Brewer12345, your story reminded me of one of my worst days I barely avoided at my old company.
Back in 1989-1991, we had an annual party in which all employees from all the New York City-area office gathered in a large room in a hotel or convention center to have a rah-rah party session for a few hours one afternoon.
For the first 2 years, we had it in lower Manhattan near the main office I worked in but after that second year those who worked in a large office complex in Rockland County (about an hour's drive north on lower Manhattan) squawked, understandably, about the extra travel to and from the party. Some of the employees who worked in that office actually lived closer to our Manhattan office than the RC office but were not able or permitted to shorten their traveling by reporitng to our office instead.
So in 1991 they moved to party from Manhattan to a convention center in Westchester County, a much shorter trip for those who worked at the RC office. But now they had to get everyone from the Manhattan office to Westchester County so they chartered a bunch of buses. They also provided a bag lunch for everyone to eat during the trip. On the return trip, the buses would also drop people off at popular mass transit hubs such as Penn Station and the Port Authority bus terminal.
This arrangement sounded like a total nightmare to me and to many others. While I wanted to attend the party, although not that badly, the added commute and lunch-on-the-bus I wanted no part of. I happened to have a 1/2 vacation day available (although if I hadn't, it would not have changed things) so I opted to use it for the morning part of work and drive up to the party from where I lived, about a 45-minute drive at 11:30 AM when there was no traffic. I would then find a place to eat lunch near the convention center after I arrived and meet up with everyone when the party started. After the party, I would visit a friend who lived nearby for dinner and drive back home after the rush hour.
But my boss originally did not want to grant me the half vacation day. I am not sure why, though. Perhaps he was concerned about others wanting to take a half-day but why that would be bad I do not know. I told him I was not getting on some bus to eat lunch and if I were denied this I would request a full vacation day and just skip the whole event. My boss knew I was serious so he granted me the half vacation day.
Everything went as planned for me. I also used this midweek sleep-in morning to go out the night before, not caring if I got home later than usual. One coworker wanted to hitch a ride with me back home (he lived in my area) but I told him I was not heading right home so that would not work. I arrived home around 8:30 PM after dinner and hanging out with my friend.
When I returned to work the next morning, I heard about the nightmare which ensued on the return trip on the buses. That was during the PM rush hour and it was a disaster. Some coworkers did not get home until after I did! The buses got lost and were not able to get to the transit hubs to drop people off to get home.
The company never held any more of these parties again and nobody was upset about it.
