Workplace competition can be lethal.
It doesn’t matter if the prize is extra cash or a pizza day; some people only care about the winning.
Oftentimes, managers and corporations have the best of intentions to use competition to increase productivity.
But that idea can go south fast.
This is especially true when the prize is paid time off.
Those gloves start swinging!
Redditor GalaxyGarlic wanted to discuss their experience and get some feedback. So naturally, they came to visit the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit.
They asked:
“AITA for reporting my coworker for cheating in the company walking competition?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“At our last company meeting, they announced there would be a step competition.”
“Participation was voluntary, if the average number of steps is greater than or equal to a 5K per day, all participants get a Friday half day.”
“The person with the most steps overall wins an Apple Watch.”
“We would log our steps during work days only for 20 days.”
“I’ve been in a funk lately and was glad for an excuse to get back into my fitness routine.”
“I love running and asked if steps from running could be counted. “
“Matt, who volunteered to manage the competition, said it did.”
“My goal was 20,000 steps a day, thinking this would easily put me in the lead, but on day 1 this guy Dave posted 23,000.”
“I sent him a message on Teams, saying something along the lines of ‘it’s on!’”
“The next day I put up 24,000.”
“He answers back with 25,000.”
“Another coworker, Jenna, also joined in.”
“The 3 of us started having daily chats about our workouts.”
“By week 2 it’s looking certain that 1 of us will win, and the whole group is absolutely getting a half day off work.”
“Then I checked the log and out of nowhere, Tiffany, who’d been posting 10-15,000 per day, posts 65,000 steps.”
“For perspective, a marathon I ran resulted in 52,000.”
“So I’m skeptical but also, maybe Tiffany ran a casual ultra marathon on a workday? Who knows.”
“I sent her a Teams message, ‘That’s a lot of steps, what’s your secret?’”
“She said she plays volleyball and wanted to count the steps from her games, but can’t safely keep her phone or watch on her to keep count.”
“To solve this problem, Matt looked up a chart online that gives a step equivalent for other activities.”
“Ex: volleyball = 89 steps per minute, Tennis = 133 spm, Etc.”
“Fair enough, but the math still ain’t mathin’, so I said ‘wow, you must have played for like 8 hours!’”
“Her reply, ‘Well I also road my bike.’”
“Now this is where I call bulls**t so I clarified ‘you counted riding your bike?’”
“Turns out she didn’t just use the chart for volleyball, she used it to count everything she did and convert it into steps.”
“Bike riding, stretching, yoga, washing the dishes.”
“All great but those are not STEPS.”
“This seemed pretty lame to me and I just said, ‘I don’t think that’s really in the spirit of this competition.’”
“I immediately went to Matt to ask about this chart.”
“Specifically, if bike riding counted towards steps.”
“He said bike riding didn’t count. It was too different and also unfair since not every employee has access to a bike.”
“I thanked him for clarifying and told him that Tiffany may also need some clarification.”
“Not 2 minutes later, I get this message from Tiffany, ‘Really, you complained about me?'”
“‘That’s actually not in the spirit of the competition.'”
“‘I lost a pet recently and have been so depressed.'”
“‘I’ve been struggling to lose weight, and I was so proud of my steps from yesterday!'”
“‘Not everyone can be a marathon runner like you, really uncool.’”
“I knew I was a little cheeky going to Matt, but Tiffany’s message really took me by surprise.”
The OP was left to wonder:
“Am I the a**hole?”
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed some options to the question AITA:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Many Redditors declared OP was NOT the A**hole.
“Your company is the a**hole for making you all compete against each other for a measly half day off.”
“I think these kinds of things that pit employees against each other are not actually great for morale, look at this person coming to AITA because of a fight they’re now in with a coworker because of this competition.”
“That’s why I think the company is TAH.” ~ Big_Flamingo4061
“NTA. The rules are part of the contract between an event holder and the event competitors.”
“Each competitor has to uphold their side of the agreement.”
“The event holder has to provide the prize that they agreed upon.”
“What you did was enforce your contractual rights.”
“If you do the most steps, you have rights to the prize. Your company has an obligation to provide you with the watch.”
“Tiffany has an obligation to actually do the steps that she says she is doing.”
“Also, washing the dishes takes about 10 steps at most.”
“Tiffany is delusional.” ~ ScaryButterscotch474
“Cheaters will always cheat, there will always be a justification for those people.”
“Participate for yourself, don’t expect to win.” ~ Firm_Ad3131
“I think the company is TA too.”
“There is no way I could take part in a competition like this as I have mobility issues and walk with a cane.”
“But I love being part of a team and working towards a goal.”
“Unless they came up with a way for me to be included and to contribute, I would feel pretty left out.”
“Not to mention not being able to win the prize.” ~ mrsellicat
“NTA. Digesting ice cream also uses calories, doesn’t mean I should convert that into steps.” ~ plaignard
“I think your company is the AH for allowing people to enter the numbers manually.”
“They should have mandated the use of a pedometer or steps counted on the phone apps, etc… basically some kind of proof.”
“Now I am sure there would still be some who would tie the pedometer to say their dog… but still couldn’t report random a** numbers.” ~ thaichillipepper
“My mom’s job did that once.”
“They got/had(?) a bunch of really cheap ‘watches’ that only counts steps, doesn’t even tell the time.”
“To encourage being more active, they offered all employees to borrow one of the ‘watches’ – both to see if all of them still worked (there were more than there were employees, so not a problem) – but also to make it fun, and not to competitive, you’d get a gift card for brunch for 2 on Friday, for 4 fridays.”
“Those who participated, mom included, just did it for fun and to see how much they actually walk, but only while at work (couldn’t bring them home).”
“When they would clock out, write up the steps.”
“All I heard from mom was that they all had fun, and the only competitive thing that occurred was that people would offer to be the one to run to the break room for coffee or to take the trash out before it needed to get ahead, haha.” ~ Bambi_MD
“Nah, you’re good.”
“If there’s a prize up for grabs that you’re competing with others for and someone else is going out of their way to undermine everyone else’s efforts then you’re in the clear.”
“If she’s allowed to pretty much write down anything she wants, then it sets the precedence that everyone else can also scribble in whatever number they feel like.”
“Now, if there wasn’t a grand prize and it was just the half day participation prize, you’d be the a**hole since it wouldn’t impact you or others in any way.” ~ Optimus_Prime-Ribs
“NTA. She’s cheating, and she knows it.”
“You called her out for everyone’s benefit.”
“The minute the bike riding went in there, it became ludicrous.” ~ Top_Diamond5312
“NTA. OP didn’t complain about Tiffany.”
“She asked for clarification, what could be counted, and recommended that Tiffany get information on what can be counted.” ~ Ghostthroughdays
“NTA. A walking contest is a walking contest.”
“Not a fitness contest.”
“You don’t get to convert activities into steps like that.”
“That’s cheating.”
“Cheating is an a**hole move, especially when prizes are involved.”
“You’re going to the ref, and calling foul is fair play when someone is cheating.” ~ StragglingShadow
“NTA. My job did the same thing last winter, and we had one jerk who 100% ruined it for everyone else by doing that.”
“Same deal: he logged yoga, stretching, vacuuming, laundry, everything, and was tossing in 50k+ every day.”
“It legit makes it no fun for anyone else.” ~ juliabelleswain
“NTA, good on her for riding a bike, doing yoga, stretching… etc.”
“But as an out-of-shape fatso, even I know that is not ‘steps.'”
“If the competition wanted to count minutes of physical activity, calories burned…etc.”
“Fair enough to count it.”
“But it was not, so she was blatantly cheating.” ~ Fntsyking655
“NTA – but then, I am one of those people who absolutely detest it when anyone does not follow the rules of competition.”
“I am rather judgmental that way.” ~ Candid-Sense-7523
“NTA, but yikes that all sounds uncomfortable.”
“What a weirdo to be cheating for such a low stakes thing.” ~ Anakin-vs-Sand
“I had a similar thing happen in my office step challenge where we had an official ‘conversion’ spreadsheet and could enter minutes spent during a certain activity to convert them to steps.”
“One of my coworkers would log 6,000 to 8,000 steps a day, but then would suddenly log 40,000-60,000 steps on weekends.”
“I asked him about his secret and he said he would log treading water as ‘vigorous’ swimming (which converted to more steps) or floating in his kayak drinking beers as 5 hours of intense kayaking.”
“I’ve run several marathons and my last one came in around 43,000 steps, so it was pretty upsetting that this person was cheating the system.”
“I was part of the committee that ran the step challenge, and I ended up going back to this coworker and saying ‘Hey, we need you to look at this spreadsheet with all of your steps and verifying that you actually did all of what you logged. I’m not comfortable putting my name on what you did, but if you want to, that’s on you.'”
“He ended up adjusting his numbers a bit so that he didn’t come in first.”
“NTA. Go run circles around her – you’ve worked hard to be able to.” ~ OwnRazzmatazz010
“NTA. The company needs to have an objective way to count steps, and that should be a pedometer or something people can see.”
“I’ve been involved in these things before where there are calculations based on the intensity of the walking, and allowing things like bike riding.”
“It undermines the extra walking people are putting in in good faith.” ~ Maximum-Ear1745
“NTA for reporting.”
“The company is the AH for not clearly defining what would be considered for ‘steps’ and for not including other means of activity.”
“The contest excludes people with certain physical and medical conditions.”
“Have asthma.”
“COPD, paralyzed, or other conditions that limit activity, oh well. 🤷♀️”
“If biking doesn’t count, do wheelchairs?”
“Again OP not AH, company is.” ~ Quiet_Moon2191
“NTA. Tiffany should have asked first about the rules and what could be claimed from activities.”
“She’s upset at being caught cheating, not rightfully being embarrassed at her behavior, and not getting the ducks in order first.”
“She knew she was wrong.” ~ similar_name4489
“NTA, but you’re an idiot for participating in this competition clearly designed to make fools out of you.”
“Having each contestant self-report their own scores with high stakes and no oversight?”
“It’s like they’re trying to sow mutual dislike so you aren’t friendly enough to discuss pay.” ~ SilverBlade808
“NTA. Claiming 65k for one day using booking was so wrong.”
“The organizers should have put out a list of accepted activities.”
“Clearly they didn’t.”
“But putting a watch up as a prize invites cheating/fudging results.”
“Policing each other, I think, is fair.” ~ Top_Bluejay_5323
“NTA. She can’t be serious thinking that she did more steps than running a marathon.”
“But I also think that next year the grand prize should be less expensive unless there’s some sort of authenticated way that steps are counted.” ~ RecordingNo7280
“NTA. Sounds like something the managers at Lumom (from Severance) would do.” ~ subsailor1968
“If it’s a STEPS competition then only STEPS count.”
“Swimming, pedaling, rowing may propel you forward, but they are not STEPS.”
“I hate it when people game the system like that. NTA.” ~ _Internet_Hugs_
“NTA. My organization did something similar, but they had it in the Rules that you HAD to use a step app of some sort to track.”
And you had to connect the app to their system or send a screenshot with date and location on it to them daily.”
“It kept issues like this from happening.” ~ LighthouseonSaturn
“NTA. For some reason these step competitions always bring out cheaters.” ~ Empty_Breadfruit_676
“NTA. I worked for a small office that had a similar competition and my coworker put the pedometer on her small, highly energetic dog. 🫠.” ~ BarbellaDeVille
“NTA. She might be able to make a case for a lot of things ‘technically’ counting as steps, but bike riding??”
“Her feet weren’t even on the ground! “
“You did the right thing.” ~ carton_of_cats
Reddit is with you, OP.
You made a valid point to Matt.
If Tiffany can do it, then you all should be able to do it.
Sorry for Tiffany’s loss, but that doesn’t mean she gets to be a cheater.
You were just clarifying the rules.