Legendary Worker Accidentally Ignores Work Emails For Four Years Without Getting Fired

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Oct 25, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

Every country has a different work culture, but I can think of two that are diametrically opposed in nearly every conceivable way. Americans are work-obsessed. We're rarely not thinking about working, and if we allow ourselves to have a moment of peace, something in the back of our mind is still dreading going to work tomorrow. We have to check our email every 10 minutes, or we shrivel up and die. It's a well-known fact that we might be a little too obsessed with working, and there's some truth to that. People in other countries aren't answering emails from hospital beds like they are in the good old U S of A.

The French are entirely unlike Americans in their work culture. They go on month-long vacations and don't feel bad about it for a second. One Frenchman recently went viral for accidentally not checking his work email for years, and it's such a perfect illustration of how workers operate in that country.