This pie-throwing contest really takes the cake. Or, as TikTok creator Tanya (@tanya_01_87) notes, “Just because you work remote, doesn’t mean you’re going to escape the antics.”
Tanya, aka Tanya the Creator, took to her TikTok account four days ago to recount a truly bizarre tale of her workplace’s idea of a companywide “reward” and how she just could not be there when it came to feeling any enthusiasm for it.
The video, ironically captioned #eliteemployee, has since picked up 209,000 views and counting and has triggered a collection of fellow workers rolling their eyes at what corporate management considers a “reward.”
Here’s a hint—it isn’t a raise.
Tanya claims that after logging in for work she received a message on her workplace’s team collaboration software. “It says, ‘Choose which pie you think we should throw at each other,’” she tells her viewers.
The Daily Dot previously covered her company’s “incentive,” where “to reward us” for meeting a certain set of metrics, “our job is going to do a pie-throwing video. So, they’re going to be throwing pies at each other’s faces.”
Tanya did not specify who would be throwing what pie at whom but did claim that her employer seemed very concerned with the type of pie being thrown.
“They were trying to get our opinion on which pie they should throw at each other,” she claims. “So they put a poll in the chat and they wanted everybody to vote on it.”
“I didn’t give a f***,” she says. “I didn’t vote.”
She then claims that she was contacted by her higher-ups later in the day.
“My TL [team leader] was like, ‘Hey, I noticed that you didn’t vote on which pie we should throw at each other and it’s really important. We really want your input,’” Tanya claims in the video.
“‘We’ll give you until the end of day. Think on it; it’s kind of hard to choose,’” she claims she was told.
“I come to work, I clock in, and I do my job, I get off and I go home,” Tanya tells her viewers. “They want us to view the pie-throwing fest between calls and then they want our feedback on it, like, this is our reward.”
“I still haven’t voted. I’m not going to vote. This is the most purposeless thing I’ve ever experienced,” she concludes.
Tanya does not mention her employer by name nor does she reveal what state it is based out of. The Daily Dot has reached out via TikTok messenger for further comment.
According to the website of Atlanta, GA-based law firm Parks, Chasin, and Walbert, “Under most circumstances, employers are permitted to require their employees attend a work function.”
“In at-will employment states, employees can be legally fired for not attending a mandatory work function that occurs outside normal business hours (even if that event occurs far away from their place of employment).”
@tanya_01_87 #eliteemployee ♬ original sound – Tanya_The_Creator
“Everything but money as a reward for hard work,” Ashley (@thetatteredpage) wrote in the video’s comments section.
Most of Tanya’s viewers agreed that the alleged “reward” sounded like anything but.
“I’m like you – leave me alone! I will work and even work hard, but this is NOT a reward. Give me a gift card,” wrote one.
Another added, “Mandatory fun …. If I have to work to enjoy a situation…. It ain’t gonna be fun.”
Many commented with their own examples of hollow rewards they had “won.”
“Our reward was to join a 30-minute virtual ‘party’ and watch the leaders on-site eat a cake they bought to celebrate,” one person commented.
“I got employee of the month. Guess what my reward was? The email telling everybody I got it. I didn’t even respond or say thank you,” another added.
Mikaylasmimi (@mikaylasmimi) wrote “My manager did a virtual AFTER HOURS happy hour to play games with each other. I sit in front of the computer all day. I’m NOT doing it on my off hours!!!!”
Another added that Tanya should suggest a famous fecal pie from a movie as a “reward” for her bosses.
“Suggest the pie from ‘The Help,’” one wrote.
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