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When somebody brags to you about how much they work, answer with “Maybe if you were better at it, you wouldn’t need to work so much” Watch their jaw drop edit

by Swizec 6y ago

When somebody brags to you about how much they work, answer with “Maybe if you were better at it, you wouldn’t need to work so much” Watch their jaw drop edit: use responsibly, social intelligence required (like don’t say it to your boss, but as a jab at a good friend)

stagger87 6y ago
"How to lose friends and alienate people."
- tharkun__ 6y ago
  Not the OP here and I agree with you (that's why I never say that) but can you honestly say that you never _thought_ it when they complain? I know I do most of the time. There are the workoholic exceptions that just can't help themselves.
koyote 6y ago
I agree with other commenters that it might not be the best thing to say if you want to keep your friendships. It's a very true sentiment though. Another one that often comes to my mind when people brag about amount of hours work is something along the lines of: "Do you know that you're effectively being paid at near minimum wage?" (obviously not true for everyone, but some people's salary goes from 'decent' to 'minimum wage' per hour worked) But it's even worse than just being paid less per hour worked: For each hour you work, you lose an hour of 'life'. Working 10 hour days instead of 8 hour days means that you lose 10 hours of 'life' a week.
TchoBeer 6y ago
That's an awful thing to say. I think a better response would be "why are you proud of having less free time than me?" I remember in school people would often brag about how little sleep they got and when they said that to me I'd say "why are you proud of how unhealthy your life is?" I would NOT say "sucks for you that you're too dumb to study enough and get to bed by 11". That would be a dick move.
- aiisjustanif 6y ago
  I’m not proud of it, just so happens that 20% of the employees on the team do most of the work and work more and the other 80% talk about how they have such a great life outside of work.
cortesoft 6y ago
> Watch their jaw drop Yeah, people tend to be surprised when someone says something intentionally hurtful
sneak 6y ago
This presumes that the amount of work you can do, or money you need to earn, is capped, such as producing x widgets per day, or earning y dollars per day. Others have already pointed out what an asshole thing this is to say, but I think a more important thing to note about it is that it's simply incorrect. If your income/wealth is directly related to total output, and your capacity isn't capped, then regardless of how good you are at it, doing it 2x as much means 2x the value produced. I'm good enough at what I do that I never have to work again if I don't want to, but I still work 10+ hours every day because it's fun and I like it, and maybe it would be nice to have a boat one day.
throwanother1 6y ago
Reminds me of Edison and Tesla: "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration." -- Edison "Had Edison thought out his work and spent more time in preparation, he would not sweat so much." -- Tesla
jpttsn 6y ago
Would you advice Marie Curie or Richard Feynman to work less and settle for the output of average physicists? I’m sure they could get away with it. Is this “cult” about daring to spend less of your life watching TV? I’m missing some central perspective judging my the comment thread.
- qntty 6y ago
  So I got this new attitude. Now that I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything, I've got this nice position at the university teaching classes which I rather enjoy, and just like I read the Arabian Nights for pleasure, I'm going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever. Richard Feynman It sounds like giving up on "working" can sometimes be the first step to high output for some people. I know I've had that experience.
  - jpttsn 6y ago
    That’s funny, we must’ve read that chapter completely differently. It’s what made me think of him as an example. I see it as a rediscovery of how Feynman’ work was his true calling after all and how he chose to do more physics, instead of more reading, for pleasure.
ladyattis 6y ago
>When somebody brags to you about how much they work, answer with “Maybe if you were better at it, you wouldn’t need to work so much” Sadly here in the US that's seen as bad or unproductive. The whole chasing the productivity numbers has become a fetish in this country where we can't imagine that productivity is better measured in how little we waste our time versus how much more profit we make. If it takes an hour to make the same profit versus last year that should be celebrated and rewarded but it seems the latter part, the reward, is always withheld. Even if it's something silly like pizza for lunch or a gift card. There's just more of the "well work more" attitude which is just nonsense to me. The whole "line must go up" cult needs to be expunged from the human species, I swear.

by Swizec 6y ago

stagger87 6y ago

"How to lose friends and alienate people."

tharkun__ 6y ago
Not the OP here and I agree with you (that's why I never say that) but can you honestly say that you never _thought_ it when they complain? I know I do most of the time. There are the workoholic exceptions that just can't help themselves.

koyote 6y ago

I agree with other commenters that it might not be the best thing to say if you want to keep your friendships. It's a very true sentiment though. Another one that often comes to my mind when people brag about amount of hours work is something along the lines of: "Do you know that you're effectively being paid at near minimum wage?" (obviously not true for everyone, but some people's salary goes from 'decent' to 'minimum wage' per hour worked) But it's even worse than just being paid less per hour worked: For each hour you work, you lose an hour of 'life'. Working 10 hour days instead of 8 hour days means that you lose 10 hours of 'life' a week.

TchoBeer 6y ago

That's an awful thing to say. I think a better response would be "why are you proud of having less free time than me?" I remember in school people would often brag about how little sleep they got and when they said that to me I'd say "why are you proud of how unhealthy your life is?" I would NOT say "sucks for you that you're too dumb to study enough and get to bed by 11". That would be a dick move.

aiisjustanif 6y ago
I’m not proud of it, just so happens that 20% of the employees on the team do most of the work and work more and the other 80% talk about how they have such a great life outside of work.

cortesoft 6y ago

> Watch their jaw drop Yeah, people tend to be surprised when someone says something intentionally hurtful

sneak 6y ago

This presumes that the amount of work you can do, or money you need to earn, is capped, such as producing x widgets per day, or earning y dollars per day. Others have already pointed out what an asshole thing this is to say, but I think a more important thing to note about it is that it's simply incorrect. If your income/wealth is directly related to total output, and your capacity isn't capped, then regardless of how good you are at it, doing it 2x as much means 2x the value produced. I'm good enough at what I do that I never have to work again if I don't want to, but I still work 10+ hours every day because it's fun and I like it, and maybe it would be nice to have a boat one day.

throwanother1 6y ago

Reminds me of Edison and Tesla: "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration." -- Edison "Had Edison thought out his work and spent more time in preparation, he would not sweat so much." -- Tesla

jpttsn 6y ago

Would you advice Marie Curie or Richard Feynman to work less and settle for the output of average physicists? I’m sure they could get away with it. Is this “cult” about daring to spend less of your life watching TV? I’m missing some central perspective judging my the comment thread.

qntty 6y ago
So I got this new attitude. Now that I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything, I've got this nice position at the university teaching classes which I rather enjoy, and just like I read the Arabian Nights for pleasure, I'm going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever. Richard Feynman It sounds like giving up on "working" can sometimes be the first step to high output for some people. I know I've had that experience.
- jpttsn 6y ago
  That’s funny, we must’ve read that chapter completely differently. It’s what made me think of him as an example. I see it as a rediscovery of how Feynman’ work was his true calling after all and how he chose to do more physics, instead of more reading, for pleasure.

ladyattis 6y ago

>When somebody brags to you about how much they work, answer with “Maybe if you were better at it, you wouldn’t need to work so much” Sadly here in the US that's seen as bad or unproductive. The whole chasing the productivity numbers has become a fetish in this country where we can't imagine that productivity is better measured in how little we waste our time versus how much more profit we make. If it takes an hour to make the same profit versus last year that should be celebrated and rewarded but it seems the latter part, the reward, is always withheld. Even if it's something silly like pizza for lunch or a gift card. There's just more of the "well work more" attitude which is just nonsense to me. The whole "line must go up" cult needs to be expunged from the human species, I swear.