Millions of 'Game of Thrones' fans will call in sick after finale, survey predicts
LOS ANGELES - The series finale of “Game of Thrones” is finally upon us after eight years of waiting impatiently between installments, and it's such a monumental event for fans that many of them are planning on missing work the Monday after the episode airs, a new poll from the Workforce Institute at Kronos shows.
The survey, conducted by The Harris Poll, revealed that productivity is likely to take a major hit on Monday in more ways than one. On top of people calling out of work, many reported that they will come in late or be distracted during their work day as a result of having watched the “Game of Thrones” finale the night before.
In the survey, conducted online between May 7-9, 2019, The Harris Poll asked 1,090 employed U.S. adults over the age of 18 if they believe the finale will have a direct impact on their work obligations. The resulting survey data was used along with U.S. census data to create large-scale projections.
Slightly more than one-third of adults who participated in the survey, or 34 percent, said they plan to watch the finale on Sunday, meaning it will likely be one of the 10 most-watched series finales in television history.
A whopping 27.2 million employees who plan to watch the finale live are projected to have a disrupted work day on Monday as a result.
An estimated 10.7 million employees say they'll be completely skipping work to watch the episode or to deal with the fallout of their favorite obsession coming to a close. Nearly six million of those employees indicated that they plan on bailing on Sunday night shifts so they can watch the episode live, before the internet, offices across the country and even lines at the grocery store become dangerous territory for spoilers.
An estimated 3.4 million more Americans are projected to work remotely in the wake of the finale, and 2.9 million are estimated to roll into the office late.
Millions of employees have already called in sick or have taken vacation or personal days to binge re-runs in an attempt to stay up to speed with everything happening in the final season, according to the survey.
The survey also asked employees which “Game of Thrones” character they would most like to have as their manager, with more than a quarter of participants saying Jon Snow would be their top pick. Tyrion Lannister came in second with 12 percent of the vote, followed by Daenerys Targaryen in third place with nine percent of the vote.
Those final results aren't surprising, given that Daenerys made it clear in the second to last episode of the series that she won't hesitate to burn those who drop the ball on the job (RIP Varys), especially when 35.8 million employees have spent at least one hour of company time each week discussing, researching or posting on social media about “Game of Thrones” when they should have been working instead.