47-year-old employee on business trip turns down dinner with coworkers, boss threatens consequences: 'It was outside work hours, unpaid, and not scheduled'

Going on a mandatory business trip is the adult version of going on a school field trip, except it's more likely to be a torturous experience. Unlike school field trips, where there tends to be either an educational and intellectual purpose or an adventurous experience that keeps students from getting stir crazy, business trips are much harder to justify. There are the expenses, the logistical, and the social pressures that come with traveling alongside your managers and coworkers.

In this instance, we have a 47-year-old businessman who was typically a fully remote employee, and he liked it that way. He often only saw his coworkers over Zoom, and his job didn't necessarily require in-person interaction in order for his central tasks and responsibilities to be completed. Unfortunately for him, he had a manager who felt differently about the relationship between productivity, team morale, and in-person work. While he didn't start forcing the employee to come to the office regularly, as he lived in a different state with a family, the manager did require the employee to attend a week-long business conference. 

After endless meetings, lunches, dinners, and after-work drinks, the employee was ready to go home. It was his final day, and he planned to FaceTime his wife from the hotel while they both had dinner because it had been several days since they got to catch up. However, just when he had wrapped up the work day, the employee was pressured by his manager and coworkers to stick around for one final group dinner. When the employee tried to push back, claiming that he had plans with his wife and was not expecting there to be another work event, the boss put his foot down and threatened consequences if the employee were to back out. Seriously?! As if this one dinner meant so much to the company? Talk about a waste of tension!