Overworked employee working 75 hours a week gets criticized for not being efficient enough, leading employee to cut their work time in half: ‘This was my wake-up call’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Jun 10, 2025 5:00 PM EDT

No workplace is worth working while you are not supposed to; that is simply a fact. If you truly believe that people should work to live, and not live to work, you must remember that when things get stressful at your job.

Even if you absolutely love what you do, respect the people you work with, and care for the job, it is still not worth spending your free and personal time on the job without getting anything in return. Time is money, and even if it doesn't feel like you're wasting anything by staying an extra hour or two every day, or by answering your boss's phone call on a Saturday, believe it or not, it actually costs you a lot.

Some people enter the workforce with a full understanding of these rules, while others must learn them the hard way. Only after they put in time and effort they shouldn't have, and realize it was a mistake, do they learn they should never do it again. 

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  • That is what happened to the employee in the story below. They put everything into their job, and never even got recognition for it. So one day, they finally decided to put a stop to it all.

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    Cheezburger Image 10515510272
    via sturti

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    Boss ‘suspicious’ of the free weekend overtime and extra effort I worked, so I stopped.

    I work in finance, where unpaid overtime is often expected. For several months, I worked 70-75 hour weeks due to a major platform change and
    via finity99
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    resolving issues that followed-something unfortunately common in the industry. I put in more hours than most of my
    via finity99
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    coworkers, to the detriment of my mental health, thinking it would be recognized. Instead our VP blamed me for a team error that hadn't
    via finity99
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    even been reviewed by our managers yet. He told me working so many hours was a "shame" considering how much money the new platform was and that if "we"
    via finity99
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    couldn't learn to be more efficient, Al might replace us - meaning me. Aka implying I'm bad at my job and not working efficiently which is not the case.
    via finity99
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    That was my wake-up call. I cut back to 45 hours a week, stopped working weekends, and only did what was necessary and slightly more
    via finity99
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    just mainly out of respect for my direct manager, who has treated me well (she reports to the VP). Without me overextending myself and
    via finity99
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    Cheezburger Image 10515510528
    via DariolaVera

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    volunteering myself, the problems quickly grew, exposing that the real problem was the unrealistic timeline pushed by the VP
    via finity99
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    resulting in key reports and requirements from the new system which aren't working due to poor planning. After I shared the VP's comments with a few
    via finity99
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    coworkers, they also quietly stopped working excessive hours. And it's been a consensus that our VP is a terrible leader and hard to deal with, the only reason
    via finity99
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    many of us stay are cause of our immediate bosses (lead team managers). Eventually, the VP had to hire another staff on my
    via finity99
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    immediate team because pressure from the CEO plus rehiring as one of my coworkers quit—her role being nearly impossible to
    via finity99
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    replace cause we're honestly underpaid for our level of expertise. He finally started to realize how complex our jobs really are. I'm now
    via finity99
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    looking for another role myself and can't wait to see how he handles my departure, especially since our "new and improved" system has only made my tasks more complicated.
    via finity99
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    taker223 > "can't wait to see how he handles my departure" concentrate on yourself first, let them drown themselves AND DO NOT WORK FOR FREE!
    via taker223
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    maroongrad Don't forget!!! Get contact information for good coworkers!!! If and when you get a better spot, let them know when positions open up and encourage
    via maroongrad
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    them to apply. Then, if they apply, let HR or whomever is hiring know that you will vouch for them as good workers. If they continue to be good workers, you end
    via maroongrad
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    up with reliable competent coworkers and you look good to HR and your managers.
    via maroongrad
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    young_coastie To anyone who needs to hear this: Stop working for free! 75 hours a week is wild.
    via young_coastie
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    austsiannodel It's always wild to me to see people talk about working for free. I don't work a single hour without being paid in full for that hour. Never have, never will.
    via austsiannodel

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boss workplace-stories employee fired manager job malicious compliance tales-from-the-workplace reddit story ceo overworked-employees workplace Reddit company funny
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