# If you don't want to do "team-building" exercises **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 26, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148 "2010-09-26T22:42:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/221 "2010-10-11T16:20:37Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Furthermore, I can just write you a shitty review and badmouth you to my colleagues. Eventually your utilization will fall low enough that the partners will simply decide to let you go. > > I just wanted to re-emphasize this gem. I think this shows who the real cancer in an organization would be. So if you’re doing a shitty job I’m an asshole if I give you a shitty review? What’s the point of reviews then? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/222 "2010-10-11T16:24:52Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Meh. I was going to responds but then I realized I just didn’t care that much and decided to go on with my life. Translation: “I don’t have a good response, so I’ll just pretend like I don’t care. Only instead of just unsuscribing from the thread, I’m going to \*tell \*you that I don’t care.” > [@msmith537](#): > > I can do anything better than you, na-na na-na boo boo, stick your head in doo-doo. Yes, I can see that you don’t care at all and are clearly moving on. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Wombats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Wombats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Wombats)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/223 "2010-10-11T16:34:16Z")
**Zsofia** , I think the point was that the shitty review bears no relation to the quality of the job. Instead, it has a direct relationship to the high degree of self-preservation and minimal degree of competence found in someone holding **msmith537** ’s position. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/224 "2010-10-11T16:48:26Z")
Yes, the point is that he’d be using his position to destroy someone doing competent work for no other reason than he rubbed him the wrong way. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/225 "2010-10-11T18:01:58Z")
Sheesh, are you two still going at it? Get a room already. ( **msmith and SteveG1** , that is.) It’s Thanksgiving Day here today - you two should give thanks that you have hands and eyes and computers to use to argue with each other. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/226 "2010-10-11T18:53:40Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Some day I hope I’m crazy enough to gamble my savings on a small business–or rich enough that it doesn’t matter if it works out in the end–for the express purpose of empowering my employees to give customers exactly what’s coming to them. I fantasize about being able to tell someone being abusive to one of my staff to get fucked. this is the single most satisfying part of owning your own business. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/227 "2010-10-11T19:15:54Z")
What if you don’t want to sit around naked in the woods with other men, passing a dildo around? You get carpooled in, you can’t leave, and everyone’s being told to tell their sexual experiences to each other? Oh, and your boss is over there. Naked. Listening. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/228 "2010-10-11T19:51:18Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Sheesh, are you two still going at it? Get a room already. ( **msmith and SteveG1** , that is.) It’s Thanksgiving Day here today - you two should give thanks that you have hands and eyes and computers to use to argue with each other. But…but…but it would be so ungrateful of them to not use those gifts! ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/229 "2010-10-11T20:07:31Z")
Yeah, what about all the starving kids in Africa who can’t call **msmith537** a royal douche? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/230 "2010-10-11T20:25:08Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > What if you don’t want to sit around naked in the woods with other men, passing a dildo around? You get carpooled in, you can’t leave, and everyone’s being told to tell their sexual experiences to each other? Oh, and your boss is over there. Naked. Listening. There’s a dildo and the boss is naked also? Team-building!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/231 "2010-10-11T20:35:09Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Yeah, what about all the starving kids in Africa who can’t call **msmith537** a royal douche? 😕 Starving? You don’t need food to do that, just a computer and enough appendages to operate the I/O devices. P.S. Happy Thanksgiving, **Cat Whisperer**! ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/232 "2010-10-11T21:51:24Z")
It’s a little hard to type when your body doesn’t have the caloric energy to do anything but lie on the ground and bloat. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/233 "2010-10-12T01:27:59Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > There’s a dildo and the boss is naked also? Team-building!!! 😃 > **[News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines](https://www.aol.com/news/)** > > Get breaking news and the latest headlines on business, entertainment, politics, world news, tech, sports, videos and much more from AOL Apparently he didn’t have that much courage, no. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/234 "2010-10-12T02:37:32Z")
More sterling leadership and great teaming: [http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/10/11/30979.htm](http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/10/11/30979.htm) > [@](#): > > EUGENE, Ore. (CN) - A woman says the couple who own the hotel where she worked encouraged employees to participate in a ring toss game on the husband’s penis. > She claims the owners threw a party at the hotel, where the husband danced nude and masturbated publicly, and guests guessed the size and circumference of his penis, and his wife handed out sex toys as prizes for correct guesses. > Jessica Webber sued the Markum Inn in Federal Court, alleging civil rights violations, sexual harassment, hostile workplace and constructive termination. > **[Apprentice loser Dan Harris made masks of his own face and ordered staff to...](https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/apprentice-loser-dan-harris-made-253100)** > > Apprentice bully Dan Harris terrorised staff at his own company... even making them wear a face mask of him on a night out. > [@](#): > > Apprentice loser Dan Harris made masks of his own face and ordered staff to wear them > > Apprentice bully Dan Harris terrorised staff at his own company… even making them wear a face mask of him on a night out. > > The egomaniac - first to be fired by Lord Alan Sugar in the new series of the BBC hit - was shown bullying and swearing at other contestants on the programme last week. > > Now a former employee of his firm, 1st Place Graduate Recruitment, has told the full story of his bizarre antics and extreme tantrums. … “He thought he was fantastic. He would strut around calling himself ‘Dan the Man’ but his management style was to scream and shout abuse at people. He was hideous.” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/235 "2010-10-12T03:19:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > > > Sheesh, are you two still going at it? Get a room already. ( **msmith and SteveG1** , that is.) It’s Thanksgiving Day here today - you two should give thanks that you have hands and eyes and computers to use to argue with each other. > > But…but…but it would be so ungrateful of them to not use those gifts! Good point, good point. (I had a lovely Thanksgiving day - went shopping, went for dinner, and now I’m watching House. Doesn’t get much better than that. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/236 "2010-10-12T14:05:14Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > > [@SteveG1](#): > > > > I just wanted to re-emphasize this gem. I think this shows who the real cancer in an organization would be. > > So if you’re doing a shitty job I’m an asshole if I give you a shitty review? What’s the point of reviews then? My understanding is that they weren’t being given bad reviews for doing a shitty job, but for rather for not being “rah-rah, go team!” asskissers. The theory given was that such a person has a bad attitude and will spread discontent and lower morale throughout the company, so they can and will be gotten rid of by any means necessary regardless of quality of work. The corollary of this theory, of course, is that knowing you can be forced out by dishonest means at any point because some self-important dickwad thinks you’re not wearing enough pieces of flair is somehow good for morale. In other words, the beatings will continue until morale improves. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/237 "2010-10-12T19:05:18Z")
Also known as the “Office Space Pieces of Flair Theory.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/238 "2010-10-12T19:38:11Z")
I’ve got a surly-bordering-on-hostile employee in my department. As long as you do everything _her_ way, she’s content to merely be antisocial. She’s quite competent, so I have no interest in forcing her out, but if our incoming business ever slowed down to where we had to let someone go, it’d be an awful hard decision between the fast but surly employee and the slow but social employee. I’m pretty sure I’d wind up keeping the slow but social one, simply because I’d much prefer cooperation over hostility. One says, “I’m done, is there anything else I can help with?” The other says, “I’m done, can I go?” and god help you if you have something you need help with. I know which one helps this place run more smoothly. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/239 "2010-10-12T20:01:38Z")
But the one who says, “I’m done, can I go?” says it more often, right? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148/240 "2010-10-12T20:11:37Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > But the one who says, “I’m done, can I go?” says it more often, right? Not sure what you mean there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-want-to-do-team-building-exercises/555148.md?page=13)