Or they can leave an adapter at the office, along with the projector's cable, and everyone can get to use it.
The complain was about being "full of adapters", not about having to use a single adapter under specific requirements...
My $2000/$3000 laptop needs a $30 adapter to connect to a projector is as "first world's problems" as they come.
If it's the latter, the argument is moot vs USB-C, and if it's the former I just personally don't miss the HDMI port in earlier MBPs. Mostly because I would have to use a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI to get 4K@60Hz - the HDMI port in the latest pre USB-C Macbook Pro only support 4K@30hz.
The situation with display connectors is particularly sad even without USB-C, as we went quickly from still largely VGA and maybe DVI a few years ago to HDMI/DP/mini-DP co-existing, and now USB-C in the mix. I just recently had to buy a USB-C to DP cable even though my work laptop has HDMI and I've been using it fine, becaues this particular monitor does not support anything bigger than 1920x1080@60 over HDMI, and DP is only offered via USB-C on the laptop side. How often do you see this particular combination being required a year ago? But here we are, dealing with a quasi-N^2 problem.
If an employer buys USB-C only laptops for employees I'd consider it very likely, not to mention smart, if there was a USB-C plug in the bundle.
I understand, but don't share, your bitterness over USB-C as a display interface, particularly since you can use it for so many other things even when it's obsolete for that purpose.
In the context we're debating (e.g. compatibility/convenience problems related to recent MBPs) it's also much simpler than the scenario you're portraying. In that case, the other end of the connection is the only variable as there's only one connector type, but fortunately USB-C/TB3 supports all the others :)
It's enough that one of them is a female HDMI.
And that what people don't like is "dongle" and "multi-port" style adapters, not mere adapter cables that go from one form to another.
I'm pretty sure that disliking dongles and multi-port style adapters does not preclude disliking cables that serve as adapters (either as an additional dislike or as a replacement dislike).
There are plenty of comments here that imply that the primary objection for some people isn't the form of the adapter, but, rather, the need to carry anything additional/custom[1].
I do agree that your point that some of the cables-cum-adapters are not, in fact, additional, because they merely replace what used to be a standard cable (e.g. the one that "came with my phone") is being glossed over.
However, that only addresses the "additional" part of the complaint, not the "custom" part, which has to do with availability/ubiquity. It's not just that the aforementioned standard phone charging cable used to be carried already, but it's also the same cable that came with every other phone, which means that, if the user forgets it, it's very easy to replace (or even just borrow a replacement), often even with a choice of lengths at not even specialty-electronics stores. Lose or forget your custom adapter-cable, and you could be out of luck until that store opens, if there even is one in town.
[1] For lack of a better term. I realize USB-C is also a standard, so "less standard" isn't quite right, but "less widely accepted standardizationly" is too wordy and awkward, so please bear with my shoehorning in of this word.
I agree with most everything you said, but unless you're surrounded by nothing but MBP's these cables are not replacements; they are additional nonsense.