you've heard of "quiet quitting," now I'd like to introduce you to the next level, The French Work Ethic:
Do exactly what you're paid for and nothing more
Absolutely refuse to be available to contact when you're off the clock
Never prioritize work over your own health, wellbeing, or family because that would be insane, it's just a job.
Have a little glass of wine
Take as long as you feel like for lunch
Deeply understand that work doesn't matter
Make sure your boss your boss knows they're always your second priority ❤️
🗣️ Hey, young Americans:
Old Millennial American speaking here. I need you to adopt this mentality as early as possible and hold to it. The older you get, the harder it is to begin this practice and claw back the extremely unhealthy effects of a workaholic lifestyle. I am speaking from 20 years of experience.
This does not mean having a shitty attitude at work, or not doing your job, or relying on co-workers to carry your water.
This means you do what it says above. It also means not making work and productively your entire personality; not tying your productivity to your value; and not becoming so emotionally enmeshed in your work and workplace so that you are living and dying by what happens there.
Good luck out there. American workplace culture is mostly designed to work you to death. Moving against that tide can be challenging, so having a healthy mindset is important to living a life not consumed by your paid labor.
Remember that your bosses can, and happily will, lie to you about literally almost anything:
They can never ever ask you to clock out and then keep working
They can never ask you to take work home without compensating you for it
It's never ever the "office culture" to eat lunch at your desk, even if they do it
If they call you in your off hours, it's your choice whether to call them back and it's literally totally fine if you don't
Remember that being "on call" is a legally specific thing. It means you are getting paid a certain percentage of your hourly wage, for a certain number of hours, and only on certain days of the week. It doesn't just mean that you are available 24/7, and you're not on call unless you're being paid on call wages
If you ever get hurt at work, in any way, for any reason - even if it wasn't anyone's fault, even if it was your own fault, even if you think you'll be fine if you put some ice on it - it's actually in everyone's best interests for you to take it seriously. Fill out all the paperwork in the world, go to the worker's comp doctor, let the other work fall behind because you're busy filling out the detailed incident report, whatever. Remember, it benefits everyone
You're not "bothering" HR, you're asking them to do their job. But remember, their job isn't to make sure you aren't being exploited, it's to make sure the company can't be sued for anything
You are not asking for time off, you are telling them your availability
If you have an emergency and you need to leave, "emergency" is literally the only word you need to give them
In fact they have no right to ever ask you why you need time off, because it's not up to them to decide whether it's a justified reason
Giving two weeks notice before you quit has NEVER been industry standard for any industry anywhere ever
And here's the big one the people really struggle with: every job will gradually increase your workload, bit by bit, forever. You will eventually reach a point where it will be more than anyone can do. This is not your fault, it's your boss's fault. The important thing to remember is that your limit isn't 100%, your limit is 80%. When your work day is 80% full, refuse to take on anything else. Some things won't get done, some things will completely fall apart, sometimes a 5-minute fix will turn into a 4-hour problem because it didn't get addressed in time. And, again, it's not your fault for not being able to carry an impossible workload, it's your boss's fault for not allocating workloads correctly. In fact, letting things fall apart instead of absorbing the overload yourself is the only way that your bosses will ever change the workload, because if you tell them that you're struggling and burning out but you can still get all your shit done, it still goes into the "it's fine" box in their heads
Remember folks: trying to be a good little worker bee won't save you from the chopping block when they're tired of paying you, it'll just destroy your health bit by bit. And you're going to have a lot of bosses in your life, but you only have one body.
(Oh, and one more thing - paper trail paper trail paper trail paper trail, get everything in writing all the time forever)
Good luck everyone 💚
















