I feel even worse for them knowing that failing this team-building exercise actually meant losing their job…

Keep scrolling to read the full story. After you are done, check out this story of an entitled driver who refuses to comply with the law after backing into someone else's car.

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  • 01
    "I was the problem child for going against the grain"
    via StefanDahl
  • 02
    I failed a Team Building Exercise because I wouldn't agree to the wrong answer
    via xeno0153
  • 03
    As part of onboarding training for a class of new employees, my training group of 7-8 people had to do a team building exercise in our second week.
    via xeno0153
  • 04
    Maybe some of you have heard of this one. The scenario is you imagine you and your team are on a sinking ship. On your way to the life raft, you can grab number of items to use for your survival
    via xeno0153
  • 05
    floating at sea. There is a list of 12 completely random items like pen, rope, netting, empty soda can, a can of tuna, etc. I forget what exactly, but I remember the empty soda can and... a sextant.
    via xeno0153
  • 06
    Now I remember those two items exactly because this is where the problem lay. I had already done this exact same activity a few years before with a different organization, so I already knew
    via xeno0153
  • 07
    some of the best responses. I remembered the empty soda can was useful to signal passing ships and airplanes, while the sextant was the least useful because no one in this age knows how to use a sextant.
    via xeno0153
  • 08
    Only... the dumb es in this group, not even taking this seriously all wanted to bring the sextant for sure because they "thought it was funny" to use the sextant "to k'' whales and eat the meat from their dad bodies."
    via xeno0153
  • 09
    I tried telling them that sextant was the trap answer, but they wouldn't listen. Then from there, everything else was just joke answers. I was so annoyed that I scribbled my own answers on a
    via xeno0153
  • 10
    separate paper and tallied my own score when the answers were read. I had a 65% chance of survival while the team's group answers were about 20%.
    via xeno0153
  • 11
    Only, management didn't care about the results as much as how well "everyone worked together." So in their eyes, I was the problem child for going against the grain and not agreeing to let the idiots be in charge of our survival.
    via xeno0153
  • 12
    As the training continued, I got 100% on each of the three phase tests and achieved things trainers never thought possible. I was let go at the end of training because I wasn't "doing as well" as the trainers hoped.
    via xeno0153
  • 13
    EDIT a few comments are getting hung up on a couple details I glossed over because I didn't want this to be a mile long, but rather than re-explaining a hundred times in the comments.
    via xeno0153
  • 14
    1. this was a 911 emergency operator position. Training is 1-month in a classroom, then 3 phases of live call- taking as a trainer sits next to us, each 3 weeks long. The exams at the end of each phase are on how well we know police codes, response procedures, and department policy.
    via xeno0153
  • 15
    2. related, a few people are pointing out that saying "I achieved things trainers never thought possible" makes me sound like I'm full of myself. What I am referencing is multiple trainers telling us that we
    via xeno0153
  • 16
    will never hear "thank you" in our line of work. During my live-training, I had at least three people call back and ask to speak to me so they could thank me for helping them. I took a lot of pride in how I
    via xeno0153
  • 17
    conducted myself and treated every caller with dignity and respect. I would expect that of every civil servant, but the image of police has taken a significant nosedive in the past few years.
    via xeno0153
  • 18
    3. a few more had conjured up the image of me just stewing with anger in the corner while everyone else was having a great time laughing and having fun at this exercise. I was also enjoying the activity and got along very well with my classmates.
    via xeno0153
  • 19
    This was literally 30 minutes out of the 160 hours we spent together. I get that this was a team-building exercise and the point was to come to an agreement, but when someone in the group says to everyone "hey, I've done this activity
    via xeno0153
  • 20
    before at my last job. These are the answers." only to be brushed aside, yeah, it's annoying. But I wasn't some Grinch secretly hoping for this whole thing to turn into a disaster.
    via xeno0153
  • 21
    And while I don't think THIS was the reason why I was let go, I do believe it was the first red mark in my file that put a target on my back.
    via xeno0153
  • 22
    tiggergirluk76 • 2d ago These tests are never about getting the "correct" answers. It's about how they observe you behaving during the task Depending on the role, it can be about your leadership potential,
    via tiggergirluk76
  • 23
    how you influence people and get your point across, or if they are looking for yes men, whether you go with the majority/loudest voices in the group and do as you're told.
    via tiggergirluk76
  • 24
    XR171 2d ago Poping on company time and desks Drones, they want drones that obey. You were let go because when management wants to do something stupid and possibly illegal you'll speak up.
    via XR171
  • 25
    Global_Tangerine1842 • 2d ago • Soft skills (like getting along) do more for a company. You can teach the work, but having a person in your organization that's toxic to your culture harms more than helps
    via Global_Tangerine1842
  • 26
    theruralist • 2d ago It's a Team Building exercise and you failed at Team Building.
    via theruralist
  • 27
    Ok-Willow-9145 • 2d ago They were sifting for obedience. You wouldn't have enjoyed working in that company.
    via Ok-Willow-9145

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terrible coworkers boss workplace-stories employee fired manager job tales-from-the-workplace coworkers teamwork reddit story workplace Reddit company team
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