I feel like the Little Red Hen

For those who have never heard the story of The Little Red Hen, i'll give a quick summary.

A hen lived on a farm with a dog, a cat and a duck.

She found some seeds and asked the other animals to help her plant them. They all reply with "Not I". So she plants them by herself. After a while, the seeds grow into wheat. The hen asks the animals to help her cut the wheat. They all reply with "Not I". So she cuts it herself. She then asks them to help her take the wheat to the mill to be turned into flour. Again, they won't help and she does it herself. When she gets back, she asks them to help her make the four into bread. Again, they won't help. Finally when the bread is done and smells delicious, she calls them and asks them to help her eat it. Naturally they all rush to help with that part. When they arrive she reminds them of their refusal to help before and promptly eats the bread by herself while they have to look on.

There is a team at work who constantly is having potlucks and group outings and moral events. Occasionally, my team (which is bigger) gets invited too. Many times, I've been asked why we don't throw our own pot lucks. Finally, with another team member's help...we've arranged for a potluck and given almost 3 weeks worth of notice. Surprisingly...out of over 50 people....less than 15 have signed up. It's two days away and reminders are constantly met with "i can't think of anything to bring".

Something tells me many of them will be happy to show up to help eat the potluck meal so long as they don't have to work for it. I can literally feel the resentment brewing between co-workers as they come over to me to complain about how many people haven't signed up.

And they wonder why we don't have these very often.