If you want to say something, you can certainly propose birthday celebrations taking place outside of team meetings. Some people are fine with that liability but perhaps you are not. One of the liabilities of remote work is missing out on the collegiality of sharing an office - socializing, celebrations, impromptu collaborations and the like. Regardless, I don’t want to ignore your feeling excluded. This is the kind of thing you bring to your friends and your group chat. Is it really something you need to discuss with your boss? Pick your battles. I understand feeling awkward and left out of a birthday celebration because you attended this meeting remotely, but it has only happened once in many years. I am planning on talking to my boss about this and am going to propose that birthday celebrations take place outside of our team meetings. It was very awkward to watch my colleagues celebrating and I felt excluded. This was the first such gathering where there has been a birthday celebration. At that point, the other team left, and my team proceeded with our meeting. I muttered “no” and busied myself with looking at email until my colleagues were done with the cake. At one point, someone jokingly asked if they should describe the cake to me since I wasn’t able to have any. My colleagues proceeded to enjoy the cake and socialize, while I looked on. The individual with the cake announced that they were celebrating the birthdays of two colleagues, one on their team and one on my team. I was surprised to see members of another team walk into the conference room. At a recent meeting, my colleagues were assembled in the conference room. Let Them Eat Cake, But Leave Me Out Of Itįor many years, I have participated in regular team meetings by phone or video conference because my work location is more than three hours from our regional office. ![]() Include your name and location, or a request to remain anonymous. Send questions about the office, money, careers and work-life balance to.
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