Controversial questions for work

Controversial question of the day · (UTC)

Running shoes: sneakers or trainers?

Post it, call a vote, and let the smaller side speak first. A new one every day at 00:00 UTC, drawn from the 50 questions in the classic, funny, food, and whiteboard sets below.

Controversial questions for work with two sides, strong feelings, and nothing at stake — no politics, pay, or religion, just debates like whether cereal is a soup. Post today’s question, or pick one below.

Is cereal a soup?

100 questions in this set — nothing repeats until you have seen them all. No sign-up, no limits.

100 controversial questions for work

Controversial questions for work

  1. 1Is cereal a soup?
  2. 2Is water wet?
  3. 3Toilet roll: over or under?
  4. 4Is it pronounced GIF with a hard G or a soft G?
  5. 5Does a straw have one hole or two?
  6. 6Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
  7. 7Is a Pop-Tart a ravioli?
  8. 8Is it ever OK to recline your seat on a short flight?
  9. 9Socks with sandals: crime or comfort?
  10. 10Is chess a sport?
  11. 11Shower in the morning or at night — which side is objectively right?
  12. 12Shoes off at the door, or shoes on in the house?
  13. 13Is a cheesecake a cake or a pie?

Funny controversial questions for work

  1. 1Is a thumbs-up emoji friendly or passive-aggressive?
  2. 2Should people clap when the plane lands?
  3. 3Is it rude to reply to a message with just “k”?
  4. 4Is “per my last email” ever not aggressive?
  5. 5Is it fine to wear pajama bottoms on a video call if nobody can see them?
  6. 6Is it OK to eat a colleague’s labeled yogurt if it expires today?
  7. 7Is it acceptable to eat pizza with a knife and fork?
  8. 8Is it fine to end an email with no sign-off at all?
  9. 9Is “Happy Monday!” a greeting or a threat?
  10. 10Does a meeting that starts at 9:05 start on time?
  11. 11Office birthday cake: one slice each or a free-for-all?
  12. 12Is a sandwich cut diagonally better than one cut straight across?
  13. 13Is it weird to say “you too” when a waiter says “enjoy your meal”?

Hot take questions for work

  1. 1Hot take: most meetings would be better at 15 minutes. Agree or disagree?
  2. 2Hot take: voice notes have no place at work. Agree or disagree?
  3. 3Hot take: Friday afternoon is the most productive time of the week. Agree or disagree?
  4. 4Hot take: a messy desk means a busy mind. Agree or disagree?
  5. 5Hot take: the first coffee of the day is the only one that matters. Agree or disagree?
  6. 6Hot take: emoji in work email are perfectly professional. Agree or disagree?
  7. 7Hot take: every team needs one meeting-free day a week. Agree or disagree?
  8. 8Hot take: the office kitchen is the real meeting room. Agree or disagree?
  9. 9Hot take: Monday is underrated. Agree or disagree?
  10. 10Hot take: a handwritten to-do list beats any app. Agree or disagree?
  11. 11Hot take: the best ideas come after the meeting, not in it. Agree or disagree?
  12. 12Hot take: breakfast for lunch is the best lunch. Agree or disagree?
  13. 13Hot take: cold pizza is better than hot pizza. Agree or disagree?

Debate questions for work

  1. 1Which is the better superpower for an office worker: teleporting or pausing time?
  2. 2Which is the greatest office invention: the stapler, the sticky note, or the paper clip?
  3. 3Which would make a better office pet: a goldfish or a parrot?
  4. 4Which is the better breakfast: sweet or savory?
  5. 5Which decade had the best music?
  6. 6Which is harder to learn: juggling or whistling?
  7. 7Which is the better snack to share at work: doughnuts or bagels?
  8. 8Is it better to plan a holiday in detail or decide everything on the day?
  9. 9Which is the better pizza crust: thin or deep-dish?
  10. 10Which season is best for a team outing?
  11. 11Which makes a better team name: an animal or a pun?
  12. 12Read the instructions first, or figure it out as you go?
  13. 13Is it better to be the best player on an average team or an average player on the best team?

Controversial office etiquette questions

  1. 1Is it OK to make popcorn in the office microwave?
  2. 2Is it OK to eat lunch during a video call?
  3. 3Should you take a phone call at your desk in an open-plan office?
  4. 4Is it OK to put your feet up on a spare chair?
  5. 5Is it rude to keep one earbud in while someone talks to you?
  6. 6Say good morning to the whole floor, or just to your team?
  7. 7Should whoever empties the coffee pot always make the next one?
  8. 8Is it OK to borrow the good chair from an empty desk?
  9. 9Is an 8 am meeting ever acceptable?
  10. 10Can you leave a meeting that has run over without asking?
  11. 11Is a weekend work message OK if it says “no need to reply”?
  12. 12Is it rude to check your messages while someone presents?

Controversial food questions

  1. 1Ketchup on scrambled eggs: acceptable or not?
  2. 2Is dipping fries in a milkshake genius or wrong?
  3. 3Is a wrap a sandwich?
  4. 4Is a burger still a burger without the bun?
  5. 5Tea: milk in first or milk in last?
  6. 6Do you peel a banana from the stem or from the other end?
  7. 7Mint chocolate: a treat or toothpaste?
  8. 8Sandwich crusts: on or off?
  9. 9Is a smoothie a drink or a meal?
  10. 10Pizza slice: fold it or eat it flat?
  11. 11Raisins in cookies: a nice surprise or a betrayal?
  12. 12Is a salad without lettuce still a salad?

Controversial poll questions for work

  1. 1Best day for a team lunch: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday?
  2. 2The right way to write a date: day first, month first, or year first?
  3. 3Most annoying meeting phrase: “let’s take this offline”, “quick question”, or “can everyone see my screen”?
  4. 4The best kind of potato: fries, mash, roast, or baked?
  5. 5Ideal meeting length: 15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes?
  6. 6Best cookie for dunking: chocolate chip, ginger, oatmeal, or dunking is wrong?
  7. 7Most overused emoji at work: thumbs-up, praying hands, fire, or crying-laughing?
  8. 8Where should the office plant live: the window, the kitchen, reception, or someone’s desk?
  9. 9Worst office sound: chewing, pen clicking, loud typing, or speakerphone calls?
  10. 10Best time for a team social: lunchtime, after work, Friday afternoon, or never?
  11. 11Most useful office supply: tape, scissors, highlighters, or sticky notes?
  12. 12Best pizza topping: mushroom, pepperoni, olives, or plain cheese?

Controversial whiteboard questions

  1. 1Tomato: fruit or vegetable? Add a mark.
  2. 2Is a cupcake just a small cake? Yes or no.
  3. 3Toast: butter to the edges or just the middle?
  4. 4Is a beanbag a chair? Yes or no.
  5. 5Fizzy drink: soda or pop?
  6. 6Running shoes: sneakers or trainers?
  7. 7Is hot chocolate a grown-up drink? Yes or no.
  8. 8A nap on your lunch break: genius or lazy?
  9. 9On an escalator: stand on the left or stand on the right?
  10. 10Is a mouse pad still necessary? Yes or no.
  11. 11Is Pluto a planet? Yes or no.
  12. 12Zebra: white with black stripes or black with white stripes?

How to use controversial questions for work

A good controversial question for work has two sides, strong feelings on both, and nothing at stake. Is cereal a soup? Does a straw have one hole or two? Nobody’s job, beliefs, or wallet depends on the answer, which is exactly why a team will argue about it for five minutes and walk into the meeting laughing. The controversy is the point; the stakes are zero.

Everything on this page stays away from the topics that are genuinely divisive at work: politics, religion, pay, health, relationships, and anyone’s appearance or background. Use one as a two-minute debate at the start of a meeting, as a multiple-choice poll in the team channel, or as a tally on the office board — the whiteboard set above is written for marks, and whiteboard questions for work has 198 more. For quick picks with less arguing, try the this-or-that questions; for trade-offs with a cost on both sides, the would you rather questions for work.

Facilitator tip

Make people argue the side they did not pick. After the vote, give one person from each side thirty seconds to defend the other side’s answer. It keeps a silly debate from turning into a real one, because nobody is defending their own opinion, and it is almost always funnier than the original argument.

Frequently asked questions

Is it OK to ask controversial questions at work?+

Yes, as long as the controversy is about something with no stakes. Whether cereal is a soup or a straw has one hole or two splits a team without hurting anyone, and a mild argument is a faster icebreaker than a polite question because everyone has an opinion and nobody has to share anything personal. Every question on this page is written to that rule: strong feelings, zero consequences.

What topics should you avoid at work?+

Politics, religion, pay, health, relationships, and anything about appearance, age, background, or any group of people. Leave out questions about the company’s own decisions, jobs, or performance too — they are real controversies, and a warm-up is the wrong place for them. A simple test: if the losing side of the debate could feel judged as a person, cut the question.

How do you run a debate question in a meeting?+

Read the question, give everyone ten seconds, then take a vote with hands or A and B in the chat. Ask one person from each side for a single sentence, and stop at about three minutes. Let the smaller side speak first, since the majority will make its case anyway. With a bigger group, run it as a poll and read the result aloud instead of hearing from everyone.

What are good hot take questions for work?+

Short statements about everyday work habits that people can agree or disagree with in a word: meeting length, voice notes, open-plan offices, handwritten lists. A good hot take sounds slightly wrong to about half the room. Keep them about habits and preferences, never about colleagues, managers, or the company, so disagreeing never feels like criticism.

Can you use these as poll questions in Slack or Teams?+

Yes. The poll set is written as multiple choice with three or four options, so it drops straight into whatever poll feature or app your team chat already uses; emoji reactions work too, with one emoji per option. The two-sided questions work as polls as well. The question of the day at the top of the page is a ready-made one to post each morning.

Use these in your next retro

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