Man tells boss he'll only put in enough effort to match his low salary

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In a now-viral TikTok, a worker told his boss he’d only put in enough effort to match his salary, which had not moved in over two years. TikTok user @krisdrinkslemonade recreated an interaction he had with his boss over job performance. Captioning the TikTok, “I have 9 weeks left at this job so,” Kris has since started an uptake of people complaining about their jobs on TikTok.

@krisdrinkslemonade I have 9 weeks left at this job so ?‍♂️ #work #office #honestreview #annualreview #truth #payme #worklife #boss #layoff #underpaid #hopeidontgetfired #reenactment ♬ original sound - KrisDrinksLemonade

Over the video call, the boss can be heard saying: “Mainly, I want us to discuss the difference in your performance between last year and 2020. “You were the top-rated employee in 2020, but it doesn’t feel like you’ve been nearly as present. What’s changed?” Kris is visibly nervous at the start but he seemingly loses all nerves and does not hold back the moment he replies “2020 was the second year in a row I didn’t get a raise, even though I was the top employee,” he said. He continued: “When I asked why couldn’t get a raise, you said it was because my position—no, ‘My pay was a fair market value for my position.’ And when I asked where my pay falls on the pay scale, you said ‘below the median,’ so below the average of what I could make in my position. “So, at that point, I just decided I’m going to become a fair market value employee and put in a below-average amount of effort because that’s what I feel like you pay me to do. You’ve created an environment where there’s no incentive for me to work hard. So I don’t.”

@krisdrinkslemonade Reply to @failing_full_circle this chat with my boss just happened so we’re still waiting on potential repercussions #office #part2 #work #workfromhome #knowyourworth #worklife #boss #honestreview ♬ original sound - KrisDrinksLemonade

In a later TikTok, Kris explained that the boss viewers heard was actually his friend recreating the initial interview. He also added that while he knew it was not his boss's fault, who was also being laid off, it had been boiling up inside him for a while. TikTok seems to be mostly unified in its position. After all, we’ve all worked somewhere that was more akin to hell than a career. “Funny how employers always have an excuse for below avg wages, but accept no excuses for below avg work,” wrote one user. Another wrote: “We should all learn to demand pay we deserve.” Related links: