An employee's strange experience has gone viral on Reddit, piquing hundreds' interest and creating a torrent of theories about modern corporate culture.
User u/tag0223 wrote a post titled "I got a raise after I started leaving exactly at 5 p.m., and my boss is acting like I've stepped up my game (.sic)," which has now gone viral on the platform.
For years, the poster claims they played the "office try-hard" game, arriving first, departing last, answering emails at midnight, and taking on additional responsibilities no one else wanted, NDTV reports.
Despite years of dedication and three promotion requests, they were consistently advised, "We see your potential; just wait for the right time."
But everything changed when the user reached a breaking point. After being passed over yet again, this time for someone who simply played golf with the company's vice-president, they decided to quit going the extra mile.
Instead, they created strict boundaries, working 9 to 5, turning off email notifications after hours, and saying "no" to last-minute jobs that are outside of their scope.
What was the result? Not pushback, but a 15 per cent hike in their salary.
According to the post, their employer applauded their "impressive growth in prioritisation and efficiency" and stated that they were producing "higher quality work" than ever before.
The user admits they're completely dumbfounded by this.
"Everything I thought would get me ahead (overworking, being available 24/7) actually worked against me, and now that I've stopped trying so hard, suddenly I'm promotion material? Corporate logic makes zero sense," they wrote.
"I've seen this before. My theory is sometimes people who are overworking, staying late, always hustling give the mistaken appearance they are always behind, catching up at last minute, overwhelmed, can't keep up," a user wrote, responding to the post.
"I think his boss feared he was gonna quit and raised him to get him to reconsider," another user shared their theory.
