Company forces employees to buy and carve their own pumpkins for mandatory after-hours competition: 'Forced camaraderie is the worst'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Nov 11, 2025 10:00 PM EST

There's nothing wrong with a little office fun. It keeps us afloat sometimes. But when something becomes mandatory, it immediately stops being fun. It's just human nature. We hate being told what to do, like petulant children, especially at work. But where is the line between good ole work-sanctioned diversion and an event that nobody will love, most people will be annoyed at, and ultimately cost you some goodwill as a company? As an employer, you want to give some opportunities for fun to your workers. You want to help them break up the days and weeks, preventing them from cascading off into monotony. 

But you should probably do that during work hours. If you want to do something after work hours, it better be voluntary and you better be providing free stuff. Some companies don't quite understand that, though, and force their employees to do stuff they don't want to do. When, as an employee, do you say "enough is enough?" Maybe it would be being forced to spend your own money on a contest you don't want to enter.

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  • A person holds a pumpkin in their hand at a pumpkin patch.
    via Unsplash+ (Tim Mossholder)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • That's the situation this person found themselves in when their workplace mandated some Halloween fun. But the catch? They had to spend their own money. And they had to come in after regular work hours. Read on to see what commenters had to say about this frustrating situation. 

  • My company had a MANDATORY Halloween pumpkin competition...

    I'm a week or so late with this, sorry. So a few days before Halloween we were all expected to go out and buy our own pumpkin with our own money, spend time outside work hours coming up with something "funny", carve that, and then attend a mandatory 6pm meeting at the end of the work day presenting our pumpkin and why we chose that design and why we thought it was funny.
    via u/AdmiralJTK
  • There was a $25 Amazon Gift Card to the winner. The bosses sister in law won it for carving the words "stranger things" into the side of a pumpkin in no particular font.
    via u/AdmiralJTK
  • A group of coworkers dance together at an office party.
    via Sebastian Herrmann

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Commenters chimed in with their thoughts.

    No-Put-6353 • 12h ago . My company did this a couple of years ago except it voluntary, they provided supplies, it was done during work hours when he had our Halloween party. Which was on a Friday after 12 that was all during paid company time.
    via u/No-Put-6353
  • Ancelege 11h ago • I mean, that's the only way to do it really. Sounds fun for those who want to participate!
    via u/Ancelege
  • rajapaws • 13h ago Forced camaraderie is the worst.
    via u/rajapaws
  • Ouachita2022 · 12h ago . Aka Forced Family Time.
    via u/Ouachita2022
  • Green-Inkling • 13h ago if it is mandatory then they should pay you, not you pay them. that is not how it works. at the very least they should provide the pumpkin. so now you're out a few bucks and have nothing to show for it.
    via u/Green-Inkling
  • scene_missing • 12h ago Cut "fuck you pay me" into a pumpkin and leave the knife in the side
    via u/scene_missing
  • Micropain 12h ago "I'm allergic to pumpkin, I can't be in the office while you do this, and the office has to be sterilized before I return."
    via u/Micropain
  • . apollei 13h ago Ain't no party like a Liz Lemon party because a Liz Lemon party is mandatory.
    via u/apollei
  • Morokite 12h ago . Talk about a weird case of having developed a pumpkin allergy suddenly.
    via u/Morokite
  • NoResolution8777 · 11h ago Lol this is mine from something similar. I called it customer service. We work in retail so it was a decent hit
    via u/NoResolution8777
  • Jabathewhut. 11h ago I once saw a girl get fired over something like this. The general manager wanted to do a secret Santa with a minimum purchase of 20 bucks.
    via u/Jabathewhut
  • One girl simply said no to it because she dosent celebrate holidays and the GM told her to leave and to not bother coming back. Idk what happened but I hope she sued. She was fired in front of everyone, and none of us wanted to do secret Santa in the first place.
    via u/Jabathewhut
  • SnooMachines2673 13h ago . Stick your fist through the front with a candle in your palm.. open your hand...leaving the candle inside as you pull your arm free. There is always a way to deal with a workplace "mandatory".
    via u/SnooMachines2673
  • Total_Tumbleweed... • 13h ago Sounds like your boss got permission to give out a gift card and came up with a stupid ploy to give it to their in law. I'd love to hear her explanation of how that was a funny design.
    via u/Total_Tumbleweed_870
  • BeeRemote7662 10h ago Go to lunch. Come back with a pumpkin. Carve it right at your desk. If they question why you're doing it right there at work just act over the top enthusiastic like you misunderstood the concept. Carve the worst face you can, childish and unartistic. Just trash the whole concept. You'll quickly see who gets it and who doesn't.
    via u/BeeRemote7662
  • Male_Lead 13h ago . Next time, print out a pumpkin and shows them, "this is stranger, pumpkin in paper"
    via u/Male_Lead
  • monotrememories 12h ago You should've stabbed a pumpkin with a knife and then put a post-it note on it with the word "YOU" written on it
    via u/monotrememories
  • madkins007 · 10h ago . I love doing this sort of thing when it's my choice or for a reason I support. This ain't it. Therefore, I will work to subvert the rules with the intention of preventing them from doing this again.
    via u/madkins007
  • Based on what you said the rules were, I'd get the ugliest, cheapest pumpkin I could find. Literally carve the word 'funny' in it and make a poster with the rules on it, highlighting that I followed them more exactly than anyone else, and thus deserve the win.
    via u/madkins007
  • I would also promise, in writing, on the other side of the poster, that if I won I would buy something for the office with every penny of it, giving a specific example of something the crew would enjoy. I would finish by rallying the troops to my side with cheers and chants to try to force the win or game a minor riot.
    via u/madkins007
  • Building team camaraderie, engaging in the contest, supporting the event goals. How could the boss object to any of it?
    via u/madkins007
  • WetMonkeyTalk • 13h ago "Oh no! My car broke down. And I was so looking forward to tonight. Oh well, there's always next year..."
    via u/WetMonkeyTalk

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boss antiwork workplace-stories pumpkins toxic-workplace job halloween bosses work coworkers working reddit story toxic-boss workplace reddit thread bad bosses Reddit toxic-work-environment
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