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corporate culture

Mental Health

Man literally frolics in the street after quitting high-stress corporate job

"I'm free! I'm free!"

Canva Photos

One man holds his head at his desk; a man jumps for joy.

Saad Akhtar has been documenting his life on TikTok for a while now. From the outside, he's got it all. He's 25, living in New York City, and working his way up the ranks in finance. He's also engaging and funny enough to rack up hundreds of thousands of followers on social media through his updates.

But there was definitely a sad pattern emerging in his videos. His stress and anxiety over his soul-sucking corporate job was leaking into the content. One update, a lengthy early-morning rant, was captioned "Try not to crash out with me before work." In others, he laments the never-ending barrage of work emails and the poor treatment by his boss. For weeks, he openly toyed with the idea of quitting.

And then one day in early May, he finally pulled the plug on his "finance bro" career.

Akhtar bought himself a cake to celebrate the occasion. On his last day of work, he filmed a giddy video before heading in to ultimately clock out for the last time. The next day, he woke up at the usual time—5 a.m.—just to experience those same early morning hours as a free man. The video he filmed is pure magic.

As a free, unemployed human being, Akhtar literally and physically frolics through the streets of New York. You might think he's running at first, as in, for exercise. But no. This is a frolic.

"My days of being a finance bro are over," he shouts excitedly. "I'm free! I'm free"

"I quit my job. I can do whatever I want. I can live my life. ... I can be a baker. I can be a painter. ... I'm gonna go see the sunrise right now from the Brooklyn Bridge. I've never been able to do this in my life."

It's actually pretty emotional and beautiful. There's a whole wide world out there. Akhtar's been too busy "staring at the back of other desks" to go explore it. Until now, anyway.

@sodakhtar
my first 5am morning as a free man #quit #quitmyjob

Over four million people tuned in to watch Akhtar's joyous celebration of newfound freedom and it struck a nerve in all of them.

Commenters couldn't contain their excitement for him. Others found that his bravery to cut the cord gave them hope for their own lives:

"I haven’t been this happy for a stranger in a minute"

"I’m crying. It shouldn’t cost us this much to exist."

"May everyone experience this in their lifetime"

"Every goodhearted person in a corporate job desperately wants to quit"

"being up at 5am knowing you don’t have to work is such a good feeling"

The freedom of unemployment is absolutely intoxicating, so it's no wonder people are mesmerized by the viral video. When my wife and I moved to a new city a little over a decade ago and had a week before starting at our new school and job, respectively, it was incredible. Waking up with each day full of possibility and exploration and adventure was really the thrill of a lifetime. Living life like a tourist, seeing new parts of the city, eating good food, making time for rest and play.

It's a damn shame we don't get to live like that all the time.

@sodakhtar
1:32 am biking cuz im free, Alhumdulillah for it all ❤️ #freedom #unemployment

Job burnout is at an all-time high, studies find. That means a majority of people find the demands of their job impossible to meet, and all the while they're working extra hours and struggling to keep up, they can still barely pay the bills.

A majority of working Americans find that they barely have the capacity to go on. Akhtar is far from the only one feeling that way.

What's exciting is that Gen Z—which includes people like Akhtar—is really leading the charge for better work-life balance. They're a generation that refuses to settle. That means they get mocked for setting hard boundaries with work, not wanting to answer emails after hours, and maxing out their vacation days, but honestly... good for them. They're the ones who will ultimately, hopefully drive some change and bring us back to a world where working 9-5 and leaving work at work is the norm.

As for Akhtar, he may have to return to the corporate workforce eventually, especially if he wants to keep living in New York City. But for now he's making the most of his unemployment with a recent trip to Australia, whimsical bike rides through the city, time with friends, and documenting it all for his growing TikTok channel.

Best of all, he's staying up late living his life to the fullest, and leaving the 5 a.m. wake-ups in the past.

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jobs

Education

How soldiers and sports helped create the cringey corporate jargon we all despise

Nobody likes it. But nobody can stop using it.

Photo credit: Canva

Something you've never thought about, but makes total sense.

“Circle back.” “Looping in.” “Deep dive.” If just reading these words gives you a visceral ick, odds are you’ve had at least one corporate job in your lifetime.

Even if you haven’t worked a 9-5, there are plenty of television shows—from comedies like The Office to dramas like Severance—that make references to corporate culture, including its bizarre and cringey buzzwords. So it’s definitely in the general zeitgeist for better or for worse. But how exactly did this annoying yet inescapable lingo come to be? To answer that question, we’re gonna need you to “think outside the box” and “touch base” with some forgotten history.

In a highly entertaining video shared by Storied as part of its Otherwords series, we learn that much of our well-known office speak can be traced back to the end of WWII, when businesses began prospering again and veterans traded their war uniform for suits and ties at ever expanding corporate conglomerates.

Office lingo, corporate culture, linguistics, language, language history, history Don Draper, from 'Mad Men'media3.giphy.com

These former soldiers brought a lot of military jargon with them, which later transformed into office jargon. This is especially apparent in phrases like “boots on the ground” and “all-hands meeting” host Dr. Erica Brozovsky notes. You can even see how the psychology of business was heavily influenced by the military (think “sales tactics” and “rising through the ranks”).

But corporations didn’t just borrow from the battlefield. Sports terminology also played a big role in office linguistics. Here, Brozovsky uses the examples of something being in a person’s “wheelhouse,” which originally referred to the zone in which a baseball player could hit a home run, which we all know is another big corporate buzzword. Again, we see how society’s views of business in general shaped the jargon that became popular. As Brozovsky mentions, the use of sports phrases reflects the way that business was heavily seen as a competition.

The passing of time and trends would only give us more influences (the glamour of 60’s advertising would give us “run it up the flagpole,” followed by the Wallstreet-centric 80’s era bringing “leverage” and “low-hanging fruit”).

Office lingo, corporate culture, linguistics, language, language history, history Trevor, from the sitcom 'Ghosts'media.giphy.com

Interestingly enough, a major trait of modern day corporate jargon is to convolute potential negative messages with softer, more passive words. For example, instead of telling someone they’re fired, a boss might say “there’s been some restructuring.” Although, some companies seem to be on the opposite side of the spectrum with the word "termination," which to me always sounds like they’re going to actually murder you for lackluster KPIs.

As for why we can’t seem to refrain from using corporate jargon, even if we do loathe it, Brozovsky explains that it mostly has to do with trying to exude an air of belonging, or to show status. This helps illustrate that folks who are on the lower rung of the corporate ladder might be more likely to use this jargon more often than those who are more seasoned, as a means to “compensate for their lack of experience.”

However, being the ultimate pattern disruptors that they are, 60% of Gen Zers plan to “eliminate” corporate buzzwords, according to a 2023 Linkedin survey. Brozovsky theorizes that this may be due to diving into a workplace culture that primarily takes place digitally, and therefore has less inherent pressure to “conform to longstanding norms like corporate jargon.”

But for now, we’ll put a pin in that hypothesis and see if it aligns with our values later on down the line. Thankfully, the knowledge packed in this video yielded a fantastic ROI, wouldn’t you agree?

As always, our psychology is reflected in our language. Almost nothing is as telling a time-capsule as the words we use to navigate our everyday lives. Even the most seemingly insignificant turn of phrase acts as a mirror to key aspects of our humanity and that's a fascinating thing to think about.

Watch the full video below:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

From Your Site Articles

language

Joy

Here are the 13 most common lies people have heard from their employers

It's good to get them all out in the open.

via Sebastian Herrmann/Unsplash

A group of men look at paperwork.

The massive changes to the American workplace caused by the COVID-19 pandemic invited many to reconsider their professional lives. This reevaluation has led people to push for improved work-life balance, and many now are looking for work to provide a greater sense of meaning and purpose.

When the world returned to work after COVID, many believed they deserved to be treated better by their employers. This resulted in many taking a break from the workforce or changing professions altogether. It also helped usher in a more comfortable culture for calling out companies that don’t treat their employees respectfully.

Recently, a group of thousands came together on Reddit to expose the common mistruths that people often hear at the workplace. It all started when a Redditor named PretenstoKnow asked: "What's the most common lie employers tell their employees?" And over 2,600 people responded.

People shared great examples of office developments that may signal a company being sold or future layoffs. They also exposed how employers may manipulate employees to work more hours or do a job that isn’t theirs by dangling a promotion in front of them. While some took the thread as the opportunity to complain about American corporate culture, the post was an excellent way for people to educate each other about common workplace pitfalls they may not know about.

Here are 13 of the most common lies that employers tell their employees.

1. Working 2 jobs

"If you just do this extra work until the other position is filled, you will be rewarded later." — MightyAtom13

"Any form of delayed comp should be treated as a lie." — Mirbatdon

2. There's nothing to see here

"You may have heard some rumors that [insert bad thing here] is happening, but I'm here today to tell you that this isn't the case." — UnfinishedThings

"Nothing is ever true until the company officially denies it." — Big-Problem7372

3. Don't talk money

"You aren't allowed to discuss your pay/salary." — Meestrdg

"Any company that tells you not to discuss pay, you should immediately start discussing pay with as many people as you can find. Hell, put your job title (or something similar) on a post-it note with your pay in the employee bathroom that the managers never use." — BlackMoons

4. The loyalty lie

"That you owe them loyalty. You don’t. You are a number in SAP that costs money. Once you are replaceable or your skill set is no longer required, you’re done. No matter your situation in life." — JustAnotherS**tposter.

"I’ve seen enough layoffs to know that they would cut me without a second thought if it benefited them. I feel obligated to perform my job in good faith, but I’m taking my vacation days, I’m taking my sick days if I need them, and if I come across a clearly better job offer, I’m taking that too." — Provocotive_Bear

5. You're not family

"Honestly, if an employer invokes families or sports teams analogies, you had better avoid them." — A CaffeinatedWandress

"Yes! We are like family until we say you can’t take a day off to see your biological family." — 77 Tassells

6. Work-life balance

"On rare occasions, this can be true. It most likely isn't coming from owners or execs though. It's usually middle managers who actually give a sh** and fight their nonsense constantly." — The_Bitter_Bear

"My last boss tried to emphasize this and then come review time I was criticized for not putting in 'extra' time to help the team (was told not to work past 5 pm and family came first)." — Zoap3256

7. Flexible hours

"This one is so true. When most job postings say “flexible hours,” it usually means that they need you to be flexible to work nights and weekends even if you need them off." — 1991195

8. Healthcare changes

"We’re changing healthcare providers in order to benefit you, our valued employees ." — Kismet237

9. Your raise is right around the corner

"The next job/promotion will pay you more. We are planning to expand." — vArrowhead

“The future is bright. We can’t give you that raise now but Just hang in there and your hard work will pay off.” — Friend-of-thee-court

10. Anonymous feedback

"Your anonymous employee feedback surveys are 100% not anonymous." — SarenTenet914

"When I first started taking employee feedback surveys, it would lead off with questions if you were male or female, what department you worked in, how long you've been in the department, and how long you've been in the company to 'validate' you as being an employee and to serve up the right set of questions. I realized how very easy it was to track people back based on how those questions were answered." — wetwater

11. Unlimted vacation days

"Unlimited vacation days really means minimal vacation days." — IlIIlIIIlIl

"We went unlimited. I track my use on a spreadsheet that is in line with legacy policy before the change. So, if questioned, I can produce documentation I, in fact, have not abused it. That hasn’t come up. But just in case." — Sharpedoweek

12. Not selling the company

"Once you hear the rumors, there is a 100% chance it is going to happen." — Andos4

13. We're using the latest tech

"In software jobs, the most common lie is 'We are using the latest tech' or 'We are upgrading to the latest tech right now!'" — Propostor

"My job is to manage the tech, cloud, and software strategy, and this is pretty much never true. Aside from random startups playing with massive startup capital from angel investors, no established company works with the latest technology, because it carries too much risk and too many unknowns. No actual technical manager will claim otherwise. Only non-technical people like executives, sales, marketing, and HR make ridiculous claims like that." — Maitreg

From Your Site Articles

work-life balance

Pop Culture

Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo navigate today's cringey corporate culture in hilarious ad

We've all had bosses like this.

AICP/Vimeo

Van Gogh and Kahlo might have had their critics, but nothing like this.

In a parody video titled “Museum-worthy,” renowned artists Vincent Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo must navigate the constant influx of “creative input” on their masterpieces from cheesy middlemen dressed in period garb and spouting marketing mumbo jumbo.

Even though the sketch was created to encourage professional creatives to enter a contest for the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), anyone who has had to deal with cringey corporate culture will get a kick out of it.

Van Gogh is informed that while “the client was super happy” with his “Starry Night” painting, they wanted it to make it a “sunny day” for a happier tone.

Also, his painting unfortunately failed a focus group since it did not make viewers “more comfortable about the plague.” So, of course, an influencer, aka Father Anton, is brought in “to break through and resonate with younger audiences.”

Meanwhile, Kahlo is told her unibrow is “too confrontational” and is politely asked to remove the monkey from her self portrait in favor of an animal that “scored higher on trust,” like a puppy.

Give it a watch below:

Triggered? You’re not alone. Just take a look at some of these comments gleaned from Youtube:

“The people who made this commercial really captured what its like to deal with these people. Especially the influencer part.”

“For me this really showed me how ridiculous corporate control and content-isation really is. We're so used to it that we don't think about it any more, but can be soul sucking.”

“Okay, I actually LOL'd at the end No lies detected, though.”

“This ad was BRILLIANT and so on POINT!”

“I love this…it also made me uncomfortable, as it’s just toooooooo relatable.”

Art is subjective, but it seems we can all agree that a) this ad hits the nail on the head, and b) we are ready for corporate cringe to be done, please and thank you.

By the way, if you want to see more of what happened during that focus group for “Starry Night,” you can check out an equally funny companion piece here.

From Your Site Articles

humor

Joy

Woman films herself being fired by HR to expose how cold U.S. corporate culture can be

Even the CEO called the video “painful.”

via brittanypeachhh/TikTok and Ana Shvets/Pexels

Brittany Pietsch documetns being fired from Cloudflare.

A video making the rounds on TikTok is a prime example of how American corporate culture can be downright cruel. Even the company CEO said it was “painful” to watch. The video was posted on TikTok by Brittany Pietsch, who was fired from her job as an account executive at Cloudflare just 3 months after being hired.

Cloudflare is an American company that provides content delivery network services and cloud cybersecurity, based in San Francisco, California.

After hearing her coworkers were getting fired through video calls, Pietsch prepared herself to push back against the bad news, when one was scheduled for her. But she had very little ground to stand on in the conversation because the HR people doing the firing had little knowledge of her situation and all of the answers sounded scripted.

The video, titled "POV: You're about to get laid off," featured Pietsch looking at her computer screen and although you cannot see the people firing her, their voices can be heard.

@brittanypeachhh
Original creator reposting: brittany peach cloudflare layoff. When you know you’re about to get laid off so you film it :) this was traumatizing honestly lmao #cloudflare #techlayoffs #tech #layoff

"We finished our evaluations of 2023 performance and this is where you've not met Cloudflare expectations for performance and we've decided to part ways with you," the HR representative can be heard saying.

Pietsch was shocked that she was being laid off because she had just started the job in October and her 3-month ramp-up was interrupted by the holidays. "I'm going to stop you right there,” she said. “I've been on a three-month ramp, and then it was three weeks of December, and then a week of Christmas and here we are. I have had the highest activity amongst my team."

The 3-month ramp-up is the allotment of time a company gives a salesperson to get up to speed on their new assignment. She also thought that she was meeting expectations at her new job.

"Every single one-on-one I've had with my manager, every conversation I've had with him, he's been giving me nothing but that I am doing a great job,” she said.

The CloudFlare layoff video is going viral because the woman in the video gave a voice to the frustration that many tech workers have with the decisions made from management over the last few years
— Josh (@JoshuaOgundu) January 12, 2024

Even though Pietsch may have a case for keeping her job, she soon realizes she has no chance to save it because the HR people know very little about her performance. The HR representatives say they aren't giving her any "clarity or answers” that will “meet the expectations that you're communicating to us." The HR people add that they are happy to follow up with her about her performance, but Pietsch doubts that will ever happen. "But then when?” she asks. “If it's not as I'm getting fired, it's certainly not going to be after when I'm no longer part of the company." Eventually, the exchange ends when the HR representative concludes that there is nothing they can do for her.

"So I don't think there's anything we can say in this moment or today, Brittany, that's going to change the way that you feel,” the HR representative said before moving the conversation toward the next steps of the firing process.

The video has been seen over 4 million times on X, so the CEO of Cloudflare Matthew Prince, responded to the video on the platform. He admitted that the video was painful to watch but reiterated that Pietsch was let go for her performance.

The positive takeaway is that the CEO noted the process wasn’t “kind” or “humane” and that he will look into “improving” it “going forward.” The video is also an excellent example for other companies on how not to let someone go, especially at a time when people are very sensitive about workplace behavior on social media.

We fired ~40 sales people out of over 1,500 in our go to market org. That’s a normal quarter. When we’re doing performance management right, we can often tell within 3 months or less of a sales hire, even during the holidays, whether they’re going to be successful or not. Sadly,…
— Matthew Prince 🌥 (@eastdakota) January 12, 2024

From Your Site Articles

work

corporate culture

Man literally frolics in the street after quitting high-stress corporate job

"I'm free! I'm free!"

How soldiers and sports helped create the cringey corporate jargon we all despise

Nobody likes it. But nobody can stop using it.

Here are the 13 most common lies people have heard from their employers

It's good to get them all out in the open.

1. Working 2 jobs

2. There's nothing to see here

3. Don't talk money

4. The loyalty lie

5. You're not family

6. Work-life balance

7. Flexible hours

8. Healthcare changes

9. Your raise is right around the corner

10. Anonymous feedback

11. Unlimted vacation days

12. Not selling the company

13. We're using the latest tech

Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo navigate today's cringey corporate culture in hilarious ad

We've all had bosses like this.

Woman films herself being fired by HR to expose how cold U.S. corporate culture can be

Even the CEO called the video “painful.”

5 ways people are going all in this week

Comedian nails the differences in how each generation arrives at someone's home

5 ways people with perpetually tidy homes see things differently than the rest of us

Dad shares 'complaints' about his toddler's restaurant business and it's too adorable

Boomer professor perfectly lays out why Gen Z developed a 'lazy' attitude

corporate culture

"I'm free! I'm free!"

Nobody likes it. But nobody can stop using it.

It's good to get them all out in the open.

1. Working 2 jobs

2. There's nothing to see here

3. Don't talk money

4. The loyalty lie

5. You're not family

6. Work-life balance

7. Flexible hours

8. Healthcare changes

​9. Your raise is right around the corner

10. Anonymous feedback

11. Unlimted vacation days

12. Not selling the company

13. We're using the latest tech

We've all had bosses like this.

Even the CEO called the video “painful.”

9. Your raise is right around the corner