What Happens When Appraisal Falls on Halloween?
Some horror stories involve ghosts. 👻 Some involve zombies. 🧟 Some involve vampires. 🧛And then there’s one horror story that happened to me recently – Appraisal on Halloween Day!!! 🎃🎃🎃
You heard me right…I know you might be wondering this is serious post as its about appraisal that’s where the real fun begins. Stay tuned till the end.
And yes, one fine day, the announcement came – my appraisal slot was scheduled in the morning along with others, and by evening the team had planned a full Halloween celebration with Halloween treats.
In my mind, I was like what the hell… Is this Trick or Treat from leadership!!
Honestly, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But while getting my slide deck ready with all my OKRs, suddenly everything started making sense.
The excitement, fear, suspense, anxiety, overthinking, emotional damage… everything will be felt in one single day!!
Before the appraisal call, most of us go through the same mental process. We start replaying the entire year in our head.
The late-night calls, weekend support, handling escalations, doing work beyond role, helping teammates, sharing free knowledge, your idea but someone else getting credit in the meeting, firefighting stakeholder drama, and surviving endless expectations…
And somewhere inside, one small hopeful voice starts talking.
- Maybe this year will be different.
- Maybe this time they really noticed my work.
- Maybe this is finally my year.
Then the call starts.
Manager begins with the usual sweet intro.
“You did really well this year.”
“We appreciate your contribution.”
“You created strong impact.”
For a few minutes, you actually start feeling good. Maybe this is going well. Maybe today there is no horror story.
Then comes one small word.
But.
That one word is enough to change the entire mood.
Ghosts from the Past Never Really Leave
Halloween has ghosts.
Appraisal has ghosts too.
Not the scary white-saree type. Corporate ghosts.
Almost every appraisal ghost comes from something buried somewhere in the past… and trust me, they all suddenly wake up during appraisal season. 😂
- that one missed deadline with no financial impact
- that missed team bonding activity
- that awkward client call though you got the work done
- that one stakeholder minor complaint
- that one a mistake you made 8 months ago that somehow nobody forgot.
Funny thing, right?
You may have done 99 things right the whole year – delivered projects, taken initiatives, led without a title, given creative ideas and solutions, handled escalations, worked weekends, saved critical situations, shared “FREE” knowledge, helped others get promoted before you did including your manager, and protected the integrity of your team and manager.
And after all that…
Feedback: “You need more collaboration.”
Huh? Seriously?
Appraisal Mantra 1 – The “You Still Need to Improve” Formula
Over the years, I noticed one funny thing. Almost every manager seems to follow this unwritten rule during appraisal season
Even if you achieved 100% of your goals, they find one area of improvement.
There must always be one red or amber. One area where employee lacks.
Of course, no one is perfect. Everyone has something to improve.
But sometimes I genuinely find this funny.
After every promotion to a managerial role, I have seen those promoted employees going for Managerial and Leadership trainings.
I used to genuinely wonder… wait, didn’t they get promoted because they already exhibited those skills? 🤭🤣
Appraisal Mantra 2 – Trick or Treat?
Appraisal season feels exactly the same.
You walk into the discussion hoping for treat… a good hike, a promotion, top rating, bigger bonus, better role, stronger recognition.
Then manager starts with all the sweet things. Almost too sweet.
Great performance, strong contribution, valuable resource, leadership visibility, high impact.
You relax. Nice. This is the REAL TREAT 🍬
And suddenly treat becomes trick… budget constraints, limited promotion slots, market correction, internal calibration, maybe Mid-year!
The Final Villain Entry
Every horror movie has one final villain.
Appraisal season also has one.
Whenever explanations become difficult, this final monster enters.
Not enough budget? Bell curve. No promotion slot? Bell curve. Cannot justify lower hike? Bell curve. Need a reason to downgrade 1 to 2? Bell curve.
At this point I genuinely want to know who exactly this Bell Curve is.
Mysterious, invisible, powerful, impossible to challenge… and somehow stronger than actual performance.
Before and After: Appraisal Edition
Before appraisal, you are hopeful, confident, and full of energy. After appraisal, technically you are alive… but slightly dead inside.
You smile professionally and say, “Thank you for the feedback.”
Then you end the call, mute yourself, stare at the screen for a few minutes, and question life choices.
That meme picture suddenly feels too real.
Jokes apart, sometimes the real horror is not the appraisal itself. It is the gap between expectation and reality.
Still, one thing I keep reminding myself – one rating cannot define your entire year, and one discussion cannot define your worth.
But if your appraisal falls on Halloween…
Remember that, Trick is officially confirmed 😊
One Last Plot Twist
Disclaimer: The picture on the left is AI Edited, was much more scary on that day. The picture on the right is AI generated 😄
This reminded me of something important. Why Responsible AI training matters.
Because AI is powerful. It can create fun memes like this, dramatic visuals, and realistic content in seconds.
But if used without awareness, the same AI can easily mislead, manipulate, or create things far from reality.
So yes… laugh at the meme.
But also remember, with great AI power comes great responsibility 😊
Disclaimer
Yes, my appraisal genuinely fell on Halloween. The ghosts, villains, and drama? More or less similar to what actually happened – just slightly exaggerated for effect 😄
Read my other blog post here.
