Teacher garners praise and respect for courageously refusing to do unpaid overtime work at school

It is a well-known fact that teachers in the country are very poorly paid. Adding to poor pay, teachers tend to have to do more than they signed up for at their job, which makes it a miserable ordeal altogether. They often struggle to make ends meet in today's economy and either quit their job or look for better options elsewhere. Reddit user u/Cate_in_Mo decided to take a stand against poor pay by doing exactly what their job entailed and not taking up any extra effort.

The post titled "Quiet quitting" has gained 1.4k upvotes on the platform with 178 comments. They began the post by saying that they were not going to work for free anymore. The individual then mentions the various tasks that the institution pushed on them without appropriate compensation and expects them to go through with it. The list of tasks is quite shocking and shows readers just how much effort teachers have to put in every day.

They write, "I won't manage the school food pantry, sew for students or school programs (uniform alterations, letter jackets, CTE jackets, prom dresses), work the gate or track meets, cover hall duty for others, support fundraisers, sponsor or coach teams, provide snacks to students, participate in staff potluck meals." The individual also adds that they would now strictly adhere to timings by showing up two minutes before their shift began and leaving two minutes after it ended.

The individual then says that they would take every Friday to help their family. In addition to that, they would also not be attending the professional development course that schools organize for teachers frequently. They add that they had "yet to attend a worthwhile PD." Having gone to work regularly, the individual has accumulated over 80 days of leave and would use every single one. They conclude by saying, "There is no union power in my state, so I am on my own."

Other teachers on the platform commended the individual's decision and shared their opinions in the comments section. u/ReaderofHarlaw said, "I see quiet quitting as simply doing the damn job you were hired for. The buzzword was invented by salty employers to try and make us feel guilty." u/ApprehensiveDay3034, commented, "I love this and the responses!! I'm rooting for all of you!"

"Quiet quitting" is not a very new concept and has been around for more than a year. This phenomenon comes about as a result of unrealistic workloads that burn out individuals leading many individuals to put in the exact amount of effort for the money they are paid. It has also not helped that the pandemic gave rise to more people working from home, which made it difficult to demarcate leisure and work timings.

Freelance writer Clayton Farris posted a video on TikTok about the trend and explained that one could do it without affecting job productivity. He says, "It's about quitting the hustle culture that goes along with work in our society. I can still be a very productive, active worker and not have to focus on work 24 hours a day." These trends are indicative of many job environments becoming increasingly insensitive to employees as they fight to survive.