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Antiwork

“Adult day care” companies are bad, but not for the reason people think.

I feel like every few days a new TikTok video of some 25 year old girl working at a glorified adult day care goes viral and people get mad for ALL the wrong reasons. I actually worked at a company like this and it's fucking terrible but not for the reason people think. The girl herself (it's seemingly always a girl) didn't do anything wrong. She found a job with a lot of great perks, and took it, because who the hell wouldn't. Now, what people tend to get wrong is they assume she doesn't work “All she does is eat snacks and drink boba all day!” She probably does work, and she might even work a lot, she just doesn't videotape it because it's boring as fuck. Also, she'd likely get fired if she showcased anything internal. What's shitty about this isn't the girl herself- who's just taken a…


I feel like every few days a new TikTok video of some 25 year old girl working at a glorified adult day care goes viral and people get mad for ALL the wrong reasons. I actually worked at a company like this and it's fucking terrible but not for the reason people think.

The girl herself (it's seemingly always a girl) didn't do anything wrong. She found a job with a lot of great perks, and took it, because who the hell wouldn't. Now, what people tend to get wrong is they assume she doesn't work “All she does is eat snacks and drink boba all day!” She probably does work, and she might even work a lot, she just doesn't videotape it because it's boring as fuck. Also, she'd likely get fired if she showcased anything internal.

What's shitty about this isn't the girl herself- who's just taken a job that anyone would take- it's the fact that the company doesn't treat people like giant toddlers to be nice. They do this to keep your ENTIRE IDENTITY dependent on that company. It looks like these people are getting a free ride (and for the mean time, they are) but I was fired by one of these companies and let me tell you that after they've insidiously found a way into your personal life (all your friends are from work, all your hobbies relate to work, all your fun activities are work) they can keep you adequately terrified of being fired, and moreover, they can destroy your entire self worth when you do get fired. And forget about quitting- you'd be leaving your “family.”

I was borderling suicidal after getting fired from my adult daycare. By the end of my time there I didn't even care about the perks (most of them are designed to colonize your weekends with pointless activities and I preferred to hang out at home with my spouse on the weekends.) I cared about the fact that this company had become such a huge part of my identity (by design) that I felt completely worthless without it. In hindsight it was just a job, and didn't even pay that well (and it made me miserable!) but the endless perks/activities/work friends are designed to make you feel dependent on them.

I was told every day how there was a huge line of people waiting to take my job because it was such a great company, how we “only hired the best” and how our standards were “really high.” This meant I was terrified, constantly, of not meeting the standards.

When I see these videos I don't want to make fun of the girls in them even if they're annoying and ditzy. I feel horrible for them because I know that if they ever get fired, or even put on a PIP or laid off, that they won't just lose their job, they'll lose their whole identities.

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