Tales From the Sports Crypt II

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Millhouse
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Tales From the Sports Crypt II

Post by Millhouse »

This story is a little shorter, but I thought of it today and thought it would be a feasible memory to share. It came to me with Ray's comments earlier about 'fitting in' in response to my thread about the Behaviour of the Sports Meatlump.

I'll go ahead and state the moral to this story. Those of you that are still in high school or college, take heed to this warning. Sports have begun to interfere with the workplace in such a way that you are judged as a team member by whether or not you participate in it.

Somewhere around the year 2003, my ex wife had just graduated from college and had landed a brand new job with a decent insurance company. Several months into this job, she notifies me that her company is pressuring her to go on an outing with them, but she doesn't state the exact nature of it. A few months go by, she mentions it again. I think looking back, and knowing my disdain for sports, she was trying to 'ease' me into this, which wasn't necessary.

Finally it came to a head. She told me about six months into the job that her boss had bought twelve tickets to a baseball game and wanted us to come, and that he wouldn't take no for an answer. Of course, I counterargued this point, stating that it was ridiculous. She argued back, and cried and screamed and bitched that she needed to 'network' with people in order to get ahead at work.

The entire idea made my head spin and made me just a little sick. Promotion at her employer (and she had no reason to lie to me) depended on 'playing the game' with the boss, by going to insipid sporting events with the company department?

Well, by that point I was fed up and suggested she go without me. She said she would, except everyone else was bringing their spouses, basically stating that if I didn't go, then it would look like I was sending a message to her boss that I didn't care to play his little farce and therefore didn't care about my wife's job.

I said I would go, but under protest. She tried to say forget it at that point (she was kind of selfish, but that's beside the point), but I agreed to go, and to 'pretend' that I was there to 'enjoy myself'.

And of course, the game was exactly as I've described it in previous posts. Most of the people in rest of her department looked just as uncomfortable to be there. The food was expensive, the home team lost, and we spent the evening sitting behind a drunk idiot that kept yelling at people on the field as if they could hear him from 200 yards away in a crowd.

Oh, and the people there that weren't really into it, it showed just as much as it showed that I wasn't into it. They were busy trying to do anything but focus on watching the game. Ordering food, looking at merchandise or pretending to go to the bathroom. One couple the non employee spouse was busy yapping into his cell phone.

So, this was a good idea for a company outing...

I'm a firm advocate of privacy and separating work from pleasure. Every once in awhile (and by that I mean no more than every six months at minimum) is okay for a company outing, but this boss of hers did it all the time. Even then, okay, fine.

Dinner would have been reasonable.
An amusement park would have even been reasonable, and I don't care for them much.
A trip to the state fair would have been...shit, to hell with it, you get the point.

This was just wholly inappropriate. And whoever this douchebag was (I never did more than introduce myself to him, he was a textbook jock meatlump and I had nothing in common with him), he (and the rest of the department under his influence) had in six months convinced my ex wife, to the point of her being extremely paranoid that she'd never go anywhere in her career with this company, if she didn't attend at least one of his stupid ass baseball games. And my ex wife was gullible, but she wasn't prone to excessive paranoia.

So again, the moral is... sports interferes in the workplace where it has no business being supported. I'd sooner vote to take that wasted ticket money and give it to a reputable charity. To the sports fanatic meatlump, maybe they thought it indeed a special treat that their boss could get baseball tickets all the time, and therefore it was a great idea for everyone that we attend a sporting event outside of work hours.

This is a good example of the assuming arrogance the sports meatlump carries.
Earl
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Re: Tales From the Sports Crypt II

Post by Earl »

This is absolutely appalling. My father was the CEO of a rather successful architectural firm, but he never imposed attendance of any dopey sporting event on any of his employees. But, then again, he wasn't a sports meatlump either.
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." -- Oscar Wilde

Go, Montana State Bobcats!

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Millhouse
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Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:27 pm

Re: Tales From the Sports Crypt II

Post by Millhouse »

Earl wrote:This is absolutely appalling. My father was the CEO of a rather successful architectural firm, but he never imposed attendance of any dopey sporting event on any of his employees. But, then again, he wasn't a sports meatlump either.
Well, it could go either way. I mean, the boss if asked would probably never say "Oh, it's required...", but people who know office politics know he means otherwise. Like I said, I'd never seen my ex wife so paranoid about a job.
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