“Mad Because Their Wives Are Happy”: Man Refuses To Go On Male-Only Trip, Gets Insulted

Some people see work trips as a chore, while others see them as a way to get someone else to pick up the tab. After all, teambuilding and social events can be good to keep people motivated, however, when disagreements arise, it can spiral out of control.

A man reached out to the internet for advice after a barrage of abuse from his coworkers when he didn’t want to go on a male-only fishing trip. They called him “whipped” just because he didn’t want to make his wife take care of five kids alone for two whole days. We reached out to the man in the story via private message and will update the article when he gets back to us.

Work relationships (not work romances, that’s a whole different story) can be more complicated to manage then it might seem at first. Yes, people might just be coworkers, but let’s face it, it’s generally easier to work with someone who you get along with, even if just barely. This is why most companies organize some sort of team building activities. Otherwise, petty squabbles and resentment tend to build and build until there is no longer any ability to work together peacefully.

However, once a team gets to a certain size, it can be hard to figure out what people actually want to do. This story is a classic example of that, as the male coworkers, at least the ones who prefer to be away from their kids, want a fishing trip. They have, for some reason, dubbed it a “stag night” despite the fact that many of them are married and there is no marriage happening. This is a classic case of coworkers not exactly knowing each other that well and making questionable decisions.

This might be a clue to how they see the event in general, but as the husband who asked for advice indicated, not everyone is thrilled with this idea. After all, a fishing trip is a pretty specific activity that, in all honesty, most folks would not be interested in. Once you factor in taking care of kids, the original proposed trip seems like a bad idea.

This final point is particularly salient, as anyone with kids can attest to. Planning around a babysitter isn’t that easy. Similarly, this family has five kids, that’s a lot to handle even for a full time stay at home mom. Many readers applauded him for wanting to give her some respite, but it’s important to note that he isn’t the only one sharing this concern.

A few people did see his idea as intrusive, as the male coworkers seemed to have settled on this male-only trip. However, this does completely disregard the female coworkers, who are, presumably, completely left out of the “teambuilding” which at this stage no longer looks like teambuilding and more like a boys night on the company card. While there is some space for shenanigans at any company, it’s pretty bad for morale to have regular, exclusionary activities.

It’s not entirely unreasonable to want a break from one’s kids, but any parent should be able to understand why other parents will make the choices that they do. Calling a dad whipped for wanting to have a family-friendly event is more a self-tell than anything, as it creates some doubt as to how engaged these fathers are with their own kids.