Team-Building Activities

During the last couple of months, the project team at work has been under a pretty decent schedule crunch, thanks to our contractor's slip in schedule. Piles of documents and drawings to review, etc. As a reward for our hard work, our Project Manager has arranged a "Team-Building Exercise" at a nearby paintball facility.

I've never been paintballing, but I've wanted to for some time, so the idea sounds like a lot of fun. But then I got to thinking. Because of the intensity of the last couple months, a lot of people on the team have been working long hours, and losing time with their families. We've been in too-close proximity for a lot more time than many of us would like to be.

And our reward is...more time with our coworkers and away from our families.

Granted, I am eagerly looking forward to the opportunity to pop a few select members of our team and inflict as much pain as possible. Unfortunately, the folks whom I would have most liberally plastered with markers won't be there. One is back home, off rotation. And the others all work for the contractor, so they won't be there.

I'm a bit gun-shy about saying this to the PM, but if it were up to me, I'd prefer to take that afternoon dedicated to paintball, and go home instead to spend time with my family. You see, I commute an hour each way to work, leaving home at 6:00am and returning after 5:00pm or later. My kids are in bed by 7:00pm. That leaves me two hours at home while the kids are awake. Half an hour of that is occupied by their bedtime routine. Another half hour (at least) is dinner. Which leaves me less than an hour with my kids each day.

I guess I'll just have to settle for stalking the PM when we go paintballing...