I hate stupid fucking corporate culture so much. It’s a byproduct of decades worth of conditioning to get workers to produce more under the guise of being “a family.” These companies try to make you think that you’re apart of something bigger as a way to motivate you so that you don’t just feel like you’re lining the pockets of the executives. It’s manipulation and I don’t love it. I’d always chuckle when I was working an office job and I’d see a “happy hour” thrown on my calendar only to discover that it was mandatory. How stupid – it’s essentially saying “we are forcing you to have fun or else.” I never got that. I mean, I’ve worked for companies that I enjoyed a good happy hour with – don’t get me wrong. But, making it optional is the way to go, or else you’re going to have a lot of people that feel inconvenienced rolling their eyes.
I can certainly understand wanting your team to cut loose a little bit every now and then. I do think team-building is important to accomplish goals as a team. But, some of these corporations need to remember that most people are just there to collect a paycheck so they can support their families. And, most importantly, not everyone thinks getting drunk with co-workers is fun. Some people have actual families they’d rather spend time with, and even if they just want to go home and do nothing, that’s fine too. It’s up to the worker! They’ve given you their eight hours that day – let them live.
We don’t have to keep going down this rabbit hole of my thoughts on corporate America, though. There’s a point to all of this, I promise. I was elated to see that a court in France essentially said you can’t make people do all this mandatory happy hour bullshit.
A top French court has ruled that you cannot fire an employee on the grounds that they are not “fun” enough and won’t partake in work drinks and team-building activities, in what could be a landmark decision.
So yeah – this guy worked for one of those companies that say they do something, but you’re really not sure what they do. They were very big on “fun” though, and when this guy was like “nah, that ain’t my kinda fun,” they decided to can him for it. Wild. He said he didn’t define ‘fun’ the same way the company did and that he didn’t want to partake in all this excess, and now here we are years later, and the courts are taking his side. That’s just the broad surface overview, but I highly recommend reading the story because it rules.
Man, reading this the same week as reading that a lot of companies in the UK are moving to a four-day work week is encouraging. Like, we’re finally making headway in quality of life for workers and keeping some of these manipulative corporations in check. Now, it’ll only be about 50 years before this kind of stuff trickles into the United States!
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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