It seems like you can't scroll through a single corner of the internet this week without seeing posts and articles about the "quiet quitting" workplace trend.
THEY CALL IT QUIET QUITTING BUT IT'S REALLY JUST DOING YOUR JOB REQUIREMENTS DURING NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS PEOPLE DESERVE A GOOD WORK/LIFE BALANCE AND NOT ANSWERING A WORK EMAIL AT 10PM ISN'T QUITTING IT'S JUST BEING A NORMAL HUMAN WHO HAS A LIFE AND SETS HEALTHY BOUNDARIES
The TL;DR on quiet quitting is that it's not really about quitting your job at all. Instead, it's quitting all of the unpaid extra expectations that might come along with it. So, no more overtime hours for salaried workers, no more checking email at night and on the weekends, and no more working through breaks.
I've seen folks call it "acting your wage," and I think that's a way better way to describe this movement than "quiet quitting."
In response, some people are bringing up the other side of the coin: "quiet firing." Also known as managing out or constructive dismissal, this is when your boss doesn't actually fire you out loud. Instead, they use passive aggressive tactics to get you to quit. These tactics can create a toxic work environment very quickly and are really unfair to workers — especially in cases when shifts and pay are cut without notice.
So recently, I asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about a time when they were "quiet fired" from a job, and their stories are completely enraging:
1. "At the pool where I worked, my manager had a habit of slowly reducing hours of the people he didn’t like until they were eventually just never scheduled."
2. "I got a new boss, and it was clear that he had something personal against me. First, he started to micromanage me and confront me in front of people, kinda humiliating me. Then, every job he made me work on got shut down for whatever reason, after I had already put time and effort on it. He would pick on me if I spoke too loud or said something he would consider rude or inappropriate, but when others did the same, he didn’t mind.
"He actually texted me before a big event (that I had planned single-handedly) saying that it was an important day and that it was an opportunity for me to smile. He added that even though I planned and organized the whole thing, he was the boss.
"I finally had enough when he asked me to do a presentation for a C-level director on a proposal I had. When the time to present it came, he asked another team member (a friend of his) to do it, without consulting me or even telling me about it."
—Lily, Chicago
3. "I worked at a law firm as an assistant controller. The controller made some mistakes and blamed them on me. I was moved from a personal office to a corner of the copy room while my intern was given my office. It was pretty obvious that they wanted me to quit but didn’t want to fire me. I obliged. It was a toxic environment."
4. "I was promised a raise and a promotion for nine months. Then, an email came out saying they were putting a freeze on everyone's pay, and there would be no more promotions. I asked my supervisor if that included the raise and promotion I had already been promised. He just smiled. I walked out."
5. "I worked for a retail chain. I was only scheduled 10-15 hours a week and was making just above minimum wage at the time. I was searching for a second job because having one job wasn't cutting it. My boss found out and drastically cut my hours. When I asked her about it, she said, 'Well, it's pretty clear you don't want to be here.' I did want to be there! That's why I didn't quit!"
6. "I thought that my coworker was silly for thinking they were trying to get her to quit, but now, I'm thinking she's right. She's in her late-50s, has horrible health issues, and the stress is causing her immense pain. We are two of three people in our department, and they just keep adding and adding and adding to her workload (but not to mine or the other person's).
"She cannot do it and gets NO compensation for taking on the extras, either. The reason she took a position in our department is because it's fairly light and easy work during non-peak times, and she's not old enough to retire, but didn't want to work 70+ hours a week anymore. She's currently looking for something else, but yeah. I think she's definitely getting pushed out."
7. "Everyone in my office is going through this. A year ago, we were bought out by a new corporation, and things have gone steadily downhill. They immediately put a freeze on all North American hiring and stopped allowing North American offices to schedule night hours. We used to be open 24 hours. Now, only their new call centers overseas are allowed to work evening or overnight hours.
8. "I work for a seasonal company. In the winter, when things are slow, many people are laid off for a few months, which makes it really easy to just not invite certain employees back in the spring. It begins with the company owner deciding he doesn't like that person anymore, and that puts a target on them.
"The individual is then nitpicked to death by him and made to feel like they can't do anything right. And then, come the new year, they may or may not know they're going to have to find another job.
"It's cowardly and unfair. And for the record, in my opinion, the people I've seen this happen to didn't deserve to be let go, and the one person who DID need to go was allowed to stick around for way too long. It's completely arbitrary."
9. "At one of my reviews, my boss’s feedback was, 'Someone you have worked with thinks you could have handled a project differently.' When I pressed him for more details, he refused to provide more and said this was an example of me not being open to constructive feedback.
10. "I was a manager at a very antiquated, conservative medical supplies company. I was the youngest manager, and a minority. I landed on the CEO's radar after I refused to make an exception to a state rule that another manager (who everyone secretly knew was the CEO's girlfriend) kept pressuring me to make.
"A few days later, I learned the CEO sent out an email to our company asking for feedback about my department. The feedback was vague, so he did another survey and specifically solicited negative feedback.
"Two months later, I was called into HR and told that the company had a new vision and that I would be moved into another role. My replacement? The CEO's girlfriend. She had been trying for almost a year to come back to the corporate office, but there were no vacancies available. So, they created one by moving me to another department.
"The witch hunt and stress they put me through for 60 days resulted in zero performance findings. They couldn’t write me up or fire me, so they had to keep me. I ended up in a financial role with no clear scope of responsibilities or guidance. Because it was a 'new' role, they couldn’t give me my title (some excuse). They held my performance review and raise for six months. Every time I asked, I was told they were 'still working on it.'
"I realized my career would become stagnant there, so I gave myself a year to learn it all before jumping ship. Once I was ready, I turned in my notice and didn’t look back. I’ve been promoted twice in less than a year and received three raises."
—Anonymous
11. "I attempted to report harassment at my job and was ignored. My harasser then started wearing and spraying in the office scents I was allergic to. When I attempted to report it again, I was told, 'It sounds like you can't perform your essential job functions. You should decide if you still want to work here.' I quit within a month. Management was 'shocked' and didn't understand why I would leave."
12. "I fell one night walking my dog and rolled my ankle badly. I was put in a walking boot for 4-6 weeks and told to stay off my feet as much as possible. At the time, I worked part time in the kitchen at a BBQ restaurant, standing for entire shifts. I came to work the next day in my walking boot with a doctor's note, and told them I couldn't work for at least a week. The manager was very nice and assured me my job was safe.
"Cut to two days later, he's texting me asking if I'm going to show up for my shift the next day. I told him that I was not going to be able to return to work until the next week, like we had talked about. I offered to come for my normal Sunday evening shift, which was a day sooner than I had planned.
"I show up Sunday afternoon, and everyone is confused as to why I'm there. So, I go check the schedule. Not only did he change my schedule from Sunday evening to Sunday morning (meaning I had no-showed for an entire shift), he'd also cut my hours from 20-24 a week to less than 10.
"I turned around, walked out, and never came back."
—Anonymous
13. "I was a female leader in an organization full of mostly male leaders. There were many situations where I was not invited to outings because I was a female — often times, those outings would result in decisions being made that affected me and my team. Eventually, I confronted my boss about this, and he told me he’d work on making things better.
14. "I worked at a place that had zero hours contracts. One member of staff wasn't very good, so the manager just didn't give her any hours. It was really sad to see her come to work each week to check the schedule only to see she had no hours. They did it because firing someone in the UK is difficult and involves a lot of paperwork. For all I know, she might still technically work there years later."
15. "At my last job, I had seniority on my team and gave all of my loyalty to the company for five years. While I was on a one-week vacation, my boss posted a new supervisor position for my department, interviewed my teammate, and hired her — without me ever hearing about the position or having the chance to apply. When I called her to talk about it on my return, she said it was a hard decision not to pick me.
16. "During university, I worked nights in a very popular nightclub. I was well-liked by both regulars and new customers, and my nightly sales were almost always the highest. Then, a new manager took over. Come in to find my five shifts a week have been cut down to one night, Mondays (by far the worst night of the week for business/tips). A person can't live on one day a week of barely more than minimum wage.
"They did this to nearly all of us (both men and women), while the new manager replaced us all with hot girls. Most knew nothing about the job. They were hired for their looks; many just spent their shifts smiling and talking to people, and few worked hard at all.
"We all got jobs at other clubs shortly after, most of us taking our regulars with us, and that club shut down a few months later. Brilliant move, buddy!"
17. "I worked for a company that told me during my yearly performance review that I would never be promoted to the next level up from where I was, regardless of how much quality work I did. This was after I’d spent MONTHS creating a marketing strategy with another co-worker, only to be told it was 'cute.' Because nothing says 'quiet firing' quite like overt misogyny. I quit two months later."
18. "My dog had fallen extremely ill on a Sunday. Monday morning, I took my infant son to his grandma's house before work. I had enough time, so I stopped back by the house to check on my dog. I found him dead underneath my bed. I broke down sobbing, of course, and called my husband who rushed home. I repeatedly called and texted my work and coworker to let them know I couldn't come in that day due to needing to deal with the aftermath of what had just happened.
"Next time I went into work, my name was taken completely off the schedule. Boss said it was a mistake, and they would fix it the next week. The following week, I was only given two shifts, and they were the least busy shifts they could give me.
"I complained to my coworker (who I'd known for years and who I actually had gotten my dog from as a puppy). I guess she told the boss because once again, I was taken completely off the next schedule. I just left it like that. Assholes."
19. "My friend worked as a trader for a large finance firm. She put up with a lot of frat boy behavior but took it in stride because she loved her job. Things went great until she was assigned to a big client who took a liking to her. He was used to getting his way because of how much money he brought in. When she turned down his many indecent proposals, he told her she’d regret saying no.
