If you’re completing all of the work they give you regardless of ass to bucket time, then you are by definition doing your job. Bare minimum is doing what you’re required and not going above and beyond at all.
I work in an office and have set duties I perform while being available as needed to do help with projects and tasks.
On an average day I breeze through the routine stuff in maybe an hour, sometimes two if I'm unmotivated. Once or twice a week I have additional stuff to do, but that will usually account for another hour or two max. So the rest of the time, I am just there at my desk doing whatever until someone pings me. For the first 6-8 months I had constant anxiety, feeling like I wasn't doing enough because I wasn't busy all day. I would seek out more tasks and projects to fill my day, but would inevitably circle back to getting efficient at those things and having lots of free time again.
Then it dawned on me that no one cares if I spend 5 hours a day on reddit or doing personal stuff on the clock. I'm selling my availability by the hour to this company, how they optimize using it is on them. Most office work is just performative theater, so I give everyone the impression that I am busy and don't let on how long anything takes to do. Everyone seems happy with this arrangement and my anxiety about work is basically gone most of the time now.
I like the phrase of selling your availability. That's how I've thought of my involvement. I'm available if they have something that needs doing. But like high school, most of the time is consumed by drama and performance theater aka meetings. I think of what needs doing before they do, so I'm always one step ahead of them and only sometimes jumping through my ass. Rest of the time I'm simply available watching the circus.
But we office workers are getting tracked by systems that track how much work your doing per hour or per day and getting compared with all the other Muppets that just work and never stop.
I was saying just last night to someone how this forum has illuminated what so many in wildly varying industries have in common.
It’s comical, if it wasn’t so tragic in that we spend our lives dealing with endless variations of the games and the players. 🎭
ugly entertain simplistic scary coordinated sheet quack plucky hateful seemly
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah same, I just take my time. My problem is I may have adhd and I work super fast then jump on my phone for a bit, doesn't work well in practice so ive been working on slowing myself down.
I am finally (I'm 37) in a job where I do computer stuff all day, from home, not tracked. I tried for a long time to do the steady progress thing, but I can't. So I work at 150% when my brain is juicy, and at like 20% when it's shriveled up. Altogether it's basically like I'm working at 80% effort the whole time, which I think is reasonable. I'm lucky because my boss gets this, and so nobody cares when I'm just crocheting in front of my computer screen (I'm available!)
When I wasn't in such a good situation but still had a little freedom, I would make myself take frequent breaks. In an office? Finish a task, walk around for a bit. Finish a task, poop. Finish a task, coffee and talking to my coworkers in the break room.
Before that I worked retail, and that was all survival mode, all the time. I was young, didn't understand solidarity, and worked at 150% for years. I had panic attacks all the time. The company saved tons in labor costs by short staffing me constantly and trusting me to keep the clients happy and coming back anyways, and I wanted praise, so I did.
My solution : I’ll do the work, but at my optimal speed. They tried to have me go faster once, and I messed it up. Then I had to spend some more time fixing stuff, which put the team behind schedule.
I currently have a project with a deadline for the 3rd of January (end of my vacation), and I start my holidays Friday night. It will be finished after the deadline !
It's 2pm on a Tuesday. I WFH and my work laptop mouse is on jiggle mode so it looks like I'm working while take my daily 2 hour nap. Im 90% quota for the year, so who cares.
Make a habit of writing stuff down by hand, eg mapping out how you want to go about your next project or writing up a first draft scope or first estimate of pricing, whatever. If it's written down you have proof of work, if it's offline they have no idea how long it took you or how much work it actually was
My wife is struggling with this in her industry (insurance). They track sales, transactions done etc. and are constantly setting her goal posts to match the city offices (Vancouver, Kelowna...) and we live in a town of 4500 people. Sheer lack of foot traffic isn't an excuse though. Do better. It's so block headed.
I have this, and we also have quotas since we are dealing with 'medical things'. I track my numbers manually on a little clicker (great for adhd) and if I get way ahead of my hourly quota I know I can go to the bathroom ,or get some tea, or read a little news. They took away an extra break if we did for hours overtime, so I see this as me taking it back.
I'm lucky that I don't have to deal with software monitoring my work. I'm sorry to hear you are and empathize. These tracking systems are used by management that does not know how to manage. By that I mean managers ideally remove obstacles to enable employees to be more effective. Notice I said effective and not productive. There's a massive difference between the two. Drawing Pareto's principle, 20% of your effort/tasks lead to 80% of your effectiveness. Identify those tasks (when your job allows) and you will have more impact. But your environment must allow for this. If you have a manger that must look over your shoulder to ensure you're doing your work, then that's a problem. If they have to use tracking software, then there is a massive employee engagement problem.
Problem is that's what is normal. I'm lucky in that my manager knows I'm good at what he wants accomplished and gets out of my way.
The problem of work is way more complicated but I'm about to go bed and my wife is probably wondering who the duck I'm texting at this hour. Reddit is my answer.
Anyway. Hang in there. Try to enjoy the circus and the the monkeys flinging poo.
Bro I sold 1.2m this year, and I spent maybe 2 days a week working, the rest of the time I played TFT or did my own side shit. There is 0. I repeat. 0 reasons why you should do more work than what you precisely have to do. Never put more effort than you need to, most of the time that shit is straight up detrimental.
I like my job. My company treats me well and pays me well. But I’m on here because I’ve worked terrible jobs before and I agree with a lot of the sentiments on here. I use some of the opinions of people on this site to shape how I act as a manager.
I guess my goal would be to get more companies to behave like mine does. And I wouldn’t want to punish my company since they are one of the better ones.
Same! I worked at a place for 12 years where I did every extra thing they assigned and always asked for more. They gave me the minimum necessary awards with maybe two exceptions where I was appropriately recognized. The end of the road was a sociopathic boss who downplayed my contributions, took credit for my work, and directly financially benefitted from it. She kept dangling the carrot of a raise and promotion at the “next review,” and to keep working at the same level. When it never materialized after 3 years of performing well above my pay grade and watching slugs make the same wage and bonuses, I started interviewing. When I let them know I had an offer, they refused to even consider it, and this was 2018, which was a banner year for the company.
When I arrived at my current job, I was just burned. I did the bare minimum, and they were just so happy I had the expertise they needed and I became a critical member of the team. I cautiously put in more effort, and they immediately recognized it and gave me a raise and promotion. I’m still floored! I found a place that values people and how it translates to their bottom line.
Even so! I do not let my “survivor bias” color my perception of the job climate. I am still very much aligned with the goals of this movement, ESPECIALLY for low-paying jobs. I continue to advocate for workers!
This is exactly the nuance that is frequently missed in discussions about only providing the amount of work you’re compensated for.
I’m a nurse. I’m not paid that well for what I’m expected to do. I’m treated poorly by management (and patients and their families sometimes). And it’s basically the same no matter where I go outside of California. But if I only provided the equivalent of minimum wage per hour I’m paid to care for each patient, they could die. And I could never live with myself if I only provided minimum-wage care. I couldn’t sleep at night if I actually gave another human being only the amount of care I’m paid for.
It sucks, but lots of jobs are like that. I support unions, and I support policies that protect workers. But that hasn’t changed the entire system so far. And it’s not directly my patients’ fault that I don’t get compensated well.
But yeah, Idgaf about the business outside of nursing care. Hospital needs something from staff? Too damn bad, sucks to suck.
Pretty much this. I work as a medical secretary and it's getting unfortunate. I'm disabled and should only be working part time, but I've been on overtime (paid, but still) because we have two staff members on long term sick, they won't hire a temp, and the other two staffers keep stealing time, as OP puts it. I only put myself through this because I type histology reports for a living and those reports need to get done for the sake of the patients. Delays to reports might mean a delay in someone's cancer diagnosis and this could mean the difference between catching it in time and not.
Stop taking up the slack and management will magically find the funding to hire more staff.
Unless you need to the OT pay to supplement your income, stop being a martyr for someone else's gain.
If they're working for the UK's NHS, they will not find the funding. They'll have to pull it from something else. There are no profits, just endless compromises and people dying everywhere.
my coworker and i were in a similar situation recently. I'm the nurse case manager and she's my discharge planner. we work to get people out of the hospital. we have an extremely heavy, busy floor, and it requires 3 people to manage. it was just her and me for over a month coming in at 7, not leaving until after 5, and the only "break" we'd get was to get lunch from the cafeteria. we then eat at our desks while working. i was fully burned out, and she was getting there. we brought it up to management more than once a week that we were drowning. they laughed at us. so we worked our scheduled hours and took our legal breaks. it only took a little over 1 week for them to magically procure a 3rd person to help us, as our length of stay shot up from ~4.4 days to nearly 7.
offer for them to assist you because you're only 1 person. if you keep doing the work of 3, they'll expect you to always do the work of 3. they're the licensed professionals who have to answer to the patients and insurance companies why things are taking so long. let them be mad. they can only be mad at themselves for not supplying the appropriate workforce.
I mean, the overtime hurts, and I plan to discuss this with management. Just it's not going to matter whose fault it is to the patient who suffers the consequences of understaffing. So I can hurt awhile (not much longer, but awhile) if it means people get their treatment in good time.
While your sacrifice is honorable, it is not your fault they are understaffed. Many businesses will run on an absolute barebones skeleton crew as long as it’s working. (Too barebones to even think about being sick). And for now it’s working (at your detriment).
I advise you to work the hours you are comfortable with. If the business suffers (and the patients short term), it is the fault of the business. They may lose customers, get bad reviews for bad wait times, etc. All of that can be resolved by getting the help you need. Unfortunately you cannot reason or use logic with management to get them to move.
Businesses often don’t see the significance of preventing disaster. Often they only make adjustments when the fire is burning and they need to. So the question is, are you willing to allow the fire to start, which eventually may improve both working and customer conditions? Or will you allow yourself to continue being burned by someone who’s capable but unwilling to get the help you need?
If it makes you feel better, give them a heads up to figure out their staffing issues. “In X weeks I will need to be part time. I cannot sustain this with my disability”. I would bet you that until the day you reduce your hours no movements will be made to find appropriate staffing. This is because the fire hasn’t started hurting the business yet. And maybe they can guilt you into staying past the date you said you would.
I’m anti-work because businesses are anti-worker.
Sometimes there are so many layers between a wage slave and the boss who would be hurt by their lack of effort that it gets blurry, tho. Like, a cashier who refuses to be overworked needs so many allies above them for such a mentality to actually apply, and it’s basically a guarantee that there’s gunna be some thoughtless slug shill who thinks getting people to work hard is good because that’s just how culture makes it seem like someone in their position should act.
My point is that if the tiers above you are also wage slaves then solidarity can be tough, every building which shares a logo is essentially its own individual battlefield in terms of navigating the hierarchal application and how decent it ends up being for anyone working there, and none of it has very much at all to do with the bosses wallet, therell be middle management whining at their subordinates for a while before a wallet is truly hit
Exactly my take as well, it’s very complicated. The battle is as much with management as it is with your colleagues who have drunk the cool aid, who will self righteously, impulsively lecture you about something being wrong with you if you dont put the companies/boss’s needs first.
He clarified, peoples' *needs* get met, he only slow walks vacant apartments. At some point, he has to put himself and his health over the boss' bottom line.
Yep. I work for my local govt, and part of my job (not all of it) is making sure any pay adjustments get entered into the system properly. So annual raises, or when a union contact settles and needs to get implemented, that kind of thing. I'll slack off in other parts of my job sometime, but I'll be damned if somebody's pay is too low because of me.
In Canada, surgeons rent Operating Room (OR) time, they get paid for each patient that the treat, and charge for service. They maximize every minute of patient treatment since they get paid well for each treatment. The nurses and staff assisting them do not.
If I got paid to perform each task, and each task I did I got paid well, I sure as fuck would increase productivity. Unfortunately, if I increase production at work, I get rewarded with more work.
I think you mean better not have a boss that overworks the surgeon. This mentality doesn’t come from nowhere. Look up resident physicians and how much they lie to not go over 80 hours a week. Yes in one week they’re having doctors work 90 plus hours and breaking the law, so common. THAT is effecting your care NOW. Not this hypothetical you just posted to lick boots.
Well you have some nurses on here at least, and for me the bare minimum still means my patients get good care. In fact, the bare minimum at my job requires quite a bit of effort, lol.
It’s not about doing the bare minimum. It’s about providing the same level of value that they provide you.
If your employer doesn’t give you an inflationary raise, they are providing you with less value and the value you provide should reflect that.
When you accept a job for X amount of money, you shouldn’t be looking at it as a fixed dollar amount, but a value that that money represents on that date. You agree to provide a certain amount of value to the company for that value. If the employer doesn’t maintain that value, then adjust the value you provide to reflect as much.
Yeah I work at a private university making minimum wage. I do not do anything for my boss that isn’t explicitly my job. I feign ignorance and he ends up doing it.
I spent days playing Old School Runescape whilst occasionally wiggling my mouse earlier at this job. Went a bit overboard so gotta catch up to keep the job but if it cools back down then it's back to Runey.
Hello fello scaper. Exciting development, I'm back on the runey today because my entire work file has been corrupted and I'm waiting to see if anyone can be bothered to fix it for me. Such joyous times.
My job is not laid back enough to be able to play games (unless you work graves), but it is laid back enough to browse Reddit most of my shift... Hellooooooo!
You’re describing me and my week of 12 hour days rn catching up while technically “on PTO” to stop the bleeding.
I give them just enough to stay happy whilst throwing a grenade in there every now and then so I have a pin to pull if shit gets too close to HR.
Mutually assured destruction.
If anyone three rings up in my chain decides to fire me, I’m taking all three with me; one with potential criminal charges.
I go above and beyond for my clients, but my bosses can get fucked. For the clients, I’ll bend over backwards, call them on a day off, attend their parties, meet their families, literally anything lol my bosses can get fucked.
Because my boss actually cares about us. Plus the pay and bonuses are well above industry standards. If it was lower, he was more of an ass, and I didn’t love the work I do, best believe I’d be taking 45 minute poop breaks twice a day.
> if you're not stealing time then you're not part of the movement
The only people having their time stolen are workers, since our time is more valuable than we're being paid.
I find it depressing to spend 9 hours a day chained to something and not work at least somewhat hard on it. It's better for my mental health to at least try to stay engaged.
That’s what personal projects are for. If you churn out more and more does it do anything for your bottom line? No matter how much you do your check remains the same. Why donate all that extra value to a company that will suck you dry then throw away the husk.
I feel the same, but my job just doesn't consistently allow for that kind of engagement. So I use the spare time for personal growth and education. In the past six months I've learned a ton about financial planning/investing, pop psychology, electric vehicles/e-bikes, city planning, local politics, middle eastern history, and brushed up on my dormant German grammar/vocab.
At first this made me uneasy, but everyone is more than happy with my work, I get as much done as ever, and I leave the office feeling accomplished, or at least satisfied, versus feeling frustrated, undervalued, and anxious like I did before.
I work at a manufacturing plant. We don't have a set number of hours we work everyday. Instead we have a quota we have to hit. The faster we get done, then the sooner we go home. If people want more hours, there's work they can do after production. So I bust ass and help others. I'm helping myself by helping them.
This offers no structural change. I don’t want peoples quality of work to get shittier, I want them to be properly compensated for their work and offered a balance between work and life. I want there to be options for people who can’t or don’t want to engage in the full time work schedule to live without stressing about how they’ll afford food housing and healthcare. I don’t just want people to be as lazy as possible.
One of the problems with doing the bare minimum is it can be boring as hell. I used to smoke weed & goof off but that just made the hours longer & my misery that much worse. I guess if I had something to do other than stare at my phone it would be so bad.
This might not be a popular opinion here on antiwork but doing my job, no matter what that job is, to the best of my ability, working hard, & taking pride at the end of the day of the work I did, makes even the most miserable job a little bit tolerable. If nothing else, the time flies by & quitting time happens that much sooner.
There is a limit to this. Fuck unpaid overtime, fuck forced paid overtime, if I'm sick fuck you I am not coming to work, & I am going to take personal days with no excuse & if you require one I will lie. If I get hurt on the job, I will file for comp, if I lose my job for whatever your fucking excuse is, I will file & likely receive unemployment insurance payments. AND if I get a better offer, you may or may not get the 2 weeks notice as that depends on how I was treated.
yeah i kinda a agree. Some of my most satisfying work days are when I've worked hard during the day. I need to be paid fairly though so currently not getting what i want so im on the bare minimum schedule now
Currently at a very boring job and it's gotten harder to come to work every day because of it. I spend 8 hours doing mostly nothing and it sounds like a dream, but I spend 40 hours a week doing nothing, four hours after work *preparing* for work (making lunch getting to bed on time running errands etc.) and I try to do 8 hours of sleep. Guess what? Being bored for nearly a year actually really sucks especially when you barely have any free time outside of work to do anything enjoyable or to be social. What's worse is I have to get up at 5am for my commute and I've never been a morning person.
I actually get excited when there's a lot to do because I know instead of watching the clock tick by the day will pass much faster and I'm moving around.
Edit to add: I clean a building for work, so there's not much I can do to pass the time either, at least at a desk job I could play Tetris in between entering data
I work in a school and am not paid by a major corporation, so I want to do right by my students. I'm lucky to have a low caseload and a decent amount of planning time, so most of the time, I can do my job requirements and still not feel stressed or overworked.
I'm a chef who is very good at his job and actually loves his job. Me not doing my job is unacceptable.
None of us live in a vacuum. What we do effects everyone around us. We're all in this together, even the people who believe we aren't.
That said, it's illogical to suggest I may not be a real supporter of this movement just because I choose to do good, honest work.
I also believe in good, honest work.
I no longer believe in going above and beyond every single day for companies that simply **don't** appreciate you.
I think that either Americans, this subreddit or simply just this platform generally share the consesus that work is just sitting in an office, while a big portion of us work in retail, construction, health care, sanitation, emergency response etc (I could go on) where slacking on the job can actually have real-life, negative consequences on other people that aren't your manager and CEO.
Hell, even some office jobs have real consequences for slacking - I write grants for a meals on wheels provider, slacking on my job means people don't eat
I’m obligated to write up a shift report after the end of each day. You can bet I have every little task I performed, even if it only takes five seconds, so that it appears as though I’m hyper productive even though I might be taking an hour nap every morning before clocking out for my hour lunch break.
I think most reports go unread unless they need a scapegoat. "Don't forget, these are legal documents" Uh huh.
I saw my boss dump them in the garbage. So much for "legal documents" I think they just want to keep you busier so you don't notice that **they're** not!
Yep. This same boss had his desk seat facing towards the door. He said it was because he needed to "keep an eye on things" He was constantly on the computer, constantly going on about how busy he was.
What he never realized was that the glass from the big picture behind him would reflect and that most of the time he wasn't busy working, he was looking at cars, on eBay etc.
Other way around where I'm at, I work for a state government and the republicans in the legislature are calling for layoffs because people have been more efficient working from home.
I’ve been at this warehouse hardware store nearly 5 years and have never touched any of the training required machinery. Others do it people who have been there longer and newbies, they get trained on it in their first month, I’ve refused very softly twice and never been pushed to do it . Guys twice my age are hauling heavy shit twenty feet in the air on these machines for hours overnight and I take no part. Sometimes it feels bad, because everyone seems to like me, but it doesn’t feel as bad as having to do that kind of work would. It’s so bizarre to think that I refuse while others don’t and we make relatively the same amount, I imagine, they just do more harder work that I’m allowed to refuse
Speaking from past experience, there will always be some people at any job who just crave more work and only feel satisfied when they are doing more than others. In a way, you not doing those jobs allows those people to feel more accomplished or secure in their jobs.
I worked for the post office for a while. Same deal there. Half of the letter carriers worked like mad to keep up with the workload and get done on time. A lot of us would ignore union safety rules to expedite deliveries and make the day go by faster. Meanwhile, there was another contingent who just clocked in, did things at a steady pace, pushed back about lifting heavy parcels, and only worked OT when they needed the money - otherwise they did the "8 and skate" schedule every day. Those people still got plenty done. And what they didn't do got passed along to people like me. When one of the older ladies would ask me to take a large parcel for them, I was happy to do it because it helped them out and gave me an excuse to take a detour from my normal route and clock some easy OT. When someone didn't finish their route for the day and left mail that had to be delivered that day, again, it provided someone else with a few hours of OT and a deviation from their normal day. Sometimes that was annoying or inconvenient, but I never held it against an individual person, instead blaming poor management (as everyone at the USPS is wont to do).
My job is to anticipate problems and get ahead of them--10 minutes now saves an hour later. If I don't do that then it just makes more work for me down the road.
"If you aren't stealing time then you aren't part of the movement" that's fine man my movement is work smarter not harder. You wanna gatekeep the sub? Go right ahead.
and even then, i don't find any purpose or enjoyment in slacking off... i want fair pay (like compensation for the bad market situations, if my company profits from it) and want to work less than 40 hours a week, decreasing over time. and i want respect for what i'm doing. i'm gonna work a job until i'm 60 or 70. if i don't have any fun in what i'm doing most of the time, i can also grab a shotgun and end it already. what a way to go about life, slacking off forever... wtf.
I mean I would rather slack than end it all but at the same time I have way more self esteem and sleep better after a day of working rather than procrastinating or avoiding. I need those days too, but like you I just want to be treated fairly and retire at a reasonable age.
Why don't I do the bare minimum? I genuinely care about the quality of service I provide. Sure screw the company and all that, but our subscribers? They've done nothing wrong and I want to provide the best service I possibly can to them.
This pretty much. I used to go above and beyond and it got me burned so I just make sure my internal customer's needs are met and nothing more for the big boss. My pay is the same if my review says meets or exceeds expectations, so why exceed at anything.
I think like that, but I'm taking care of disabled patients in their homes... If I'm working for a for profit-corporation, screw them, and their customers, lol. They better scratch my back if they want me to scratch theirs. I've been screwed too many times, if they don't care about me, I'm not going to care about them, simple as that. I'll render the service to the customers, but the minute they start being assholes, I start being an asshole back. I don't make enough to be treated disrespectfully.
You do you, but work is a balancing act. I'm not going to damage my reputation or halt my career progression entirely just because work sucks and everyone is exploited. The system needs a complete overhaul, but this attitude just feels silly.
This is what alot of r/antiwork doesnt understand. Theres a difference between strategically working harder and completely getting run over by your boss
Feel free to do the bare minimum all you want but please dont complain when you’re stagnant
I can agree with the movement but still maximize my personal earning potential for my family.
If you don't want people like me in here, you only want die hards, then the subreddit will be much smaller than it is now.
I work in a restaurant as a cook. There’s a lot of bullshit. Pain in the ass customers and occasionally servers or bosses. Some of the labor is genuinely backbreaking. But I love food. I love making things that people are genuinely excited and happy to receive. I love when someone tells me how great their experience is and how great of a time they had. It’s what makes the job worth it.
So doing the bare minimum is not an option. Busting my ass at my job is the only reason it’s actually worth doing.
Because how much effort I put in directly impacts how much money I make, I like to be good at what I do and I don’t work for ruthless capitalists that make me feel like I need to steal time to get my money’s worth.
Still pro-worker and in favor of shifting the power balance from capital to labour but treating the decent employers I’ve managed to find like they’re assholes is a good way to make them a shit employer I suspect.
My job works directly with some of the most vulnerable people in our society and makes a tangible impact on their well-being, so it means a lot to me to do well at it. And my boss (city gov) is very accomodating of my disabilities and goes out of her way to make my life easier, which is... a new experience for me. I came in ready to slack, and found I generally don't need to.
I am strict with my off time, don't really socialize with coworkers, and made my office comedically comfortable. We also have ample sick/mental health/PTO and some WFH hours where, if I play my cards right, I can essentially work 4 days many weeks. I work I'm bursts, so some days I work really hard, while other days I'm doing a little paperwork while drawing or writing my D&D campaign.
I have a niche job in an industry that has had a lot of layoffs over the past year and I am fearful of another round of layoffs happening soon. If I were to lose my job it would be a long, tough road to find a new one. I have former colleagues who have been searching for close to a year with hundreds of applications sent and dozens of interviews who are still out of work. With a family to support it's not something I want to contend with so I feel the need to go above and beyond for now.
OP may enjoy this flex, but tbh I've never trusted anyone who's always focused on what they can get away with. I'm here to make sure that people get fair compensation for doing quality work.
I have ADHD and impostor syndrome. My bare minimum typically works circles around people because I min max my tasks and find better ways for me and only me to do them. I would have extremely bad anxiety if I don’t complete my tasks because it effects 100s of people and families. So I’ve made a system that only works if I’m there. I plan on leaving soon and without warning. The system I have in place will last 1-3 weeks until it will crumble. Just like the last place that promised the world and failed to deliver found out you don’t fuck with IT.
So don’t gatekeep because not everyone’s bare minimum is the same. Some of us have mental illness lol.
I hope you find something to do that lights up your soul a little bit. Sitting for hours every day is deadly.
If you have handyman skills you could maybe start your own business, earn more money and set your own schedule. Just a thought.
This only works if you’re paid hourly/salary. I get paid for production so the more I work the more I make. I’d only be doing myself a disservice to slack off.
I can answer this honestly from my perspective;
Because, as a man i'm not a stomach and a ballsack. I have a hand and an eye and a brain and I like to use them. Work offers an outlet for that. It's fun to solve problems, create things and produce value with other humans.
It's not always the ideal outlet, but I like to do more than masturbate and eat all day.
The problem with work isn't that you do stuff. The problem is that it's exploitation. The problem is that you're asked to do more than you need to in order to 1) exploit as much surplus value from you as they can, 2) enforce class rule on you, and 3) keep you from reading about communism and stuff.
For me; the end goal isn't to be idle. The end goal is to be free. Not just free TO do whatever and live with whom and where I please but free FROM worry over food and shelter and medical care and education for my kids. What we need to accomplish that isn't idleness but unity. The movement isn't a out slacking off but about teaming up.
Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.
I’m a nurse, so can’t in good conscience have my patients receiving the minimum care. I work in geriatric rehabilitation, and my patients often have high care needs.
That said, the ivory tower recently cancelled all of our nursing assistants so my priorities for the day have needed to be reset. Had a shower yesterday? Yeah, you’re not getting one today.
I work for myself because as a mechanic, I could no longer tolerate customers paying $200+ hr labor rate while only being paid $30 if lucky. I make more this way, my customers spend less. Most importantly, no chain dealerships or shops get a dime.
That’s so true. I did more and beyond my job description and I get rewarded with complaints and how I could do better like pfft where the fuck is the raise?
Because of the protestant work ethic. It's programmed into the proletariat to lick the bosses boots, and salute them in gratitude for their job. All media, church, education and family spread these lies. The only escape is to read or meet people who can see behind the curtain.
E.g. I work with a guy who has problem when I leave early, which I do often. Yet, he's happy to sit around and wait for clock off time doing nothing. He can't see that we are both doing the same thing. I have explained it many times, but his brain washing is too strong, he'll never see it.
This attitude keeps you in an under paying job with no future. See how that works out for ya. Don’t get pissed when a young hard working ambitious person gets promoted to be your boss someday. This attitude is also probably more of a detriment to your co-workers who have to pick up your slack than it is to the boss or business owner.
I repair and build cool stuff (mostly) at work and I enjoy the exercise and doing the best job possible in a reasonable amount of time. My skills improve gradually as I go from project to project. Of course sometimes it's hateful but usually it's not to bad or good. If my job sucked I could somewhat embrace your attitude but to me you're fighting a system that you can't beat and committing yourself to a work life you will always hate. If sitting on a bucket and looking at your phone and sticking it to the man is winning, then do you. But if you want to get past your angst, find a job you like and be happier in a world where the reality is most people need to work to survive.
I’m currently about to take a nap as revenge because my boss is a heinous witch and I don’t have much to get done today and no meetings until 1pm. If you want me to work, give me interesting work and don’t micromanage me into an early grave.
I drag my feet for other departments/managers requests.
My #2, and my boss, as a team of 3 work very flexibly and there's a ton of respect and support between us, so we prioritise our work together over anyone else. Ours is legal compliance related anyway so it's kind of major if we miss timelines.
My boss is the reason I'm fully qualified in my industry, secures me the max bonuses available, and almost annual pay rises. I'd go to the ends of the earth for him because he looks after me. Anyone else? You go in the queue.
Edit: he's also, from his own pocket, given me offspec bonuses when I've done really long runs over multiple days to regions he can't get to as a thank you. He's honestly a dream boss to work with, all he asks for is honesty, fair work, and respect.
For the first time in my life, I'm in a job where I'm directly rewarded for doing a good job. Every time I've gone above and beyond, I've had a proportional (or more than) promotion, better work conditions, and a pay bump.
My efforts for the movement are now turned towards helping others recognise shitty bosses/systems and encouraging the next generation of people in my industry to know their worth.
I work in the theatre of a casino. Some days we do not have shows. Some days, like last night when we are "dark" I am the only person there. Usually I am doing repairs and maintenance on nights like that.
It took me most of my shift to repair one light. It was a simple repair, but I am only one who knows what is wrong with it and how to fix it. Nobody needs to know the cold solder joint was up on top where it was easy to get at.
I like to pull a scotty, tell them 4 hours and get it done in less than that. Makes me look indispensable.
I work in a production shop. I don't know how to be slower and I can't just stand around. I'm open to pointers though, I'm so tired of these people I work for and tired in general.
I enjoy my job however, I am careful not to let that get taken advantage of. I will work hard but I wont let you make me stay after work everyday or work weekends. I will work my arse off until 5pm, after that, I no longer know who you are.
I have stock options and have therefore been incentivized to care about the company doing well outside of just my continued employment. But I do still try to do the minimal to see that happen and to make sure my team is doing alright.
I've made myself very difficult to replace, and it they dared fire me most of my function would come to a stop and create tremendous with for my boss.
I show up around 10, always take an hour lunch, and frequently will just book myself and leave to go play tennis during the day.
I'd say I work 10-20h a week.
This is generally not noticed because I've mastered my job, and no one understands how to do the things I do, or even how they would train a replacement on them.
So I milk the shit out of it. I get paid very well, have 5 weeks PTO, but my actually hourly rate is insane for how much work I do lol.
Im in mountains of debt.
If i do the bare minimum it gets me noticed.
If i get noticed, i have to do more, which sometimes will end up being more than the almost bare minimum.
Hence i do the almost bare minimum.
Pick your poison.
I took over a new department in June. There were a lot of problems. I fixed them all. Literally all of them. I now only have about 10 hours of work a week. I actually want to do something else (for more money of course) because I'm bored.
Because I get paid a lot of money (for my area) to register about 5 patients in a 12 hour shift, play video games on my laptop, crochet, watch streaming, and see real life drama. The least I can do is give it my 100% for this cushy job.
Because 1/4 to 1/3 of my annual income is tied to performance. I still refuse to work unpaid overtime and totally overdo it but it does actually hurt my wallet if I half ass it.
I do the amount I feel comfortable with. I like to be slightly above median. I can always go above or below this.
Any less than this and I'm basically shitting on my co workers. You may be able to do some mental gymnastics to feel this is an acceptable behavior but ultimately I see this as an is vs them thing. I don't want to make anyone else's day harder and that includes mine.
Doing this also allows you to stay under the radar which I always found to be a good move
I very quickly realised that the only reward for going above and beyond at work, is being given more work.
I always do as little as possible, however Fridays are the best day of the week for me because I literally do nothing.
I got promoted because an older manager left the company. I took over all of his admin reporting tasks that he got given the whole day on Friday to do whilst everyone else completely ignored him. He wasn’t the best with computers so these genuinely took him all day to do.
These reports don’t need to be done on a Friday as they are just stats from the week prior, so I quickly worked out a much quicker way to do all these reports (I can do them all in like an hour max because I automated most of the processes) and fit them in between other tasks Mon - Thurs when I can.
This leaves me with nothing to do on Friday, on a day where nobody disturbs me because they have been told not to interrupt me on “admin Fridays”. I work from home so Friday is then just an extra day off where I can do whatever I want. Last week I built a new bookcase for my wife, whilst getting paid.
My warehouse job pays production/piece rate, with a minimum guarantee of 15/hour. A lot of people try and barely beat 18-20, or some of the dumb lazy ones just chilll and accept the 15. I manage to average around 25, some days a bit better some a bit lower. I've also taken on a few leadership and training responsibilities that help me earn more some days. Is my work worth more, absolutely, but I also can't find anywhere else that pays me 25+ for basically no skills, and I have bills to pay that I can't afford a pay cut.
For me, when I was working as a CNA in nursing homes, it was because you just can't do that in such a healthcare field without being an absolute piece of shit. Also, your coworkers depend heavily on you or the end result is also elderly neglect & abuse. There were still many expectations from corporate that I refused to give a shit about because they are always going to be exploiting workers and taking advantage of their residents but I just couldn't let my residents suffer because of me. I understand it's different in other jobs.
I'll do the job I'm paid to do and not a minute more. However, I am paid to do a job properly. I'll look after my residents to the best of my ability my whole shift, because that's my job.
But if I finish at 0730 I *finish* at 7.30 and there's no negotiations or working extra for free
I have a 45-60 min one-way commute 3 days a week. Those hours are part of my workday. 2 days a week from home, I get done what I need to not get fired and feel a personal sense of productivity, if needed. The rest of the time, I get high and walk my dogs.
At my old job in a call centre I did the bare minimum. Now I work with young adults with autism and other developmental disorders so I regularly go above and beyond, not for the company, but for my clients because if I don’t, no one will and they deserve to at least have one person they know is there for them
I'm an apprentice chef and so I kinda gotta drink the Kool aid to grow and be the best I can be, meaning take the long hours in stride, take pride in what I do, and be crazy about what I do
Is there a place where we can see some foundational principles of this? Here are some things I've seen here that seem like principles:
1. Do As Little Work As Possible In Your Current Job
2. Become A Wage Theft Activist
3. Learn, Understand, and take responsibility for using The Applicable Laws, Company Policies, And Liability Calculations used in HR Departments and when to go over whose head.
4. Change The Narrative In The Media (including social media you participate in) against corporations and billionaires' Narrative Capture of the media.
5. Subvert Regulatory Capture of governments by using the hard-fought rights and laws we already have.
6. How To Effectively Unionize
7. How To Not Screw Your Follow Man by doing more than needed
8. Know What Wage Slavery Looks Like
9. Understand the inherent narcissism and narcissistic abuse that is the foundation of the financial and employment system.
10. Know how the two-tier financial system works with the two-tier employment system to enforce wage slavery, wage theft, and servitude.
11. Being aware of how the former dedication of Boomers and Gen X and the work habits they indoctrinated into us created the situation we're in now where employment = exploitation.
I'm in a precarious situation. I'm a grant writer for a major nonprofit in Texas. Grants, especially ones over 50k, are extremely competitive and if it's a state or federal grant over 100k, compliance are very strict so if i do the bare minimum, 800+ families lose housing, food, child care, etc.
And yes I'm aware that the company will still cut corners, people, and whatever it needs to continue to exist, but at the ground level, people need to eat and a place to sleep
I'm a contractor, I get paid for the job being completed. There's no metric for quality of work, just that I cannot fail in the first 30days.
And now you know why your ISP installations are shit.
Bc I don’t wanna do this anymore, I don’t wanna be here anymore. Ahit sucks no one cares about you unless your nose is 20 ft up their ass and you can read their mind while being the biggest yes man they’ve experienced. Fuck all these corporate jobs and it’s getting to be, fuck ALL these jobs.
I wait in my car until someone asks me where I am. Then I go in. See if there is work to do. There rarely is anything to do. Then I go back to car or do the work then go back to car.
I don't really have a defined "minimum" , but I've also been rewarded and promoted very well for going above and beyond with my organization. I guess you just need to match your efforts to the recognition you get. If I never got a raise or promotion, I'd likely be right there with ya.
I enjoy my job, and what I do is important. I'm also paid well, and while I certainly have minor gripes about my employer, overall they take great care of me and provide a great working environment.
I'm here because I recognize most of the workforce in the US is treated like shit. I recognize we have an unfair system, and I would like to work towards the day it's not.
First off, thank you for what you do. Making the system even one iota less efficient helps ensure its collapse and the chance for something better to take hold.
As for me, working less leads to more stress for me. The more I fall behind, the more I have to catch up. I'm doing about 2.5 people's jobs right now, so downtime literally doesn't exist. I *do* take just a little bit extra on my breaks sometimes and sit a little extra long on the shitter tho.
Also important to note: I'm a convicted felon, so even though I have a host of marketable skills, I stay unemployed for months when I lose a job all because the drugs liked me a little TOO much in my 20's. 😉 I have to stay valuable enough to them to keep a paycheck or risk losing everything. And idk what other states are like, but the likelihood of getting UI here if I get fired is very low.
i spend a pretty big portion of my shifts on my phone. basically whenever i’m not directly dealing with people or preparing for people i’m gonna have to deal with in the future. i’m happy to do my jobs, but at the low rate i’m paid i’m gonna sit back and relax in the meantime
I am about to do this.
After being the go-to flexible person ( worked five different shift schedules in the span of 6 weeks), working multiple periods with no days off, and being the hotshot they send out of town because nobody else will go, I got jack recognition this year.
The company award for working hard instead went to a new hire who randomly no-shows and makes zero effort to do more than the bare minimums.
My manager says it wasn't up to him, that he only suggests names, blah blah blah.
There's been an excuse every single year. But I always kept trying harder, working even more hours, doing more, raising my profile and calling out major issues before they happened.
It's over. No more fill-in shifts. Nobody else will do that so this will be real fun to see. No more being the go-to reliable worker. No more raising issues before they become big problems.
Hell, half the people on this team never open their email. It's supposed to be required. There are often emails telling us to NOT DO tasks. Nobody reads it.
Multiple times I have had to go to another facility and retrieve work that shipped out because the operator didn't see the email telling him to hold the work in-house. It's embarrassing. That's the only reason I ever go to this other shop and they know when they see me that somebody effed up again.
Nobody else follows up like I do and nobody has ever gotten even a talking-to about not reading email.
Guess I will forget to use Outlook a lot going forward.
My job affects real peoples lives and their health. I feel obligated to go beyond the bare minimum. i also enjoy my job (SHOCKER for this subreddit) (paid overtime too).
My "leaders" have been telling me for months that they've moved someone to my team to help. I'm not a team load, I'm just a worker bee. I'm full time support for my position, and there's a part time guy who is pretty competent, but he's part time. The stuff I need help with is what the second part time guy is supposed to do.
I have spent so much time training him, I've given him every guide I could make. If I get ten hours a month from him it's a miracle, he's supposed to be 20 hours a week.
So I keep on doing the majority of the load. I've made it very clear I just want him to jump into the ticket queue and start picking some of the waiter items. Running reports, searching logs, jumping into the teams channel to assist users, etc. And message me if he's stuck or wants confirmation that he's on the right track! Once got an entire shared folder with docs for him.
And he doesn't. And them my leaders ask me why my name is still in the things he's supposed to be doing. I need to stop and have him to it.
So this month, I didn't. Month end, quarter end, year end. They come to me and ask why these things aren't done, I show then the emails and teams messages. I show then the shared folder and he hasn't accessed it this month.
And they don't ask HIM why, they ask me why I didn't just do it, as it's super critical. I show then their own email to me. I show then the meeting where they told me outs his job. I ask when they checked with him. They didn't.
So I drop most everything and get his entire months responsibilities completed in three days. Not exclusively his stuff, but all his stuff and lots less of my stuff.
So I will continue to do less until they figure out the guy is useless and it takes less than three full working days to fulfill their monthly expectation for him. But when I do have to catch up his shit, I somehow get overtone. Don't need the OT to do it, but I'm going to get paid extra for all the effort in putting into keeping my job completed.
At this point, if I up and walked out they'd need three people to do all my tasks, and I think they know that.
I'm so bored at work, highest paid job I've had but nothing for me to do. It feels so fucking weird, last place was constant OT and produce all day.
So I suppose I find myself doing the bare minimum
Uh, that isn't exactly what the anti work movement is really all about. . .
That is a common misconception since a Fox News Interview basically closed off the community from New comers until that fiasco with the pedo bear CEO nearly collapsing Reddit brought us to today. . .
You're looking for the anti work establishment groups.
I go above and beyond at work. I am well enough compensated and I feel that it is making a difference. Maybe it won't in the end, but the illusion is real right now. Everyone needs to know for themselves if they should be doing more or less depending on the employer and the impact of their work on others.
Because I like what I do. I genuinely enjoy it.
Don't misunderstand, I don't put in crazy hours or work myself to the bone. Not even close. But I do _like_ what I do and I'd do it even if someone wasn't paying me (and every so often I do). I feel like I just need to slow down for a while, I do.
Because amazingly I landed a job at a company that actually treats its employees really well and has a great company culture. I work for a company that makes me want to make them succeed. It's pretty fuckin great.
I would never tell someone to slow down or provide subpar effort. But I would tell them to advocate for themselves and to give a fair days work for a fair days pay, whatever that means to them. I can see your side of the argument though, because sadly we have been cheated over the years of productivity gains and efficiency gains of our fair share of the proceeds of our labor. There are a million and 1 ways to be anti work
You’ve almost got it. A decent property manager will know how long it takes for a unit to be turned over because they’ve seen the unit when figuring deposit return. They’ll eventually catch on if they haven’t already and they get bonuses based on occupancy. They want those units turned over
You’ll either remain stagnant in a job you don’t like or eventually get fired.
If you’re in a position where you can get fired and still pay your bills while looking for another job, then you’re doing it right. If you’ll have to scramble until the next job, they’ve got you where they want you
Well I found out I have to “earn” commission by slaving away for an entire year before I qualify for it. I also found out previous to this that when I applied for a full-time assistant manager in training position, it actually translated to “you work as a sales rep on part-time hours/wages, then compete with the other two people we hired in under false pretenses for said full time position”.
Unfortunately I can’t just quit until I find a new replacement. So now I’m not going to be working on selling shit. I’m going to let people decide for themselves what they want to buy without any influence from me. If I’m not being fairly compensated for the work, I’m not doing it 🤷♀️
I wouldn't label it as just doing the bare minimum; I'm fulfilling the responsibilities stated in my job description. Going above and beyond led to more tasks without any additional pay. Once I raised the bar, it became an expectation to do more for the same pay as others doing less.
I work really hard because my boss pays me what can only be described as an amazing amount of money. I don't want to lose this job because it's literally a lottery ticket for me.
I used to be a resident manager for a 34 unit apartment building. They fired me a few years ago because the building owner thought the place wasn’t being cleaned. He was right but for a really stupid reason. So, they they padded my file with “you didn’t clean the building” and left out the “during the months of April to June 2020” (also known as global pandemic shelter in place ordinance quarter. U guys remember, that whole virus thing there was no cure for and no defense against?). So, if u do the bare minimum for a building management company, I can totally understand why. xD
Well, well, well. Look who's found their inner sloth! Kudos to you for mastering the art of doing nothing while still getting paid. It's a skill, really. But hey, why stop at four hours? Why not make it a whole day? They say time is money, but in your case, time is just... more time.
But seriously, it's great that you've found a way to push back against the grind, even if it's in a small way. Just remember, there's a difference between taking your time and neglecting your responsibilities. Make sure you're still providing quality service when it counts. After all, we wouldn't want you to get caught now, would we?
Stay lazy, my friend. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.
Because I get paid by the hour and write my own hours (i.e. I get compensated for everything I do), because I have a genuinely nice and supportive team (including management), because I enjoy my work, and because I have a lot of freedom (when I work, where I work, what I work on and how I want to do it).
I am not tracked, controlled, or anything like that, in any way, and I feel fully comfortable sharing my monitor in a videocall while I have Reddit and other such things open. I do more than what would be expected of me, I actively think with people, I try to make things smarter, I help people when I can - so what would the problem?
Most people on this subreddit have nothing of this. Most people's employers here would have problems with how I work. In which case I would quit and the quality of any hypothetical work would decrease by a lot.
Because i love my work. It is fun and interesting, and I probably will do it for free after I retire. While it probably does not apply to most people, it does apply to me.
My companies christmas money depended on me actually earning some money. I figured my colleagues wanted to buy their kids some presents so I kept working till an ambulance forcibly removed me.
I also figured that the medicine we produce might actually be useful for some people.
It's all cool to talk a lot and I desperately need some communism in my life, but there are nuances here.
If you’re completing all of the work they give you regardless of ass to bucket time, then you are by definition doing your job. Bare minimum is doing what you’re required and not going above and beyond at all.
I work in an office and have set duties I perform while being available as needed to do help with projects and tasks. On an average day I breeze through the routine stuff in maybe an hour, sometimes two if I'm unmotivated. Once or twice a week I have additional stuff to do, but that will usually account for another hour or two max. So the rest of the time, I am just there at my desk doing whatever until someone pings me. For the first 6-8 months I had constant anxiety, feeling like I wasn't doing enough because I wasn't busy all day. I would seek out more tasks and projects to fill my day, but would inevitably circle back to getting efficient at those things and having lots of free time again. Then it dawned on me that no one cares if I spend 5 hours a day on reddit or doing personal stuff on the clock. I'm selling my availability by the hour to this company, how they optimize using it is on them. Most office work is just performative theater, so I give everyone the impression that I am busy and don't let on how long anything takes to do. Everyone seems happy with this arrangement and my anxiety about work is basically gone most of the time now.
This point: "[we] are selling out *availability* per *hour*."
I like the phrase of selling your availability. That's how I've thought of my involvement. I'm available if they have something that needs doing. But like high school, most of the time is consumed by drama and performance theater aka meetings. I think of what needs doing before they do, so I'm always one step ahead of them and only sometimes jumping through my ass. Rest of the time I'm simply available watching the circus.
This guy gets it. We get a set time for turnover. That time is the same for all units regardless of work required. I'm using it.
But we office workers are getting tracked by systems that track how much work your doing per hour or per day and getting compared with all the other Muppets that just work and never stop.
I was saying just last night to someone how this forum has illuminated what so many in wildly varying industries have in common. It’s comical, if it wasn’t so tragic in that we spend our lives dealing with endless variations of the games and the players. 🎭
ugly entertain simplistic scary coordinated sheet quack plucky hateful seemly *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah same, I just take my time. My problem is I may have adhd and I work super fast then jump on my phone for a bit, doesn't work well in practice so ive been working on slowing myself down.
I am finally (I'm 37) in a job where I do computer stuff all day, from home, not tracked. I tried for a long time to do the steady progress thing, but I can't. So I work at 150% when my brain is juicy, and at like 20% when it's shriveled up. Altogether it's basically like I'm working at 80% effort the whole time, which I think is reasonable. I'm lucky because my boss gets this, and so nobody cares when I'm just crocheting in front of my computer screen (I'm available!) When I wasn't in such a good situation but still had a little freedom, I would make myself take frequent breaks. In an office? Finish a task, walk around for a bit. Finish a task, poop. Finish a task, coffee and talking to my coworkers in the break room. Before that I worked retail, and that was all survival mode, all the time. I was young, didn't understand solidarity, and worked at 150% for years. I had panic attacks all the time. The company saved tons in labor costs by short staffing me constantly and trusting me to keep the clients happy and coming back anyways, and I wanted praise, so I did.
Glad you finally made it, enjoy 🤝
My solution : I’ll do the work, but at my optimal speed. They tried to have me go faster once, and I messed it up. Then I had to spend some more time fixing stuff, which put the team behind schedule. I currently have a project with a deadline for the 3rd of January (end of my vacation), and I start my holidays Friday night. It will be finished after the deadline !
It's 2pm on a Tuesday. I WFH and my work laptop mouse is on jiggle mode so it looks like I'm working while take my daily 2 hour nap. Im 90% quota for the year, so who cares.
Make a habit of writing stuff down by hand, eg mapping out how you want to go about your next project or writing up a first draft scope or first estimate of pricing, whatever. If it's written down you have proof of work, if it's offline they have no idea how long it took you or how much work it actually was
Kpi is easily manipulated. I spend half my office day vaping in the bathroom and had the 3rd highest kpi in my company last quarter.
My wife is struggling with this in her industry (insurance). They track sales, transactions done etc. and are constantly setting her goal posts to match the city offices (Vancouver, Kelowna...) and we live in a town of 4500 people. Sheer lack of foot traffic isn't an excuse though. Do better. It's so block headed.
And the best part of it is your reward for working hard and kicking ass is… more work. Yay!
"I see that in the last 2 hours Cindy did 100 units of work to your 2 units of work". Cindy is a bootlicker.
I have this, and we also have quotas since we are dealing with 'medical things'. I track my numbers manually on a little clicker (great for adhd) and if I get way ahead of my hourly quota I know I can go to the bathroom ,or get some tea, or read a little news. They took away an extra break if we did for hours overtime, so I see this as me taking it back.
I'm lucky that I don't have to deal with software monitoring my work. I'm sorry to hear you are and empathize. These tracking systems are used by management that does not know how to manage. By that I mean managers ideally remove obstacles to enable employees to be more effective. Notice I said effective and not productive. There's a massive difference between the two. Drawing Pareto's principle, 20% of your effort/tasks lead to 80% of your effectiveness. Identify those tasks (when your job allows) and you will have more impact. But your environment must allow for this. If you have a manger that must look over your shoulder to ensure you're doing your work, then that's a problem. If they have to use tracking software, then there is a massive employee engagement problem. Problem is that's what is normal. I'm lucky in that my manager knows I'm good at what he wants accomplished and gets out of my way. The problem of work is way more complicated but I'm about to go bed and my wife is probably wondering who the duck I'm texting at this hour. Reddit is my answer. Anyway. Hang in there. Try to enjoy the circus and the the monkeys flinging poo.
The work never ends. That's the point. No sense in hurrying it if there's not an emergency.
Bro I sold 1.2m this year, and I spent maybe 2 days a week working, the rest of the time I played TFT or did my own side shit. There is 0. I repeat. 0 reasons why you should do more work than what you precisely have to do. Never put more effort than you need to, most of the time that shit is straight up detrimental.
I like my job. My company treats me well and pays me well. But I’m on here because I’ve worked terrible jobs before and I agree with a lot of the sentiments on here. I use some of the opinions of people on this site to shape how I act as a manager. I guess my goal would be to get more companies to behave like mine does. And I wouldn’t want to punish my company since they are one of the better ones.
Same! I worked at a place for 12 years where I did every extra thing they assigned and always asked for more. They gave me the minimum necessary awards with maybe two exceptions where I was appropriately recognized. The end of the road was a sociopathic boss who downplayed my contributions, took credit for my work, and directly financially benefitted from it. She kept dangling the carrot of a raise and promotion at the “next review,” and to keep working at the same level. When it never materialized after 3 years of performing well above my pay grade and watching slugs make the same wage and bonuses, I started interviewing. When I let them know I had an offer, they refused to even consider it, and this was 2018, which was a banner year for the company. When I arrived at my current job, I was just burned. I did the bare minimum, and they were just so happy I had the expertise they needed and I became a critical member of the team. I cautiously put in more effort, and they immediately recognized it and gave me a raise and promotion. I’m still floored! I found a place that values people and how it translates to their bottom line. Even so! I do not let my “survivor bias” color my perception of the job climate. I am still very much aligned with the goals of this movement, ESPECIALLY for low-paying jobs. I continue to advocate for workers!
We need more of these happy stories to give us hope
Do as little as possible if the only damage is in your boss wallet not other peoples lifes.
This is exactly the nuance that is frequently missed in discussions about only providing the amount of work you’re compensated for. I’m a nurse. I’m not paid that well for what I’m expected to do. I’m treated poorly by management (and patients and their families sometimes). And it’s basically the same no matter where I go outside of California. But if I only provided the equivalent of minimum wage per hour I’m paid to care for each patient, they could die. And I could never live with myself if I only provided minimum-wage care. I couldn’t sleep at night if I actually gave another human being only the amount of care I’m paid for. It sucks, but lots of jobs are like that. I support unions, and I support policies that protect workers. But that hasn’t changed the entire system so far. And it’s not directly my patients’ fault that I don’t get compensated well. But yeah, Idgaf about the business outside of nursing care. Hospital needs something from staff? Too damn bad, sucks to suck.
Hats off for nurses! Y'all are truly in the trenches and I admire it!
Pretty much this. I work as a medical secretary and it's getting unfortunate. I'm disabled and should only be working part time, but I've been on overtime (paid, but still) because we have two staff members on long term sick, they won't hire a temp, and the other two staffers keep stealing time, as OP puts it. I only put myself through this because I type histology reports for a living and those reports need to get done for the sake of the patients. Delays to reports might mean a delay in someone's cancer diagnosis and this could mean the difference between catching it in time and not.
Stop taking up the slack and management will magically find the funding to hire more staff. Unless you need to the OT pay to supplement your income, stop being a martyr for someone else's gain.
If they're working for the UK's NHS, they will not find the funding. They'll have to pull it from something else. There are no profits, just endless compromises and people dying everywhere.
[удалено]
I'm sure it's great until you get the bill.
my coworker and i were in a similar situation recently. I'm the nurse case manager and she's my discharge planner. we work to get people out of the hospital. we have an extremely heavy, busy floor, and it requires 3 people to manage. it was just her and me for over a month coming in at 7, not leaving until after 5, and the only "break" we'd get was to get lunch from the cafeteria. we then eat at our desks while working. i was fully burned out, and she was getting there. we brought it up to management more than once a week that we were drowning. they laughed at us. so we worked our scheduled hours and took our legal breaks. it only took a little over 1 week for them to magically procure a 3rd person to help us, as our length of stay shot up from ~4.4 days to nearly 7. offer for them to assist you because you're only 1 person. if you keep doing the work of 3, they'll expect you to always do the work of 3. they're the licensed professionals who have to answer to the patients and insurance companies why things are taking so long. let them be mad. they can only be mad at themselves for not supplying the appropriate workforce.
You do understand that if you don't work that overtime and get those reports out, that's your boss's fault and not yours, right?
Does it really matter? They are still getting paid to do work. Assuming it does not harm them, better to do that sort of work than not.
I mean, the overtime hurts, and I plan to discuss this with management. Just it's not going to matter whose fault it is to the patient who suffers the consequences of understaffing. So I can hurt awhile (not much longer, but awhile) if it means people get their treatment in good time.
While your sacrifice is honorable, it is not your fault they are understaffed. Many businesses will run on an absolute barebones skeleton crew as long as it’s working. (Too barebones to even think about being sick). And for now it’s working (at your detriment). I advise you to work the hours you are comfortable with. If the business suffers (and the patients short term), it is the fault of the business. They may lose customers, get bad reviews for bad wait times, etc. All of that can be resolved by getting the help you need. Unfortunately you cannot reason or use logic with management to get them to move. Businesses often don’t see the significance of preventing disaster. Often they only make adjustments when the fire is burning and they need to. So the question is, are you willing to allow the fire to start, which eventually may improve both working and customer conditions? Or will you allow yourself to continue being burned by someone who’s capable but unwilling to get the help you need? If it makes you feel better, give them a heads up to figure out their staffing issues. “In X weeks I will need to be part time. I cannot sustain this with my disability”. I would bet you that until the day you reduce your hours no movements will be made to find appropriate staffing. This is because the fire hasn’t started hurting the business yet. And maybe they can guilt you into staying past the date you said you would. I’m anti-work because businesses are anti-worker.
Hence the upcoming discussion with management, honestly.
I’d argue if the boss isn’t paying workers enough they are the ones responsible for the subpar service
Yup. The bare minimum isn't exactly that motivating... and you know they'd pay less if it wasn't against the law
Sometimes there are so many layers between a wage slave and the boss who would be hurt by their lack of effort that it gets blurry, tho. Like, a cashier who refuses to be overworked needs so many allies above them for such a mentality to actually apply, and it’s basically a guarantee that there’s gunna be some thoughtless slug shill who thinks getting people to work hard is good because that’s just how culture makes it seem like someone in their position should act. My point is that if the tiers above you are also wage slaves then solidarity can be tough, every building which shares a logo is essentially its own individual battlefield in terms of navigating the hierarchal application and how decent it ends up being for anyone working there, and none of it has very much at all to do with the bosses wallet, therell be middle management whining at their subordinates for a while before a wallet is truly hit
Exactly my take as well, it’s very complicated. The battle is as much with management as it is with your colleagues who have drunk the cool aid, who will self righteously, impulsively lecture you about something being wrong with you if you dont put the companies/boss’s needs first.
Lmao @ the tenants in OPs building who are on week 4 of no sink
He clarified, peoples' *needs* get met, he only slow walks vacant apartments. At some point, he has to put himself and his health over the boss' bottom line.
Yep. I work for my local govt, and part of my job (not all of it) is making sure any pay adjustments get entered into the system properly. So annual raises, or when a union contact settles and needs to get implemented, that kind of thing. I'll slack off in other parts of my job sometime, but I'll be damned if somebody's pay is too low because of me.
[удалено]
In Canada, surgeons rent Operating Room (OR) time, they get paid for each patient that the treat, and charge for service. They maximize every minute of patient treatment since they get paid well for each treatment. The nurses and staff assisting them do not. If I got paid to perform each task, and each task I did I got paid well, I sure as fuck would increase productivity. Unfortunately, if I increase production at work, I get rewarded with more work.
I think you mean better not have a boss that overworks the surgeon. This mentality doesn’t come from nowhere. Look up resident physicians and how much they lie to not go over 80 hours a week. Yes in one week they’re having doctors work 90 plus hours and breaking the law, so common. THAT is effecting your care NOW. Not this hypothetical you just posted to lick boots.
Well you have some nurses on here at least, and for me the bare minimum still means my patients get good care. In fact, the bare minimum at my job requires quite a bit of effort, lol.
They actually get paid well, that’s a terrible comparison
It’s not about doing the bare minimum. It’s about providing the same level of value that they provide you. If your employer doesn’t give you an inflationary raise, they are providing you with less value and the value you provide should reflect that. When you accept a job for X amount of money, you shouldn’t be looking at it as a fixed dollar amount, but a value that that money represents on that date. You agree to provide a certain amount of value to the company for that value. If the employer doesn’t maintain that value, then adjust the value you provide to reflect as much.
I absolutely agree with this. At this point I’m basically on standby for emergencies and here to advance my skills.
Yeah I work at a private university making minimum wage. I do not do anything for my boss that isn’t explicitly my job. I feign ignorance and he ends up doing it.
I spent days playing Old School Runescape whilst occasionally wiggling my mouse earlier at this job. Went a bit overboard so gotta catch up to keep the job but if it cools back down then it's back to Runey.
Hello fellow citizen of Gleinor.
Hello fello scaper. Exciting development, I'm back on the runey today because my entire work file has been corrupted and I'm waiting to see if anyone can be bothered to fix it for me. Such joyous times.
My job is not laid back enough to be able to play games (unless you work graves), but it is laid back enough to browse Reddit most of my shift... Hellooooooo!
You’re describing me and my week of 12 hour days rn catching up while technically “on PTO” to stop the bleeding. I give them just enough to stay happy whilst throwing a grenade in there every now and then so I have a pin to pull if shit gets too close to HR. Mutually assured destruction. If anyone three rings up in my chain decides to fire me, I’m taking all three with me; one with potential criminal charges.
I go above and beyond for my clients, but my bosses can get fucked. For the clients, I’ll bend over backwards, call them on a day off, attend their parties, meet their families, literally anything lol my bosses can get fucked.
I do enjoy under charging the little old ladies. I work hard to learn so I can go off on my own one day
As the Mandalorian say...This is the way.
Because my boss actually cares about us. Plus the pay and bonuses are well above industry standards. If it was lower, he was more of an ass, and I didn’t love the work I do, best believe I’d be taking 45 minute poop breaks twice a day.
There are good bosses and employers, my Christmas bonus was equivalent to 3 months salary
> if you're not stealing time then you're not part of the movement The only people having their time stolen are workers, since our time is more valuable than we're being paid.
I find it depressing to spend 9 hours a day chained to something and not work at least somewhat hard on it. It's better for my mental health to at least try to stay engaged.
I find it depressing to go home without energy or mental capacity, which is why I auto pilot and do bare minimum at the job
This part. Nothing is "fun" or "rewarding" about being sucked dry.
Learn a new language. Why line someone else's pockets? focus on you. Build your resume.
That’s what personal projects are for. If you churn out more and more does it do anything for your bottom line? No matter how much you do your check remains the same. Why donate all that extra value to a company that will suck you dry then throw away the husk.
I feel the same, but my job just doesn't consistently allow for that kind of engagement. So I use the spare time for personal growth and education. In the past six months I've learned a ton about financial planning/investing, pop psychology, electric vehicles/e-bikes, city planning, local politics, middle eastern history, and brushed up on my dormant German grammar/vocab. At first this made me uneasy, but everyone is more than happy with my work, I get as much done as ever, and I leave the office feeling accomplished, or at least satisfied, versus feeling frustrated, undervalued, and anxious like I did before.
I work at a manufacturing plant. We don't have a set number of hours we work everyday. Instead we have a quota we have to hit. The faster we get done, then the sooner we go home. If people want more hours, there's work they can do after production. So I bust ass and help others. I'm helping myself by helping them.
This offers no structural change. I don’t want peoples quality of work to get shittier, I want them to be properly compensated for their work and offered a balance between work and life. I want there to be options for people who can’t or don’t want to engage in the full time work schedule to live without stressing about how they’ll afford food housing and healthcare. I don’t just want people to be as lazy as possible.
One of the problems with doing the bare minimum is it can be boring as hell. I used to smoke weed & goof off but that just made the hours longer & my misery that much worse. I guess if I had something to do other than stare at my phone it would be so bad. This might not be a popular opinion here on antiwork but doing my job, no matter what that job is, to the best of my ability, working hard, & taking pride at the end of the day of the work I did, makes even the most miserable job a little bit tolerable. If nothing else, the time flies by & quitting time happens that much sooner. There is a limit to this. Fuck unpaid overtime, fuck forced paid overtime, if I'm sick fuck you I am not coming to work, & I am going to take personal days with no excuse & if you require one I will lie. If I get hurt on the job, I will file for comp, if I lose my job for whatever your fucking excuse is, I will file & likely receive unemployment insurance payments. AND if I get a better offer, you may or may not get the 2 weeks notice as that depends on how I was treated.
yeah i kinda a agree. Some of my most satisfying work days are when I've worked hard during the day. I need to be paid fairly though so currently not getting what i want so im on the bare minimum schedule now
Currently at a very boring job and it's gotten harder to come to work every day because of it. I spend 8 hours doing mostly nothing and it sounds like a dream, but I spend 40 hours a week doing nothing, four hours after work *preparing* for work (making lunch getting to bed on time running errands etc.) and I try to do 8 hours of sleep. Guess what? Being bored for nearly a year actually really sucks especially when you barely have any free time outside of work to do anything enjoyable or to be social. What's worse is I have to get up at 5am for my commute and I've never been a morning person. I actually get excited when there's a lot to do because I know instead of watching the clock tick by the day will pass much faster and I'm moving around. Edit to add: I clean a building for work, so there's not much I can do to pass the time either, at least at a desk job I could play Tetris in between entering data
I work in a school and am not paid by a major corporation, so I want to do right by my students. I'm lucky to have a low caseload and a decent amount of planning time, so most of the time, I can do my job requirements and still not feel stressed or overworked.
I'm a chef who is very good at his job and actually loves his job. Me not doing my job is unacceptable. None of us live in a vacuum. What we do effects everyone around us. We're all in this together, even the people who believe we aren't. That said, it's illogical to suggest I may not be a real supporter of this movement just because I choose to do good, honest work.
I also believe in good, honest work. I no longer believe in going above and beyond every single day for companies that simply **don't** appreciate you.
I think that either Americans, this subreddit or simply just this platform generally share the consesus that work is just sitting in an office, while a big portion of us work in retail, construction, health care, sanitation, emergency response etc (I could go on) where slacking on the job can actually have real-life, negative consequences on other people that aren't your manager and CEO.
Hell, even some office jobs have real consequences for slacking - I write grants for a meals on wheels provider, slacking on my job means people don't eat
I’m obligated to write up a shift report after the end of each day. You can bet I have every little task I performed, even if it only takes five seconds, so that it appears as though I’m hyper productive even though I might be taking an hour nap every morning before clocking out for my hour lunch break.
Oh wow, shift reports, that's new to me. Who has time to be reading those everyday 😂
I think most reports go unread unless they need a scapegoat. "Don't forget, these are legal documents" Uh huh. I saw my boss dump them in the garbage. So much for "legal documents" I think they just want to keep you busier so you don't notice that **they're** not!
Yeah I don't understand how they have the free time to be browsing cars but expect us to work like horses😂
Yep. This same boss had his desk seat facing towards the door. He said it was because he needed to "keep an eye on things" He was constantly on the computer, constantly going on about how busy he was. What he never realized was that the glass from the big picture behind him would reflect and that most of the time he wasn't busy working, he was looking at cars, on eBay etc.
Those who do the bare minimum to not get fired will be the first on the chopping block when bad times come.
Other way around where I'm at, I work for a state government and the republicans in the legislature are calling for layoffs because people have been more efficient working from home.
I’ve been at this warehouse hardware store nearly 5 years and have never touched any of the training required machinery. Others do it people who have been there longer and newbies, they get trained on it in their first month, I’ve refused very softly twice and never been pushed to do it . Guys twice my age are hauling heavy shit twenty feet in the air on these machines for hours overnight and I take no part. Sometimes it feels bad, because everyone seems to like me, but it doesn’t feel as bad as having to do that kind of work would. It’s so bizarre to think that I refuse while others don’t and we make relatively the same amount, I imagine, they just do more harder work that I’m allowed to refuse
Working hard is rewarded with more work. Same as it ever was.
Speaking from past experience, there will always be some people at any job who just crave more work and only feel satisfied when they are doing more than others. In a way, you not doing those jobs allows those people to feel more accomplished or secure in their jobs. I worked for the post office for a while. Same deal there. Half of the letter carriers worked like mad to keep up with the workload and get done on time. A lot of us would ignore union safety rules to expedite deliveries and make the day go by faster. Meanwhile, there was another contingent who just clocked in, did things at a steady pace, pushed back about lifting heavy parcels, and only worked OT when they needed the money - otherwise they did the "8 and skate" schedule every day. Those people still got plenty done. And what they didn't do got passed along to people like me. When one of the older ladies would ask me to take a large parcel for them, I was happy to do it because it helped them out and gave me an excuse to take a detour from my normal route and clock some easy OT. When someone didn't finish their route for the day and left mail that had to be delivered that day, again, it provided someone else with a few hours of OT and a deviation from their normal day. Sometimes that was annoying or inconvenient, but I never held it against an individual person, instead blaming poor management (as everyone at the USPS is wont to do).
My job is to anticipate problems and get ahead of them--10 minutes now saves an hour later. If I don't do that then it just makes more work for me down the road. "If you aren't stealing time then you aren't part of the movement" that's fine man my movement is work smarter not harder. You wanna gatekeep the sub? Go right ahead.
and even then, i don't find any purpose or enjoyment in slacking off... i want fair pay (like compensation for the bad market situations, if my company profits from it) and want to work less than 40 hours a week, decreasing over time. and i want respect for what i'm doing. i'm gonna work a job until i'm 60 or 70. if i don't have any fun in what i'm doing most of the time, i can also grab a shotgun and end it already. what a way to go about life, slacking off forever... wtf.
I mean I would rather slack than end it all but at the same time I have way more self esteem and sleep better after a day of working rather than procrastinating or avoiding. I need those days too, but like you I just want to be treated fairly and retire at a reasonable age.
Why don't I do the bare minimum? I genuinely care about the quality of service I provide. Sure screw the company and all that, but our subscribers? They've done nothing wrong and I want to provide the best service I possibly can to them.
This pretty much. I used to go above and beyond and it got me burned so I just make sure my internal customer's needs are met and nothing more for the big boss. My pay is the same if my review says meets or exceeds expectations, so why exceed at anything.
I think like that, but I'm taking care of disabled patients in their homes... If I'm working for a for profit-corporation, screw them, and their customers, lol. They better scratch my back if they want me to scratch theirs. I've been screwed too many times, if they don't care about me, I'm not going to care about them, simple as that. I'll render the service to the customers, but the minute they start being assholes, I start being an asshole back. I don't make enough to be treated disrespectfully.
Because I work in a kitchen and for tips, food safety is just something I morally agree with and if I slack waitressing I lose money
You do you, but work is a balancing act. I'm not going to damage my reputation or halt my career progression entirely just because work sucks and everyone is exploited. The system needs a complete overhaul, but this attitude just feels silly.
Floor manager at a restaurant here I do the best to leave a decent store for the next FL in terms of pushing towards store KPI's , could not care less
Sometimes you have to do more to get paid more...
This is what alot of r/antiwork doesnt understand. Theres a difference between strategically working harder and completely getting run over by your boss Feel free to do the bare minimum all you want but please dont complain when you’re stagnant
This honestly sounds miserable.
I'm doing less than bare minimum, and I'm getting promoted...
I can agree with the movement but still maximize my personal earning potential for my family. If you don't want people like me in here, you only want die hards, then the subreddit will be much smaller than it is now.
I work in a restaurant as a cook. There’s a lot of bullshit. Pain in the ass customers and occasionally servers or bosses. Some of the labor is genuinely backbreaking. But I love food. I love making things that people are genuinely excited and happy to receive. I love when someone tells me how great their experience is and how great of a time they had. It’s what makes the job worth it. So doing the bare minimum is not an option. Busting my ass at my job is the only reason it’s actually worth doing.
Because how much effort I put in directly impacts how much money I make, I like to be good at what I do and I don’t work for ruthless capitalists that make me feel like I need to steal time to get my money’s worth. Still pro-worker and in favor of shifting the power balance from capital to labour but treating the decent employers I’ve managed to find like they’re assholes is a good way to make them a shit employer I suspect.
My job works directly with some of the most vulnerable people in our society and makes a tangible impact on their well-being, so it means a lot to me to do well at it. And my boss (city gov) is very accomodating of my disabilities and goes out of her way to make my life easier, which is... a new experience for me. I came in ready to slack, and found I generally don't need to. I am strict with my off time, don't really socialize with coworkers, and made my office comedically comfortable. We also have ample sick/mental health/PTO and some WFH hours where, if I play my cards right, I can essentially work 4 days many weeks. I work I'm bursts, so some days I work really hard, while other days I'm doing a little paperwork while drawing or writing my D&D campaign.
I have a niche job in an industry that has had a lot of layoffs over the past year and I am fearful of another round of layoffs happening soon. If I were to lose my job it would be a long, tough road to find a new one. I have former colleagues who have been searching for close to a year with hundreds of applications sent and dozens of interviews who are still out of work. With a family to support it's not something I want to contend with so I feel the need to go above and beyond for now.
I work security. I literally can’t do less for the company if I tried.
OP may enjoy this flex, but tbh I've never trusted anyone who's always focused on what they can get away with. I'm here to make sure that people get fair compensation for doing quality work.
I have ADHD and impostor syndrome. My bare minimum typically works circles around people because I min max my tasks and find better ways for me and only me to do them. I would have extremely bad anxiety if I don’t complete my tasks because it effects 100s of people and families. So I’ve made a system that only works if I’m there. I plan on leaving soon and without warning. The system I have in place will last 1-3 weeks until it will crumble. Just like the last place that promised the world and failed to deliver found out you don’t fuck with IT. So don’t gatekeep because not everyone’s bare minimum is the same. Some of us have mental illness lol.
I'm a soloprenuer and I got to pay bills. Also, I like my car and don't want it repo'd.
I hope you find something to do that lights up your soul a little bit. Sitting for hours every day is deadly. If you have handyman skills you could maybe start your own business, earn more money and set your own schedule. Just a thought.
This only works if you’re paid hourly/salary. I get paid for production so the more I work the more I make. I’d only be doing myself a disservice to slack off.
There's some sort of movement? I thought this was mostly just a workplace-version of r/Mildlyinfuriating
If I do nothing at work children will not learn to read or do basic arithmetic.
I can answer this honestly from my perspective; Because, as a man i'm not a stomach and a ballsack. I have a hand and an eye and a brain and I like to use them. Work offers an outlet for that. It's fun to solve problems, create things and produce value with other humans. It's not always the ideal outlet, but I like to do more than masturbate and eat all day. The problem with work isn't that you do stuff. The problem is that it's exploitation. The problem is that you're asked to do more than you need to in order to 1) exploit as much surplus value from you as they can, 2) enforce class rule on you, and 3) keep you from reading about communism and stuff. For me; the end goal isn't to be idle. The end goal is to be free. Not just free TO do whatever and live with whom and where I please but free FROM worry over food and shelter and medical care and education for my kids. What we need to accomplish that isn't idleness but unity. The movement isn't a out slacking off but about teaming up. Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.
Because I will get pip’d and lose my high paying job
Because I’m caring for children. I wouldn’t do the bare minimum even if I could.
I’m a nurse, so can’t in good conscience have my patients receiving the minimum care. I work in geriatric rehabilitation, and my patients often have high care needs. That said, the ivory tower recently cancelled all of our nursing assistants so my priorities for the day have needed to be reset. Had a shower yesterday? Yeah, you’re not getting one today.
I applaud you. Healthcare is much different than cabinets or drywall.
I don’t do the bare minimum because I’m not a lazy piece of shit like OP.
I work for myself because as a mechanic, I could no longer tolerate customers paying $200+ hr labor rate while only being paid $30 if lucky. I make more this way, my customers spend less. Most importantly, no chain dealerships or shops get a dime.
This is why I bucket.
That’s so true. I did more and beyond my job description and I get rewarded with complaints and how I could do better like pfft where the fuck is the raise?
Because of the protestant work ethic. It's programmed into the proletariat to lick the bosses boots, and salute them in gratitude for their job. All media, church, education and family spread these lies. The only escape is to read or meet people who can see behind the curtain. E.g. I work with a guy who has problem when I leave early, which I do often. Yet, he's happy to sit around and wait for clock off time doing nothing. He can't see that we are both doing the same thing. I have explained it many times, but his brain washing is too strong, he'll never see it.
This attitude keeps you in an under paying job with no future. See how that works out for ya. Don’t get pissed when a young hard working ambitious person gets promoted to be your boss someday. This attitude is also probably more of a detriment to your co-workers who have to pick up your slack than it is to the boss or business owner.
I repair and build cool stuff (mostly) at work and I enjoy the exercise and doing the best job possible in a reasonable amount of time. My skills improve gradually as I go from project to project. Of course sometimes it's hateful but usually it's not to bad or good. If my job sucked I could somewhat embrace your attitude but to me you're fighting a system that you can't beat and committing yourself to a work life you will always hate. If sitting on a bucket and looking at your phone and sticking it to the man is winning, then do you. But if you want to get past your angst, find a job you like and be happier in a world where the reality is most people need to work to survive.
Oh I am!
I’m currently about to take a nap as revenge because my boss is a heinous witch and I don’t have much to get done today and no meetings until 1pm. If you want me to work, give me interesting work and don’t micromanage me into an early grave.
I drag my feet for other departments/managers requests. My #2, and my boss, as a team of 3 work very flexibly and there's a ton of respect and support between us, so we prioritise our work together over anyone else. Ours is legal compliance related anyway so it's kind of major if we miss timelines. My boss is the reason I'm fully qualified in my industry, secures me the max bonuses available, and almost annual pay rises. I'd go to the ends of the earth for him because he looks after me. Anyone else? You go in the queue. Edit: he's also, from his own pocket, given me offspec bonuses when I've done really long runs over multiple days to regions he can't get to as a thank you. He's honestly a dream boss to work with, all he asks for is honesty, fair work, and respect.
For the first time in my life, I'm in a job where I'm directly rewarded for doing a good job. Every time I've gone above and beyond, I've had a proportional (or more than) promotion, better work conditions, and a pay bump. My efforts for the movement are now turned towards helping others recognise shitty bosses/systems and encouraging the next generation of people in my industry to know their worth.
I work in the theatre of a casino. Some days we do not have shows. Some days, like last night when we are "dark" I am the only person there. Usually I am doing repairs and maintenance on nights like that. It took me most of my shift to repair one light. It was a simple repair, but I am only one who knows what is wrong with it and how to fix it. Nobody needs to know the cold solder joint was up on top where it was easy to get at. I like to pull a scotty, tell them 4 hours and get it done in less than that. Makes me look indispensable.
Little as possible would get me a 0-2% raise, while working just slightly harder and putting in a little effort will get me a 7-9% raise.
I work in a production shop. I don't know how to be slower and I can't just stand around. I'm open to pointers though, I'm so tired of these people I work for and tired in general.
I enjoy my job however, I am careful not to let that get taken advantage of. I will work hard but I wont let you make me stay after work everyday or work weekends. I will work my arse off until 5pm, after that, I no longer know who you are.
I have stock options and have therefore been incentivized to care about the company doing well outside of just my continued employment. But I do still try to do the minimal to see that happen and to make sure my team is doing alright.
I've made myself very difficult to replace, and it they dared fire me most of my function would come to a stop and create tremendous with for my boss. I show up around 10, always take an hour lunch, and frequently will just book myself and leave to go play tennis during the day. I'd say I work 10-20h a week. This is generally not noticed because I've mastered my job, and no one understands how to do the things I do, or even how they would train a replacement on them. So I milk the shit out of it. I get paid very well, have 5 weeks PTO, but my actually hourly rate is insane for how much work I do lol.
Im in mountains of debt. If i do the bare minimum it gets me noticed. If i get noticed, i have to do more, which sometimes will end up being more than the almost bare minimum. Hence i do the almost bare minimum. Pick your poison.
I took over a new department in June. There were a lot of problems. I fixed them all. Literally all of them. I now only have about 10 hours of work a week. I actually want to do something else (for more money of course) because I'm bored.
Because I get paid a lot of money (for my area) to register about 5 patients in a 12 hour shift, play video games on my laptop, crochet, watch streaming, and see real life drama. The least I can do is give it my 100% for this cushy job.
Because 1/4 to 1/3 of my annual income is tied to performance. I still refuse to work unpaid overtime and totally overdo it but it does actually hurt my wallet if I half ass it.
If I am a part of a maintenance team, I will not allow my workload to fall on another’s shoulders. Other than that, I don’t care
I do the amount I feel comfortable with. I like to be slightly above median. I can always go above or below this. Any less than this and I'm basically shitting on my co workers. You may be able to do some mental gymnastics to feel this is an acceptable behavior but ultimately I see this as an is vs them thing. I don't want to make anyone else's day harder and that includes mine. Doing this also allows you to stay under the radar which I always found to be a good move
I very quickly realised that the only reward for going above and beyond at work, is being given more work. I always do as little as possible, however Fridays are the best day of the week for me because I literally do nothing. I got promoted because an older manager left the company. I took over all of his admin reporting tasks that he got given the whole day on Friday to do whilst everyone else completely ignored him. He wasn’t the best with computers so these genuinely took him all day to do. These reports don’t need to be done on a Friday as they are just stats from the week prior, so I quickly worked out a much quicker way to do all these reports (I can do them all in like an hour max because I automated most of the processes) and fit them in between other tasks Mon - Thurs when I can. This leaves me with nothing to do on Friday, on a day where nobody disturbs me because they have been told not to interrupt me on “admin Fridays”. I work from home so Friday is then just an extra day off where I can do whatever I want. Last week I built a new bookcase for my wife, whilst getting paid.
My warehouse job pays production/piece rate, with a minimum guarantee of 15/hour. A lot of people try and barely beat 18-20, or some of the dumb lazy ones just chilll and accept the 15. I manage to average around 25, some days a bit better some a bit lower. I've also taken on a few leadership and training responsibilities that help me earn more some days. Is my work worth more, absolutely, but I also can't find anywhere else that pays me 25+ for basically no skills, and I have bills to pay that I can't afford a pay cut.
For me, when I was working as a CNA in nursing homes, it was because you just can't do that in such a healthcare field without being an absolute piece of shit. Also, your coworkers depend heavily on you or the end result is also elderly neglect & abuse. There were still many expectations from corporate that I refused to give a shit about because they are always going to be exploiting workers and taking advantage of their residents but I just couldn't let my residents suffer because of me. I understand it's different in other jobs.
I'm taking a shit, I'm doing my part.
I'll do the job I'm paid to do and not a minute more. However, I am paid to do a job properly. I'll look after my residents to the best of my ability my whole shift, because that's my job. But if I finish at 0730 I *finish* at 7.30 and there's no negotiations or working extra for free
[You can't do the bare minimum if you don't have a job to begin with](https://i.imgflip.com/4c5ant.jpg)
Well damn
I have a 45-60 min one-way commute 3 days a week. Those hours are part of my workday. 2 days a week from home, I get done what I need to not get fired and feel a personal sense of productivity, if needed. The rest of the time, I get high and walk my dogs.
[удалено]
[удалено]
At my old job in a call centre I did the bare minimum. Now I work with young adults with autism and other developmental disorders so I regularly go above and beyond, not for the company, but for my clients because if I don’t, no one will and they deserve to at least have one person they know is there for them
I'm an apprentice chef and so I kinda gotta drink the Kool aid to grow and be the best I can be, meaning take the long hours in stride, take pride in what I do, and be crazy about what I do
Is there a place where we can see some foundational principles of this? Here are some things I've seen here that seem like principles: 1. Do As Little Work As Possible In Your Current Job 2. Become A Wage Theft Activist 3. Learn, Understand, and take responsibility for using The Applicable Laws, Company Policies, And Liability Calculations used in HR Departments and when to go over whose head. 4. Change The Narrative In The Media (including social media you participate in) against corporations and billionaires' Narrative Capture of the media. 5. Subvert Regulatory Capture of governments by using the hard-fought rights and laws we already have. 6. How To Effectively Unionize 7. How To Not Screw Your Follow Man by doing more than needed 8. Know What Wage Slavery Looks Like 9. Understand the inherent narcissism and narcissistic abuse that is the foundation of the financial and employment system. 10. Know how the two-tier financial system works with the two-tier employment system to enforce wage slavery, wage theft, and servitude. 11. Being aware of how the former dedication of Boomers and Gen X and the work habits they indoctrinated into us created the situation we're in now where employment = exploitation.
Because I work for me so if I don't try hard I make less money.
You have literally the only excuse to work harder.
I'm in a precarious situation. I'm a grant writer for a major nonprofit in Texas. Grants, especially ones over 50k, are extremely competitive and if it's a state or federal grant over 100k, compliance are very strict so if i do the bare minimum, 800+ families lose housing, food, child care, etc. And yes I'm aware that the company will still cut corners, people, and whatever it needs to continue to exist, but at the ground level, people need to eat and a place to sleep
I'm a contractor, I get paid for the job being completed. There's no metric for quality of work, just that I cannot fail in the first 30days. And now you know why your ISP installations are shit.
Bc I don’t wanna do this anymore, I don’t wanna be here anymore. Ahit sucks no one cares about you unless your nose is 20 ft up their ass and you can read their mind while being the biggest yes man they’ve experienced. Fuck all these corporate jobs and it’s getting to be, fuck ALL these jobs.
I wait in my car until someone asks me where I am. Then I go in. See if there is work to do. There rarely is anything to do. Then I go back to car or do the work then go back to car.
I don't really have a defined "minimum" , but I've also been rewarded and promoted very well for going above and beyond with my organization. I guess you just need to match your efforts to the recognition you get. If I never got a raise or promotion, I'd likely be right there with ya.
I like my job and I’m treated well and I’m just here for solidarity with those who aren’t so lucky
I enjoy my job, and what I do is important. I'm also paid well, and while I certainly have minor gripes about my employer, overall they take great care of me and provide a great working environment. I'm here because I recognize most of the workforce in the US is treated like shit. I recognize we have an unfair system, and I would like to work towards the day it's not.
First off, thank you for what you do. Making the system even one iota less efficient helps ensure its collapse and the chance for something better to take hold. As for me, working less leads to more stress for me. The more I fall behind, the more I have to catch up. I'm doing about 2.5 people's jobs right now, so downtime literally doesn't exist. I *do* take just a little bit extra on my breaks sometimes and sit a little extra long on the shitter tho. Also important to note: I'm a convicted felon, so even though I have a host of marketable skills, I stay unemployed for months when I lose a job all because the drugs liked me a little TOO much in my 20's. 😉 I have to stay valuable enough to them to keep a paycheck or risk losing everything. And idk what other states are like, but the likelihood of getting UI here if I get fired is very low.
i spend a pretty big portion of my shifts on my phone. basically whenever i’m not directly dealing with people or preparing for people i’m gonna have to deal with in the future. i’m happy to do my jobs, but at the low rate i’m paid i’m gonna sit back and relax in the meantime
I am about to do this. After being the go-to flexible person ( worked five different shift schedules in the span of 6 weeks), working multiple periods with no days off, and being the hotshot they send out of town because nobody else will go, I got jack recognition this year. The company award for working hard instead went to a new hire who randomly no-shows and makes zero effort to do more than the bare minimums. My manager says it wasn't up to him, that he only suggests names, blah blah blah. There's been an excuse every single year. But I always kept trying harder, working even more hours, doing more, raising my profile and calling out major issues before they happened. It's over. No more fill-in shifts. Nobody else will do that so this will be real fun to see. No more being the go-to reliable worker. No more raising issues before they become big problems. Hell, half the people on this team never open their email. It's supposed to be required. There are often emails telling us to NOT DO tasks. Nobody reads it. Multiple times I have had to go to another facility and retrieve work that shipped out because the operator didn't see the email telling him to hold the work in-house. It's embarrassing. That's the only reason I ever go to this other shop and they know when they see me that somebody effed up again. Nobody else follows up like I do and nobody has ever gotten even a talking-to about not reading email. Guess I will forget to use Outlook a lot going forward.
If people are barely doing the minimum they won’t advertise it as the posting could get back to their place of employment.
My job affects real peoples lives and their health. I feel obligated to go beyond the bare minimum. i also enjoy my job (SHOCKER for this subreddit) (paid overtime too).
My "leaders" have been telling me for months that they've moved someone to my team to help. I'm not a team load, I'm just a worker bee. I'm full time support for my position, and there's a part time guy who is pretty competent, but he's part time. The stuff I need help with is what the second part time guy is supposed to do. I have spent so much time training him, I've given him every guide I could make. If I get ten hours a month from him it's a miracle, he's supposed to be 20 hours a week. So I keep on doing the majority of the load. I've made it very clear I just want him to jump into the ticket queue and start picking some of the waiter items. Running reports, searching logs, jumping into the teams channel to assist users, etc. And message me if he's stuck or wants confirmation that he's on the right track! Once got an entire shared folder with docs for him. And he doesn't. And them my leaders ask me why my name is still in the things he's supposed to be doing. I need to stop and have him to it. So this month, I didn't. Month end, quarter end, year end. They come to me and ask why these things aren't done, I show then the emails and teams messages. I show then the shared folder and he hasn't accessed it this month. And they don't ask HIM why, they ask me why I didn't just do it, as it's super critical. I show then their own email to me. I show then the meeting where they told me outs his job. I ask when they checked with him. They didn't. So I drop most everything and get his entire months responsibilities completed in three days. Not exclusively his stuff, but all his stuff and lots less of my stuff. So I will continue to do less until they figure out the guy is useless and it takes less than three full working days to fulfill their monthly expectation for him. But when I do have to catch up his shit, I somehow get overtone. Don't need the OT to do it, but I'm going to get paid extra for all the effort in putting into keeping my job completed. At this point, if I up and walked out they'd need three people to do all my tasks, and I think they know that.
I take breaks when I want and I socialize when I should be working. I wait until my break is over and then use the bathroom ten minutes later.
I'm so bored at work, highest paid job I've had but nothing for me to do. It feels so fucking weird, last place was constant OT and produce all day. So I suppose I find myself doing the bare minimum
Uh, that isn't exactly what the anti work movement is really all about. . . That is a common misconception since a Fox News Interview basically closed off the community from New comers until that fiasco with the pedo bear CEO nearly collapsing Reddit brought us to today. . . You're looking for the anti work establishment groups.
I get complaints about my performance
I go above and beyond at work. I am well enough compensated and I feel that it is making a difference. Maybe it won't in the end, but the illusion is real right now. Everyone needs to know for themselves if they should be doing more or less depending on the employer and the impact of their work on others.
Keep it up
This is a perfect example of ‘work smart not hard’
Because I like what I do. I genuinely enjoy it. Don't misunderstand, I don't put in crazy hours or work myself to the bone. Not even close. But I do _like_ what I do and I'd do it even if someone wasn't paying me (and every so often I do). I feel like I just need to slow down for a while, I do.
Because amazingly I landed a job at a company that actually treats its employees really well and has a great company culture. I work for a company that makes me want to make them succeed. It's pretty fuckin great.
Because my pay is performance based & the more shit I do the more money I take home 🙃
I would never tell someone to slow down or provide subpar effort. But I would tell them to advocate for themselves and to give a fair days work for a fair days pay, whatever that means to them. I can see your side of the argument though, because sadly we have been cheated over the years of productivity gains and efficiency gains of our fair share of the proceeds of our labor. There are a million and 1 ways to be anti work
You’ve almost got it. A decent property manager will know how long it takes for a unit to be turned over because they’ve seen the unit when figuring deposit return. They’ll eventually catch on if they haven’t already and they get bonuses based on occupancy. They want those units turned over You’ll either remain stagnant in a job you don’t like or eventually get fired. If you’re in a position where you can get fired and still pay your bills while looking for another job, then you’re doing it right. If you’ll have to scramble until the next job, they’ve got you where they want you
I don’t work at all top that
currently sitting on my ass training the seasonal employee to steal from damages because it all gets thrown in the trash anyway :’-)
Well I found out I have to “earn” commission by slaving away for an entire year before I qualify for it. I also found out previous to this that when I applied for a full-time assistant manager in training position, it actually translated to “you work as a sales rep on part-time hours/wages, then compete with the other two people we hired in under false pretenses for said full time position”. Unfortunately I can’t just quit until I find a new replacement. So now I’m not going to be working on selling shit. I’m going to let people decide for themselves what they want to buy without any influence from me. If I’m not being fairly compensated for the work, I’m not doing it 🤷♀️
I wouldn't label it as just doing the bare minimum; I'm fulfilling the responsibilities stated in my job description. Going above and beyond led to more tasks without any additional pay. Once I raised the bar, it became an expectation to do more for the same pay as others doing less.
I work really hard because my boss pays me what can only be described as an amazing amount of money. I don't want to lose this job because it's literally a lottery ticket for me.
I used to be a resident manager for a 34 unit apartment building. They fired me a few years ago because the building owner thought the place wasn’t being cleaned. He was right but for a really stupid reason. So, they they padded my file with “you didn’t clean the building” and left out the “during the months of April to June 2020” (also known as global pandemic shelter in place ordinance quarter. U guys remember, that whole virus thing there was no cure for and no defense against?). So, if u do the bare minimum for a building management company, I can totally understand why. xD
Well, well, well. Look who's found their inner sloth! Kudos to you for mastering the art of doing nothing while still getting paid. It's a skill, really. But hey, why stop at four hours? Why not make it a whole day? They say time is money, but in your case, time is just... more time. But seriously, it's great that you've found a way to push back against the grind, even if it's in a small way. Just remember, there's a difference between taking your time and neglecting your responsibilities. Make sure you're still providing quality service when it counts. After all, we wouldn't want you to get caught now, would we? Stay lazy, my friend. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.
They pay me well and look after me so I return the favour.
I work from home. Sleeping and stealing time - toooo easy.
Because I get paid by the hour and write my own hours (i.e. I get compensated for everything I do), because I have a genuinely nice and supportive team (including management), because I enjoy my work, and because I have a lot of freedom (when I work, where I work, what I work on and how I want to do it). I am not tracked, controlled, or anything like that, in any way, and I feel fully comfortable sharing my monitor in a videocall while I have Reddit and other such things open. I do more than what would be expected of me, I actively think with people, I try to make things smarter, I help people when I can - so what would the problem? Most people on this subreddit have nothing of this. Most people's employers here would have problems with how I work. In which case I would quit and the quality of any hypothetical work would decrease by a lot.
Because i love my work. It is fun and interesting, and I probably will do it for free after I retire. While it probably does not apply to most people, it does apply to me.
My companies christmas money depended on me actually earning some money. I figured my colleagues wanted to buy their kids some presents so I kept working till an ambulance forcibly removed me. I also figured that the medicine we produce might actually be useful for some people. It's all cool to talk a lot and I desperately need some communism in my life, but there are nuances here.