Employee interrupts team-building meeting to complain about not needing the training, leading coworkers to call employee out: 'The team looked at me in disbelief'

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
May 30, 2026 2:30 PM EDT

Is there a job that doesn't actually require social interaction with other people?

Even if you are not a social person, you still have to accept that there are social requirements in almost any everyday scenario you find yourself in. You have to talk to the person selling you a coffee, and to the person who answers the phone at customer services, and yes, even your coworkers in your office.

Jobs in which you are not required to socialize whatsoever are extremely rare, possibly might not exist at all, which means that an interaction with another person is inevitable, so you might as well do it properly and with the right tools.

The programmer below turned to the Reddit r/antiwork Subreddit community to see if they were right to complain about their company forcing them to do a team-building meeting and discuss social cues at work. According to this employee, their job, programming, doesn't actually require any social skills or dealing with other personalities in the office. So when the team-building meeting became a seminar on how to deal with difficult coworkers, this programmer decided to speak up. Why should they sit through this meeting when it has nothing to do with their job? They came to work to do work, and this meeting was not benefiting them in that department.

After the programmer said their piece about the meeting, they were surprised to be faced with their coworkers' disagreement. Apparently, everyone on the team saw the importance of this meeting and was happy to learn social skills like how to deal with difficult coworkers.

Was the programmer in the wrong for speaking up, or did they have a point? Keep scrolling to read the full tale.

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  • 01
    A group of people depicting a team meeting.
    via FatCamera

    A group of people depicting a team meeting.

  • 02

    "I disrupted a corporate "team-building" meeting by saying I’m only there to do my job."

    I'm feeling really thrown off after confronting my boss and coworkers during a mandatory team-building session today.
    via shadewashere
  • 03
    The company hired a corporate coach to help us "improve both socially and professionally." Now, I am perfectly functional when it comes to the social
    via shadewashere
  • 04
    aspects of my job. But at the end of the day, I'm a programmer― my social skills aren't supposed to be those of a project manager or a salesman.
    via shadewashere
  • 05
    At one point, the coach started teaching us techniques on how to deal with difficult coworkers. I ended up lighting a torch under the meeting by saying that while I obviously need to be
    via shadewashere
  • 06
    cooperative and capable of working in a team, it shouldn't be my responsibility to manage difficult personalities on top of doing the actual job I'm paid for: programming.
    via shadewashere
  • 07
    The entire team looked at me in absolute disbelief and completely disagreed with my take. Now I'm sitting here wondering if I'm just a massive a ole who refuses to deal with
    via shadewashere
  • 08
    anyone's p. They argued that these corporate coaching sessions are "beneficial" because they teach life skills, but honestly, I couldn't care less about socializing at work. I go there because I get paid.
    via shadewashere
  • 09
    Is this actually a hot take, or does anyone else here agree with me?
    via shadewashere

  • According to some of the people in the Reddit community who commented below, the one who was actually being difficult was the programmer, and they should have just kept quiet and gone through the team-building meeting without causing any issues.

    Others thought that the employee was right to speak up…

  • 10
    sibleyy Ahahaha okay op I want to start by saying: I completely support you. But also, having worked with programmers, you're definitely the "difficult coworker" who the training was teaching people to deal with.
    via sibleyy
  • 11
    StealthyRobot Instructor immediately being like "yes, great example of a difficult coworker!"
    via StealthyRobot
  • 12
    A group of employees sitting in an office and having a meeting, represented by models.
    via Dylan Gillis

    A group of employees sitting in an office and having a meeting, represented by models.

  • 13
    sirseatbelt Learning how to navigate challenging personalities so that you can get what you want and get your job done is useful, both professionally and personally. I view it less as socializing and more like learning to remove a blocker to accomplishing my goals.
    via sirseatbelt
  • 14
    TheCrimsonSteel Kinda? On one hand, you're correct that it's not your job to deal with every abrasive ale you come across.
    via TheCrimsonSteel
  • 15
    On the other hand, being able to deal with someone then and there is a good skill to have, at the very least to ensure you're not adding fuel to the fire. And most of the advice is generic stuff like "Try not to get immediately defensive. It takes 2 people to have a shouting match. Learn how to give feedback."
    via TheCrimsonSteel
  • 16
    There is some truth to the idea of, "communication is 20% what you say and 80% how you say it," and these seminars are largely focusing on giving examples of that 80%. Is it dumb? Probably. But there's always 1 or 2 people in these seminars that genuinely need the skills being taught. So if you think it's a waste of time, just get through it best you can.
    via TheCrimsonSteel
  • 17
    CyborgHeart1245 The way corporate environments are structured are that the difficult employees are just ignored because no one wants to deal with them. You broke an unspoken taboo in the workplace: made people's behavior their own fault.
    via CyborgHeart1245
  • 18
    No_Bend_2902 Found the difficult coworker. But in all seriousness, working for a corporation is an exercise in make believe, and you agreed to play the game when you got hired on.
    via No_Bend_2902

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