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 Manager!!

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 work, 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 expectations with no monetary rewards…

And somewhere inside, one small hopeful voice starts talking.

• Maybe this year will be different.
• Maybe this time they really noticed my work.
• May be this year, your team grown in 3 digits, atleast not single digit!
• 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 business development right the whole year giving 100% ROI- delivered projects, taken initiatives, led without a title, given creative ideas and solutions, handled escalations, worked weekends, streamlined processes, saved critical situations, shared “FREE” knowledge, helped others get promoted before you did including your manager. Most importantly, protected the integrity of your manager with no monetary rewards for yrs..!!!

And after all that…

Feedback: “You need more collaboration”. “You need Human Touch”

For protecting the integrity of few of the intimidating teammates and manager, handled things humanely. All we get is this!!! That still doesn’t count as “Human Touch”!!!???

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 Reasons?

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.

The Bell Curve.

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

Just before few minutes, my team informed that we need to do ramp walk and enact. Hardly few had the courage to wear something on their face. I chose “Before & After Appraisal”, enacted with scary and sad face. I had done the makeup with the combination of both scary marks and also blood droplets coming from my eyes on that day. It was completely unplanned and spontaneously. So the pictures on the left and right are AI edited to differentiate. 🙇‍♀️

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 happened on Halloween.

The ghosts, villains, and drama? It is just a little extra Halloween effect 😄

Read my other blog post here.