Hey, have you heard about the exciting new trend in the world of work? It’s brand new! Are you ready?
It’s called “Quiet Quitting,” a term whose very name evokes an exotic world that the masses are about to explore, thanks to a young freelance writer who identified this brand new trend with a gimlet eye. Quiet quitting refers to the—again, only recently identified—phenomenon of not giving 110% at work. It’s the phenomenon that some employees just do the bare minimum at work. Get it? They’re not actually quitting but they’re doing just enough to keep themselves employed.
… wait a minute. So “Quiet Quitting” is basically just … work? Where you go in, perform the tasks you’re asked to perform, leave after eight hours, and await your paycheck? Which billions of people do and have been doing since time immemorial? This is the big trend we’ve just identified?
This is so, so stupid. Some writer comes up with a catchy, alliterative name for a common phenomenon—one that’s actually so common that nobody ever felt a need to name it—and the initial trend piece births dozens of other trend pieces? And suddenly we’re all reading about this common aspect of the human condition like it’s something beyond conception that’s just now being explored, like a white dwarf star at the center of the universe? And then everybody needs to publish something about this trend to boost their publication’s SEO?
You’re not even quitting quietly. Doing so would mean resigning and not making a big public spectacle. You’re still employed but just not killing yourself at it, which people have been doing since the invention of labor. It’s just so stupid.
I know I’m sounding “OK, Boomer” here but coining the term “Quiet Quitting” is like when each generation thinks they invented sex just because they recently tried it for the first time. Meanwhile, the rest of us have at least heard of what these wide-eyed kids are doing.
Since COVID and the upheaval about working from home and the Great Resignation, there has been so much discussion about labor and the presumptions related to that. And I just want to ask, what do people think work is? You go in. You do your tasks and meet your deadlines. You go home. You use your paycheck to build the life you want. You hope you have enough money to retire comfortably at the end. I think it’s actually a healthy way to live.
I mean, what do people think life is?
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