Volunteer Tribute
Noun Phrase · Slang & Abbreviations
Definitions
A joking label for the unlucky person who ends up taking on an undesirable task. In engineering slang, volunteer tributes often appear when the room goes quiet after someone asks for an owner.
In plain English: The unlucky person who gets picked for an undesirable task.
Example: "When the legacy billing migration needed a weekend coordinator, one engineer became the volunteer tribute by making eye contact at the wrong moment."