Why you should never Lose your Cool during the Company Softball Game
There are good reasons why you should never lose your cool during the company softball game. They are much the same as the reasons why you should never lose your cool at the company Christmas lunch, anyone's leaving party, any piece of corporate hospitality, or indeed any professional occasion whatsoever. The reasons for not losing your cool should be obvious, but some people will plead ignorance to anything, so read on for the bottom line.
There is no such thing as a purely social situation when you are with colleagues and anyone else with whom you work or with whom you interact professionally. A company softball game might appear to be just a bit of fun, but when managers start talking about 'team-building' and 'corporate morale' then you have to remember that they do actually mean it. Your behaviour at the softball game is going to be noted just as much as it would be in the office, so if you are the sort of person who would think twice before hurling your phone across the office, then do not think for a moment it would be a good idea to chuck your bat at the umpire over a disputed call.
Many workplaces foster a sense of competition and rivalry among employees, partly as motivation to hit targets and stand apart from the crowd. This will inevitably transfer to the softball field, but at the same time this competitive spirit will be tempered by traditional rules of fair play and good sportsmanship. Play hard, and play aggressively, but don't start arguing with the umpire, or intimidating the pitcher, or huffing and stamping just because you didn't get a clean strike. You just look like a sore loser. And in the eyes of your bosses, who will be there in some form, you will just look like a loser.
Not everyone is into competitive sports, not everyone is up to competing in physical competitions. And so your company softball team will probably have a fair share of straw-armed weaklings from IT and temp receptionists called Sharon who don't want to chip a fake nail, alongside the huge bloke in sales who can smack a ball clean out of the country. You want to win, of course you do, but winning is not really as important as your team playing together and learning from and about each other, and if you end up losing, it is really not a good plan to call your teammates a bunch of 'fat-handed spanners'.
In other words, avoid losing your cool and behaving aggressively at a company softball game because you will look aggressive, unpleasant, selfish, a bully, and, when you get right down to it, you will look unprofessional. A professional will not start yelling profane language in the middle of a park because a call has not gone their way. If you are observed engaging in this kind of behaviour, you will not be very likely to see that longed-for promotion any time soon. More immediately, your colleagues will think you are a jerk and give you the cold shoulder in the post-match drinking session. And if your behaviour is truly spectacularly bad, then don't let the fact that you're 'off the clock' fool you, you could be looking at some serious disciplinary procedures.
