Advice on mandatory volunteerism (mandateerism) at the office
examiner.com
examiner.com
The whole assumption in this article is that the boss is powerful and the employee is weak. I can think of no better way to demonstrate your weakness than by being scared to be truthful.
It's possible to be creative and tactful without lying, but ultimately, you either give up the day, b/c you value your job more than proving a point, but don't lie and compromise yourself in order to have your cake and eat it too. Then you're no better than a scammer who values money above all else.
Is it valid unpaid overtime of the sort that happens in any tech job, when the darn thing won't work and there's a deadline and I have a responsibility?
Would I have volunteered to do it anyway?
If none of the above, I'm going to tell you to shove it, in sufficiently polite but not in the least ambiguous terms.
You think I'm a jerk? Poor team player? I can live with that.
I get it that he doesn't like his co-workers, but what's the big difference between disliking them at the office and disliking them for one day at a charity site? View it as just another work assignment, if you are unable to see any intrinsic value in giving clothes to the poverty-stricken. Sheesh.
Spare the self-righteousness.
It's quite possible that the person in question already does something far more effective for said "poverty-stricken". Should she cut back on that to make the boss look good?