This happened 2 years ago on a company trip.
I was working at a small, independently owned retail store (less than 5 employees). The boss invited us on a “mandatory” weekend trip to his lake house for team building purposes. Unpaid, obviously.
The trip was supposed to include a visit to a major haunted house and I have to admit, I was looking forward to that experience (making the best out of a bad situation). Boss’ lake house is 2 hours away, so we carpooled with him, which meant once we were on the road we were stuck with our own poor decisions. A little ways into the trip, it became clear our plans had changed – we would NOT be going to a haunted house, instead we would be going to a casino.
We made a pit stop at the lake house to get sufficiently drunk and high, which the boss encouraged, supplying us with alcohol and edibles. What followed was – and I’m not exaggerating – the longest night of my life. My tolerance is extremely low, so the edibles hit me pretty hard and I spent the entire night clinging to my coworker in a maze of slot machines. A terrifying place to be out of your mind, especially with how rampant sex trafficking is in these places. The boss is a partier, so instead of taking me home he teased me for being a lightweight. I know I am partially to blame, but I was a huge pushover and I thought my boss had more power/influence than he really did.
Towards the end of the “night” (we must’ve stayed till 4 or 5am), my coworker and I went to find our boss to signal to him we wanted to go. We found him in the same high roller’s lounge he started in, nearly falling out of his chair. He wanted us to try our luck on his favorite slot machine, so he handed us $100 each. I watched it get eaten up in 5 seconds. Then he hands us another, and another, and another. It was disappointing and wasteful, but I was drunk and exhausted and I couldn’t think beyond going home and sleeping.
To further embarrass myself, it actually took me a few days to go “Hey! Wait a minute!” What he did was pretty gross. I was making $17.50/hour at the time (big city, $15-16 minimum wage). At least he bought us exorbitantly priced merchandise from the casino gift-shop to remember this nightmarish bonding experience. /s
I guess the takeaway is to SAY NO to unpaid company trips. But if, for some odd reason, you find yourself in the same exact situation – just pocket your play money and “pay” yourself. Feel free to roast me in the comments, but be gentle because I’m a sensitive wiener.