Culture

When The Whole Office Plans To Dress Up But You’re The Only One Who Does

It's tough when you're the only person in the morning meeting dressed as a carrot.

by Sam Langford  31 October 2018
Melanie Bracewell rocked up to work today dressed as a carrot for Halloween. No one else was in costume.

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Well, it’s finally Halloween, and you know what that means: it’s time to enjoy pictures of all the poor, dedicated souls who turned up at work today to find they were the only person in the office who dressed up.

I mean, don’t get me wrong — it’s crushing to see these individuals so brutally betrayed by their colleagues. But on the other hand, it makes for some of the greatest photos of all time, which have had me cry-laughing at my desk all morning.

In particular, let me direct your attention to this picture posted to Twitter by Wellington Paranormal writer Melanie Bracewell, who rocked up to work this morning dressed as a carrot to find that everyone else was just in their ordinary, very muted office attire.

For Bracewell, it was a pretty stabbing betrayal given that the same thing happened in 2017. She explained to Junkee that the first time it happened, she’d suggested that the entire office band together and get dressed up for their first Halloween together (she works for New Zealand’s The Project, which was a relatively new show at the time).

“Lots of people replied and told me how much of a good idea it was,” she told Junkee. “I was like, great! We’ll go all out, as A CREATIVE TEAM I WOULD EXPECT NO LESS”.

So she dressed up as Chucky from Child’s Play, with bloody makeup and the works, only to walk into the first meeting of the day and find everyone else in regular office attire. “Two other coworkers dressed up, but their costumes were just sports outfits which hardly counts,” she said.

Naturally, Bracewell felt pretty apprehensive about repeating the ordeal in 2018. “This year I was very tentative, I didn’t send an email,” she said. “Then on Monday, I got an email from a new coworker saying ‘let’s all dress up for Halloween!'”

“It was too familiar, everyone replying saying they’re keen, I was just having flashbacks. Then this morning, a carrot costume I’ve had for a while was just sitting in the corner of my room. I was like, ‘well surely they won’t betray me twice'”.

Unfortunately, we know how this story ended. “I walked into the 10am meeting and everyone just laughed,” Bracewell said. “I knew it. One girl had some fairy wings she put on later but it just didn’t count. Alone again.”

Except Bracewell isn’t alone, really — just another member of the growing canon of dedicated office workers spooked by their colleagues’ betrayal. See this response to her tweet, for instance:

And then, of course, there are the classics, like this 2016 tweet from writer Katie Dippold, who arrived at a Halloween party dressed as the Babadook only to find that everyone else had more of a casual wine evening planned.

Or this tweet from CBC videojournalist Travis McEwan in 2016, who turned up to the office dressed as Elmo, utterly alone. Iconic, and devastating.

So this Halloween, spare a thought for those brave souls who are spending today as the office carrot, or Babadook, all in the name of Halloween spirit (or in Bracewell’s case, revenge — she told us she’s kept the carrot costume on because “I want everyone to remember they betrayed me every time they walk past my desk”). Not all heroes wear capes.