Quiet quitting and workplace culture

Labouring mightily

Letters to the Editor. Illustration: Paul Scott
The Irish Times - Letters to the Editor.

Sir, – Further to recent correspondence (Letters, April 30th), many years ago I worked in an office where the sole young lady in the company would invariably have donned her coat and be on her way out the door 30 seconds after quitting time arrived.

The manager, if he spotted her, always remarked, “Leaving us already, Noreen?”, inevitably prompting the reply, “Be terrible to be late twice in the one day, Mr B!”

He never learned. – Yours, etc,

LIAM STENSON,

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Galway.

Sir, – Recent letters on workplace behaviour remind me of my time in the brewing department of Guinness in the 1980s. At that time the managing director was the late and great Finbarr Flood, whose career roots had been as an ordinary worker. Finding his working day involved a lot of admin work, he would appear on site in the brewing and traffic departments during the early shift, sometime between 6am and 9am in order to keep in touch with the grassroots, whereupon he would sit for a chat in the midst of the business . It was his way of knowing the full story.

However, this caused some consternation among the office workers who arrived in at 9am to find the MD already in. As a result, some developed the technique of leaving their jacket over the chair from the previous evening to give the impression that they were in before 9am. – Yours, etc,

TONY CORCORAN,

Rathfarnham,

Dublin 14.