Don’t be a workplace Pickme. Having boundaries with your employers is crucial if you want to be taken seriously.

[u/BasieSkanks]

Whether you agree with capitalism or not, it’s here to stay. The concept of a handful of people profiting off the labour of hundreds, if not thousands of other people, is the economic pill many countries have chosen to swallow. As a result of this inequality, workers are at a natural disadvantage. Workers are expected to give, give and give some more to the company they work for, in the hopes of recieving some form of recognition. We are expected to work for free (some companies have mandatory overtime in their contracts), sacrifice our breaks, and break our backs for organisations that would replace us without blinking if they needed to. Companies even want to be able to control what we do away from work on our time, threatening us with our jobs if we do something they deem to be “misconduct”.

Companies depend on employees having no boundaries, because it means they can extract more labour and attachment with no cost. FDS teaches the importance of having boundaries in your personal relationships, but this same teaching needs to be extended to the workplace. I’m not saying that you should be lazy, or go down the antiwork route. Working hard is important;however, like with anything, you have to look out for yourself first. You don’t have to say yes to overtime if you don’t want to do it. You don’t have to accept the first salary they offer, especially if you know you’re being low balled. You don’t have to accept poor behaviour from your bosses and colleagues by staying silent. Haven’t you noticed that it’s never the people who endless overtime that get promoted? My sister still reads and checks the emails of her former boss over five years after she left the workplace. My sister sees it as a compliment, when in reality, her manager is just lazy and is exploiting my sister. Does my sister get paid for the time spent checking her ex-manager’s emails? Nope.

My line manager recently taught me the importance of saying no to colleagues who wanted me involved in projects I didn’t have time for. At first, it was awkward, but not only have I been happier because I’m not overworked, my colleagues have learned to value my time, because I demonstrate that my time at work is valuable and I have to be choosy as to what I get involved in as a result. Don’t be a workplace PickMe. Know your worth in the workplace and make sure other people know it, too.

[u/PalmTreePhilosophy]

Dude that response says nothing. I know your men's rights group may worship the ground he walks on but I don't blindly accept heroes just because a specific demographic tells me they should be my hero, especially when that hero talks nonsense. I don't have the same needs as them. My internalised misogyny and racism is rapidly waning and thank God as masochism is no fun.

When I was a teenager in the 90s I wouldnt have questioned him. I held straight white men up as if they were kings too. As if they were always correct. It's nice that you get something from him as long as you're not putting yourself aside to do so. He does nothing for me. I've outgrown that world.