'Chill out': Boss gives overachieving employee a warning for working too hard

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Jul 14, 2023 8:00 AM EDT

Does anyone else totally wish they had this guy as their boss? Picture this. You're being called into your manager's office. You're stressed because who knows what this could be about? A mistake? A denied promotion? Layoffs? Clearly, I am a pessimistic thinker given all these options, but I digress. You finally pull yourself together and make it to your boss's office. He tells you to have a seat. You stifle panic as you nervously ask what this is about. Finally, he tells you, and the news is not exactly what you expected to hear.

He's telling you to be less enthusiastic on the job, to stop replying to every single email, to take more time completing certain tasks, and to just chill the heck out. You almost guffaw because this is not what your last boss would ever say or the boss you had before that. But then you have an epiphany. He's totally serious right now. He genuinely wants you to avoid burnout, perhaps for your own mental well-being or perhaps so that the other coworkers on your team don't have to feel the need to match your energy. Regardless of what the reason is, you have been given a verbal warning to just do less.

That's what happened to this Redditor, who clearly is new to the workplace and feels the need to go above and beyond for no extra pay. Thankfully, if they end up reading all the responses from folks in the comments section, they will learn the importance of pacing oneself. Keep scrolling below to see the original story and the best reactions. For more posts like this, here's one about a boss who unexpectedly changed his employee's hours.