My Co-Worker Bypassed Quiet Quitting and Marched into Loud F — Off on Company Time

You can’t blame this behavior on Gen-Z

Last year, the term quiet quitting caught fire. Whenever I went online, websites had articles about Gen-Z leading the charge on this new phenomenon.

It was wild. Many news outlets made it seem like Generation-Z created a practice I’ve seen since I entered the workforce at fifteen.

Yeah, quiet quitting wasn’t new to me.

Right now, I work with a boomer that I’ll call Barry. And let me tell you, there’s nothing quiet about how he doesn’t do his job and steals time from the company.

You see, Barry has been on the job for over 25 years and is holding on for dear life to reach 30. He wants his precious pension, a benefit my generation now calls mythical.

A typical work day for Barry is a cakewalk:

The warm up

• He arrives thirty to forty-five minutes late.
• Barry strolls around, stealing coffee and breakfast pastries from other departments.
• He goofs off at his desk for a few hours.
• Heads to lunch for one to three hours. (Of which he often finagles on his time card)
• He grumps and sulks upon return, before he takes the front desk to do his job.

While on the front desk

• He watches YouTube conspiracy videos.
• He often takes personal calls from his wife and kid.
• He falls into the occasional slumber and lets off a few earthquake snores.

Within the last hour

• Barry remembers he has tasks to do and scrambles to get them done.
• He rushes out of the office at six on the dot.

You might be wondering, how does he get away with this?

Simple. The higher-ups don’t reprimand him because they don’t want to handle the paperwork or hassle. And since Barry’s worked there longer than most, if not all, the people above him, they have an odd adoration for him.

When you complain about his behavior, you often hear things like, ‘Oh, that’s just Barry being Barry.’ Or my favorite, ‘What are you going to do?’

I would write his ass up and put him on a disciplinary action plan to course correct or take a long walk.

But I guess I’m too heavy-handed.

While plenty of employees hate their jobs, most have the common courtesy of pretending to give their employer the impression of a full day’s work.

It’s blatantly disrespectful not to do your job, leave work for hours, claim it on your time card, and force your co-workers to pick up your slack.

I don’t give a damn how lovable Barry might be deep down, he’s an asshole.

I’d like him more if he weren’t so loud about it.