A popular TikTik video is giving voice to what many people are feeling about their jobs in a culture where a lot of people seem to think that work is supposed to be everyone’s whole life. A lot of workplaces seem to have an expectation that employees stay past their scheduled work hours on a regular basis, which makes a lot of people working those hours wonder why managers don’t simply write up the schedule they want.
TikTok user Jules wondered this, as well as why, even in jobs where staying late wasn’t explicitly stated policy, she gets teased by both bosses and coworkers for leaving when her schedule says she can leave.
“Why are bosses and even some other co-workers so offended when you try to leave on time?” she asked. “Like, literally, the constant teasing, and the ‘oh, one thing about Julia, she’s gonna leave on time, right on the dot, you have to leave right on the dot, don’t you?’ Yes I do! Because you’re sure to make sure that I’m here right on the dot, don’t you?”
“God forbid I work my scheduled work hours and leave on time.”
Jules went on to talk about her previous job in which her boss (not you, Valerie) stated that she was required to stay anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes past the time her schedule said she could leave, which was understandably frustrating.
“Um, no I don’t,” said Jules. “Or schedule me that long, or I’m leaving when I’m scheduled to leave, what is the problem?”
This type of policy can not only be annoying to people who prefer their workplace to operate logically, it can make things difficult for people who have other obligations in their lives such as additional jobs, school, or children. While some might prefer to make the extra money, Jules, like many before her, would prefer to spend the hours she’s supposed to be living her life doing just that.
“And you might be thinking like, ‘oh, stay a few minutes later, that’s a little extra money.’ What, 15 cents? No, I have a life outside of work and I don’t want to live and breathe and sleep at my job.”
Jules from TikTok is hardly the first person to complain about this phenomenon, with many others before her wishing that the expectation that workers’ act like their jobs are the most important thing in their lives would end. The strong majority of people in the U.S. don’t like their jobs, in spite of the way they might act in front of their managers.
Many commenters on the video seemed to fall into this category.
“Honestly keep this attitude,” wrote one user. “They gave you the hours you do THOSE hours. We’re all a number so this is what numbers should give. Their scheduled hours.”
“It’s always so funny how time is flexible at the end of the day but not the beginning of my shift,” another pointed out.
One commenter suggested that Jules was “disrespectful” for trying to leave on time if she’s leaving just one other person to run the business, which may or may not be the case, and she didn’t appreciate the insinuation.
“It is my job to be on time for my scheduled and leave on time from my scheduled hours,” she responded. “It is the manager’s job to hire enough help or be there to replace the help that they don’t have.”
“I’m not gonna sacrifice my free time for a job that would never do the same for me.”