A 'harmless' movie quote challenge in our department has turned into a daily hostage situation.
By @weskindof · Work
Our manager thought it'd be a fun team-building thing to try and slip a movie quote into our daily stand-up calls. Now one coworker is holding every single meeting captive with his performances.
The full story
About a month ago, our new department head, trying to build rapport, suggested we have an optional weekly challenge: try to naturally work a quote from a famous movie into a meeting. The first week was fun. they said "I'll be back" when leaving a call. Someone else used "Show me the money!" talking about a budget proposal. It was cheesy, but fine. The problem is one guy on my team. Let's call him the 'Quote Master'. He has taken this optional gag and turned it into his entire personality. He spends hours finding the most obscure quotes possible, then derails entire conversations trying to force them in. Last week we were trying to debrief a critical client issue, and he kept interrupting to try and set up a line from 'Primer'. Nobody knew what he was talking about. He'll just sit there with this smug grin while the meeting grinds to a halt. Then he posts the quote in our team chat with a winky face, as if he just accomplished some great feat. It's not team building; it's a one-man show that actively kills productivity. The manager who suggested it is too conflict-averse to say anything, so she just gives this tight-lipped smile. This morning he tried to explain a Q3 projection using only quotes from the 'Lord of the Rings' extended editions. I nearly logged off.
How people voted
- OP Is Right — 29% (7 votes)
- Both Messy — 58% (14 votes)
- OP Is Wrong — 13% (3 votes)
Readers say “Both Messy” (58%) — 24 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@vincekindof — Let him cook.
@kiraliterally — A workplace is for working, not for playing games.
@brynnkindof — your manager has created a monster.
@noelkindof — This reminds me of the guy at my last job who would only speak in pirate voice on Fridays. It was funny exactly once.
@owenfr — Time to start quoting really obscure commercials back at him and see how he likes it.
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