I have been quiet quitting, or whatever the term is for almost 16 years now, and it’s worked out pretty well for me.
Storytime~
My first job was at a McDonalds. I was 15, and worked as a cashier. I mostly worked weekends because I was in school, and one Friday after an evening shift my partner picked me up. We were planning to go to a late movie and she was a manager at another store, on the way to the movie we stopped at her store to check her shifts.
When we got there the manager that was supposed to work the overnight was flipping out about something and just left the store with no one. It was one of those small express locations you see in gas stations sometimes. My partner called the store manager to explain what was going on and the store manager asked if they could cover and they said they would so I stayed to help them also.
We managed to make it through to the next morning, the morning manager came in and we left. I had to work at my store again that morning and my partner was like let’s go talk to the manager I don’t think you should be working and I’ll explain what happened.
We get to my store, talk with the morning manager and she basically says it’s not her problem and I’ll have to suck it up. I wasn’t really tired at that point so I was just like okay whatever, I didn’t have a uniform so they gave me a shirt to wear. Guess I’m working 27 hours straight.
My mom got home and was worried because I hadn’t been home since Friday morning, called my partner and they told her where I was and what happened. She showed up to my work, tore a strip off of the manager and drug me out that store mid-order – the customer was shocked lol.
All of the McDonalds in my area are owned by the same person so word got around fast about what happed and how I had helped out the other store.
I never even got a thank you. They never paid me because I “chose” to do it.
I learned in that moment going above and beyond in your job is a waste, and I pretty much never did it again unless it was a situation that was of immediate benefit to me.