After “quiet quitting,” one worker has graduated to “quiet vacationing,” spending a month overseas while only utilizing one week of paid time off.
In an essay for Business Insider, an anonymous employee revealed how they pulled off the jet setting stunt without raising any eyebrows after the company implemented a return-to-office policy last year.
The worker said they felt trapped in a “golden cage” — not wanting to leave due to the steady paycheck and flexible schedule despite the infuriating policies — and resorted to “quiet quitting” instead.
“I typically work between one to three hours a day, depending on the amount of meetings I have,” they said, explaining that the job is not “rocket science.”
They added: “No one at the company has ever raised suspicion that I’m not doing enough work, and I usually get rave reviews in appraisals.”
Their team at the San Francisco-based tech company manages a database, meaning they have a lot of free time during their scheduled work day and often “fudge our tasks” when not working on something particularly important or pressing.
“During the day, I’ll do everything but my job,” the employee, who is based in Europe, admitted. “I’ll do chores or go to the grocery store, play video games, and call friends and family. If I meet a friend after work, I’ll leave early and check the company’s messaging platform on my way.”
Over time, the sneaky tasks performed during the workday became whole vacations. Once diligent and honest about their PTO hours on the calendar, the quiet vacationer started “quietly taking time off for travel without taking PTO.”
“It began with using work days to travel to the airport. Over time, I got bolder, knowing I could get away with it,” they explained. “I went on a spa day with my partner, and last year, I took a trip, marking both the day I was leaving and returning as normal work days even though I was traveling.”
This year, there was the biggest fete of all: a month-long trip to Italy. They only claimed one week of PTO despite being gone for four.
“I’d log on in the morning, check my emails and messages, and plan my day around any meetings I had,” they said.
“I’d go out for the day, eat amazing food, see incredible sights, and make sure I was back home in time to join any online meetings. I usually have a fake background in meetings, so my colleagues couldn’t see where I was.”
But beyond camouflaged backgrounds, how did they manage to pull it off?
They would also ask “good questions” during calls to feign engagement and communicate consistently with the internal messaging platform, often using emojis and flagging things to show attentiveness, “even if you don’t care at all.”
“When I was in a museum, I checked my messages on my phone every 30 minutes or so,” they continued. “Most of the time, there weren’t any to reply to.”
The sly employee also used a mouse jiggler — which connects to a laptop using USB — that makes the mouse move on its own to make it seem like they’re online even if they were not.
This tactic, however, has resulted in mass firings at other companies. Last month, Wells Fargo fired over a dozen employees for using the gadget.
“The possibility of getting caught does live in the back of my mind, but I’d just be upfront with my boss and say, ‘I do my job. What more do you want?’” they said.
“I’m not sure if it would be a breach of contract, but even if it were and I was thrust into the job-searching world, it might be a good push from the universe to get me moving on to something else.”
Getting away with a month-long trip while on the clock has “emboldened” the worker to take another trip.
“I know I can get all my work done without sticking to the traditional 9-to-5 deal, so I like the idea of just going to the spa for a day and not telling my company,” they said.
“This idea of having a set rigid work schedule is archaic. I could do my job 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world. Why are we having regulations about the hours that I’m online or where I’m working from?”
Gen Z has recently expressed disgust with the 9-to-5 work schedule, with some even boycotting it entirely or resorting to “quiet quitting,” or only doing the bare minimum.
The anonymous worker believes that, because “companies don’t care about employees,” it has pushed people to “quiet vacation.”
“Traditional expectations around working 9-to-5 are outdated, and it’s good to see employees taking back their time,” they said.
“People are finally giving companies exactly what they give us — nothing.”
