Every year, one of our employees is chosen to plan the department parties. Normally, the person who planned the last party is supposed to choose their successor. Last year’s planner failed to do so, so at the beginning of last year, our boss came to me and decided that I would be the successor. I wasn’t thrilled, but I just went with it and ended up planning last year’s parties.
After that, I was supposed to choose someone to plan this year’s celebrations. My boss said I had free choice and that the person couldn’t refuse.
I chose an employee who has been with the company for quite some time but has never had to plan anything and who has no additional professional obligations. This employee resisted vehemently, but I stuck to my choice because I knew that no one likes to take on this task and no one would do it voluntarily. I gave him the option to find someone else, but he didn’t want to do that himself. I refused to ask someone else either because that would likely put me into an endless loop of trying to find someone who would do it. Now he is angry with me.
I don’t think this method of selection proposed by our boss is ideal either, but I just want to choose someone according to the established rules and then have nothing more to do with it.
AITA for that?
Edit: he also attended the parties I planned last year.
NTA.
The company is. That’s a horrible way of doing it. But if it’s ‘part of the job’ the one who’s never had to do it is the perfect person to pick.
YTA. Why are these parties even a thing when people hate planning b them. Just stop doing them.
OP is not the boss. It’s not up to them. How are they the AH here??
NTA
But that workplace sounds awful. Fully would not plan anything if I was selected. It’s unbelievable that this responsibility is shafted onto workers.
Why are you all acting like you’re in some strict conscripted military?! You absolutely can refuse these additional tasks.
Your first options were to refuse or make an effort to find someone extroverted enough to enjoy these sort of things. You immediately went for someone who you knew would hate it. That makes YTA imo
NAH … but your boss is.
If he has any sense, he will botch it so bad someone else will take over. And obviously, since it is mandatory, he should use overtime for everything including the time at thethe parties he attends as organizer.
that will put a stop to this bullshit fast.
The way to get out of this is to just plan shitty parties.
INFO – is the planning done on company time?
Are party expenses paid for by the company?
NTA but your boss is.
If this is a “voluntold” type situation, management needs to be the bad guy and force choosing which person does the job.
What a terrible system. It must be horrible for morale.
ESH! This company policy is terrible!
NAH, but I think your colleagues and you should come together and decide that there either has to be a committee that people can join that would plan parties, or that someone has to be hired for it. (If no one joins the committee, then no parties will be held.) Parties aren’t a right, and if no one is interested in putting the work in on top of their own workload, then the answer is that your workplace won’t have any parties.
I get it: You sucked it up, planned parties and now gave the job to someone else, which your boss approved. But you shouldn’t have had to plan any parties against your will (or contract for that matter) in the first place. I also wouldn’t hold out on this employee actually planning a party, and if I were that employee, I’d be sending out resumes left right and center because a workplace that thinks that this is the way to go, will surely be vindictive and toxic about anyone that will not bend to its ridiculous demands. This sounds like the leadup to a toxic workplace lawsuit tbh if anyone retaliates against your “successor” for not doing this unpaid, exhausting overtime job.
There’s no winning in this situation, so the only way to not become insane, would be to not play this game at all.
Just like Global Thermonuclear War.
NAH. The culture is weird though and feels unhealthy.