Employee explains why one should not be the 'hardest worker' at their job and she has got a point

Giving one’s best at the job has been the tradition, but with prevalent exploitation and injustice employees suffer, many have learned to take a stand. With minimum wage being one of the crucial problems to address, employees are ensuring they work only for what they are getting paid. Contrary to slogging for nothing as earlier, the new approach is to work as per the pay and ensure a balance. Laniya Peterson–who goes on TikTok by @monkeedc00chi3–shared a video to promote the idea, explaining why it’s the need of the hour. In her video, Peterson is seated in her car during her lunch break.

She gave one of the most brutally honest tips every employee needs to be aware of. She said, “I’m on my 30-minute break and if you work in the service industry, if you have a fast-food job, or work at a grocery store, or working in your 20s, do not be the hardest worker at your job.” The employee stressed the statement again, “Do not be the f***ing best worker at your job.” The text in her video read, “Never be the hardest worker at your job! You will regret it. They will save you and hold you to a higher standard.” While elaborating on the reason, Peterson said, “They’re gonna expect you to do sh*t they don’t expect from other workers and they’re not gonna try and pay you more.”

Also, she stressed the importance of getting paid for the jobs and tasks people are made to do at the workplace. “If you ask me for anything above my paygrade, I’m gonna say, ‘Do I get paid for this?’” The employee remarked that “everyone should do this” and further revealed how several employees are overworked without being paid. “Why are you, as a crew member, worrying about getting a shift covered? If there’s a work group chat and there are some issues, why is that your problem? You’re not getting paid to be a manager.”

Peterson also expressed how managers are paid for simply doing the bare minimum while the workers are the ones who hustle more than required. “We gotta start doing the bare minimum at these jobs because the bosses at the top are doing the bare minimum.” The text in her video also read, “Bare minimum work for bare minimum pay. Just bring up your state’s worker rights and they’ll hush real quick.” Peterson concluded the video by sharing her example. She said, “I’m doing bare minimum work and still getting paid. I’m never gonna be the hardest worker again. You’re disposable to them, they don’t care about you.”

Peterson’s video went viral, gaining 254.4K views and 49.3K likes. Fellow employees and youths appreciated her subtle calling out the toxicity of workplaces. Many even appreciated that she promoted the idea of doing bare minimum work, which is a smart and efficient alternative to slogging beyond repair. Sharing her experience that served as evidence for Peterson’s words, @mamiiviiiolet said, “I almost died, I was in the hospital and I texted my work and they said, ‘This is a no call no show, we needed to know this by 7.’” @nanabean_n said, “And never say yes to coming in when you don’t have to because they will ask you again and again to take advantage.”