The subject line hit my inbox like a damp sock that had slipped off in the dark, finding a cold, unwelcome home between my toes: ‘Mandatory Fun!’ it screamed, alongside a calendar invite for a virtual happy hour. My stomach did a little flip, not of anticipation, but of resigned dread. Another Thursday evening, another round of ‘two truths and a lie’ over a lagging Zoom connection, pretending to be utterly captivated by Sarah from accounting’s penchant for extreme sports, or Mark from sales’ surprisingly detailed knowledge of exotic fungi. My calendar showed 19 minutes blocked out for pre-event ‘preparation,’ which for me meant 19 minutes of staring blankly at the screen, contemplating the futility of it all, perhaps scrolling through old emails from 2019, or wondering if my cat needed another 19-minute nap more than I needed to feign excitement. It’s this peculiar brand of corporate entertainment that always leaves me feeling like I’ve just stepped in something cold and squishy – a sensation that clings to you, stubbornly refusing to rinse away. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Who is this fun for? And why does it always feel so much like another chore, another item on a list of 29 tasks that need to be completed before the week’s end? You know the feeling, don’t you? That internal groan, the mental calendar flip to check for conflicting, more genuinely appealing plans.
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