Antiwork

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About

Antiwork, also known as Anti-Work, is a social movement against toxic work culture and jobs or bosses that violate a worker's personal space and free time. The antiwork movement is largely centered around the /r/antiwork subreddit, which began in 2013. The movement is associated with the social trend of workers voluntarily quitting their jobs known as "The Great Resignation," and with the "Laying Flat" movement among millennials and Gen Z in China.

History

Antiwork

On August 14th, 2013, Redditor AbolishWork (Doreen Ford) created /r/antiwork,^[1] a subreddit dedicated to calling out all out poor working conditions or questionable actions from management that usually result in workers quitting their jobs. Subreddit subscribers have posted stories of quitting their jobs and shared screenshots of their conversations with their management, with many such posts going viral on Reddit.

The subreddit remained largely niche until December 2018, when it had below 10,000 subscribers. The subreddit grew to 100,000 subscribers by March 2020, and with the COVID-19 pandemic being a contributing factor, to over 500,000 subscribers by October 2021. Following a series of viral posts and coverage by media, the subreddit grew to over 1.2 million subscribers as of November 22nd, 2021.^[2]

Laying Flat

Laying Flat, or Tangping (躺平), is a social movement among young people in China who refuse to work in a competitive environment, or altogether, in an attempt to escape the crush of life and work in a fast-paced society.

The movement was jumpstarted in April 2021 as a post titled "Lying Flat Is Justice" (a reference to Flat Is Justice meme) went viral on Chinese social network Baidu,^[3] and discussions about "lying flat" became viral among Chinese users in May that year.

The Great Resignation

The Great Resignation, also known as the Big Quit, is the ongoing trend of employees voluntarily quitting jobs, particularly in the United States. The trend was largely connected with the COVID-19 pandemic as employees, particularly millennials and zoomers, were able to rethink their work conditions, work-life balance and goals.^[4]

The term "Great Resignation" was likely coined by Anthony Klotz, a professor of management at Mays Business School of Texas A&M University,^[5] who predicted the event to happen in May 2021.

In the United States, the resignation rate saw a massive surge in April 2021, with 4 million Americans quitting their jobs that month. The trend was reported on by the media, including articles by BBC,^[6] Harvard Business Review^[7] and The Atlantic.^[8]

Highlights

The /r/antiwork subreddit attracted major attention outside of Reddit in mid-October 2021 when a number of posts went viral on Reddit and were circulated online in the following days. For example, on October 14th, 2021, Redditor^[9] hestolemysmile made a post that received over 268,000 upvotes in one month (shown below, left). On October 16th, 2021, Redditor^[10] tylerro2 made a post that gained over 164,000 upvotes in the same period (shown below, center). A post by Redditor^[11] frenzzzzykid, made on October 24th, gained over 127,000 upvotes in the same period (shown below, right).

ll Spectrum LTE 7:47 PM O 34% Boss Text Message Today 7:20 PM Good evening Me I was reviewing the cameras from our shift today and noticed that you were sitting on a stool for the majority of your shift. This is completely unacceptable behavior and we will be discussing it tomorrow before shift. I cleared it with Lead broken bones in my left foot (doctor documented). I have 2 Aside from that - I packed 240+UPH for the entirety of my shift, 12 full hours. I'm not sure if you're aware, but we do have a ranked list for packing displayed directly above our stations. My efforts earned me first place today. So, just to be clear - my impressive performance was overshadowed by the fact that I wasn't uncomfortable enough while doing it? I'm really not appreciating your attitude. You could have just said the first part where it was cleared with another lead instead of being disrespectful. This type of behavior isn't going to get you anywhere here. Hey, thanks for wasting my precious off time with some garbage you didn't bother to investigate beforehand. Seriously - 240+ UPH - what you claim to be the pinnacle of performance there, I achieved it, and I get grief because I was sitting while doing it. You guys need to get your priorities straight. It is no wonder that you have such difficulties retaining staff. I'm not concerned with going "anywhere" there. It's a toxic environment with ignorant people at the helm. I won't be in tomorrow or ever again. We don't need to rush to you leaving. Let's talk in the morning and we can sort this out. No thanks. Have a good life.

10:02 373 C Chris > Where are you at ? You told mark you could work night shift tonight No I did not. I told mark I couldn't work monday You told him you couldn't work in the morning but you could work normal hours As you know, I found out yesterday my dad passed away. I'm gonna go ahead and at least take the one day I get a week off to mourn his death. I am so sorry for any inconvenience this will cause you. My uncle died a few days ago, I lost my grandma. Stop being a victim Mail me my check I quit And go f--- yourself Text Message Pay ..

J John (Work) > Yesterday 19:02 Hey Brandon. We're short staffed for the rest of this year because Sarah just quit without any warning. We're really backed up so l'm going to need you to come in during thanksgiving this year. Don't be shocked if you have to come in during christmas eve and day too. I already told you 3 weeks ago I need that week off and you agreed. Now you're changing your mind? I will not be working Thanksgiving, and if you ask again I will not be working for you at all anymore. Today 09:32 we've had to set expectations with you multiple times this year. coming in is the least you can do. your pto request has been denied. i'm not asking you to come in, i'm telling you that you have to. And I'm telling you that you'll have no worker at all now. I quit e Delivered

In October and November 2021, multiple news outlets posted articles about the subreddit, including articles by Rolling Stone,^[12] VICE^[13] and Slate.^[14]

Fox News /r/Antiwork Moderator Interview

On January 25th, 2022, the longest-tenured moderator of /r/Antiwork, u/AbolishWork or Doreen Ford, was interviewed live on Fox News during the show Watters World hosted by Jesse Watters. In the segment, Watters introduced him and the subreddit as having amassed roughly 1.6 million members over the past four months. Watters then continued to ask Ford questions about what "not working" means to him and captioned the whole segment "The War Against Working." The interview was uploaded to YouTube on the 25th by the channel Beshel News Service, where it earned roughly 1.9 million views over the course of two days (shown below).

Also on January 25th, the clip was shared to /r/Cringetopia^[15] by Redditor cal_oe. The Reddit post (shown below) received roughly 59,400 upvotes over the course of two days.

Backlash Against /r/Antiwork Moderators

The /r/Antiwork moderators received a considerable amount of backlash following the interview. Multiple Redditors within the subreddit posted long-form text posts about why they believed the interview was terrible. For instance, Redditor^[21] mischievous_unicorn made a post titled, "Mods – we deserve an explanation," earning over 11,000 upvotes in less than a day (shown below, top). Redditor^[22] Inevitable-Currents made a similar post titled, "'Sorry' doesn’t cut it – mods are not leaders of this sub," receiving roughly 69,600 upvotes in less than a day (shown below, bottom).

r/antiwork Posted by u/mischievous_unicorn 23 hours ago 10 6 6. 10.9k Mods - we deserve an explanation. 1. Why did you go against the vote of the Sub? 2. Why won't you take accountability and understand that a mistake was made? We want to help you fix it! 3. Why are you removing posts on false premises? Some were transphobic, but most were just being critical of the interview. Remember Mods, this is Our subreddit, Not yours. Please explain your actions. 1123 Comments A Tip Award Share Save 403 people here ...

Overall, most of the backlash early on was about Doreen Ford not representing the subreddit properly, coming off as cringy and being accused of "power tripping" for taking the interview.

A screenshot of u/AbolishWork stating his reasoning for the video was posted to /r/WorkReform^[16] on January 26th, 2022, by Redditor DarkestKink. He said that he had "previous media experience" and that Fox News specifically asked for him. The Reddit post (shown below) received roughly 2,500 upvotes in less than 24 hours.

Photo showing r/Antiwork decision process 12:17 1 r/antiwork ... FOX "ANTI-WORK" REDDIT THREAD HAS 1.6 MILLION MEMBERS EWS JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME annel 1 71.6k 3 337 1, Share u/Antares_Pharma Promoted TIL People actually stay out past 6pm. My low energy may be a sign of low testosterone (low-T) resulting f... NANONTN TILItsLow-T.com Learn More SINGLE COMMENT THREAD VIEW ALL AbolishWork • 16h .com 1 Award The interview offer was given to the mods via mod mail and they specifically asked for me. I shared that with other mods and they all agreed that I was probably the best to do it because l've done other media. 4 -480 3

u/AbolishWork / Doreen Ford Rape Allegations

As the Fox News interview started to circulate on Reddit for being deemed "cringy," Redditors started to surface sexual assault allegations levied against Doreen Ford. This happened most notably after Redditor NoSatisfaction4251 posted to /r/WorkReform^[17] on January 26th, 2022, receiving over 18,000 upvotes in less than a day. The post made a joke about being "autistic too" but that u/NoSatisfaction4251 would still have showered and dressed nice, unlike Ford.

A couple of hours later, u/NoSatisfaction4251 posted a comment, linking to a different post on Reddit's /r/awfuleverything,^[18] also posted on the 26th by Redditor Busy-Lifeguard-9558. The post was titled, "r/antiwork mod who recently did a fox interview seems to have a dark past.. RAPING PEOPLE," and it received 2,100 upvotes before being removed by the moderators.

The evidence that u/Busy-Lifeguard-9558 posted was reuploaded to /r/awfuleverything^[19] by Redditor cal_oe, consisting of a picture of multiple Facebook screenshots where Doreen Ford allegedly addressed and confessed to multiple rape allegations (shown below, click to expand).

O LTE LTE LTE LTE LTE 70° 6:48 PM 70° 6:49 PM 70° 6:49 PM 70° 6:49 PM 70° 6:49 PM 70° 6:50 PM Doreen Cleyre Comments Comments Comments Comments Comments Sruggies anu tryng tO na way tO ical. Doreen Cleyre CW: Abuse Lastly, the previously mentioned coping mechanism resulted in this person creating alarms for us so we wouldn't fall asleep together and thus boundary violations would be minimized. Much to my retrospective disgust, my desperation for emotional intimacy led me to shut off the alarms at various points. These events have led me to suffer several Anyone who knows who this is advised against contacting this person. This individual had past trauma, from previous relationships, that caused emotional and physical distance between us over the course of months. This led to my needs going unmet, which led to m----------- as an unhealthy coping mechanism. Doreen Cleyre Yesterday at 1:15pm 4 symptoms of PTSD, sporadic suicidal ideation, and self-esteem loss. I've done my best to heal by privately talking to multiple friends about this but I think I need to do more than that. The only comments l'll be accepting on this thread are clarifying questions and constructive criticisms that are coming from a good and supportive place. Border Border The person accusing me of serial r--- and I were involved in sexual conduct. This scenario involved I wrote this a long while ago, in case this situation ever happened and sadly...here it is. alcohol on their part but I had been informed (multiple times) that it wasn't a big deal (they said they were only tipsy) and that they were consenting to what was happening. I took them at their word and I will be more responsible in the future when it comes to alcohol and I strive to be open and honest; those who are close to me can verify that I exude those qualities more than any other. It's in that spirit that I make public certain past events within Throughout my life, I have striven to be a respectful and compassionate person. That means that when others are clear about their Shaming me in an attempt to show that my actions were wrong is both unproductive and unnecessary as I am well aware of my actions and their lack of morality. When I learned how much these harmed this person, I soon after went to therapy. boundaries, I want to be sensitive to and respectful of them. And that if I discover after After months of trying to keep myself in check, I began sporadically masturbating while they slept next to me or by themselves. Even though they stated this made them feel uncomfortable, these events continued to happen until I sought help through therapy. my life. sex. Thereafter, I was better able to cope with my impulsive tendencies and thus consistently respect their boundaries. I am sorry for any harm this information causes those close to me. the fact that l've violated someone's I'm unaware of who I've allegedly r---- besides the person making the accusation. The only person I can think of is a previous partner (1'll put their details in the comments). If you feel as though you may not be able to deal with heavy content right now, I recommend avoiding this post. boundaries, I want to apologize and make amends as I have tried to do for this individual. Yesterday at 1:28pm Edited Like · 2 Reply More I want to discuss a history have with someone that I used to know. This was a person with whom I had an ongoing sexual relationship and living arrangement. Eventually, a mix of fundamentally incompatible needs, past trauma (unrelated to me), and my issues with impulsive control resulted in a very unhealthy dynamic between us. Resulting from my remorse, I made a financial contribution to an organization dedicated to helping people in alternative but abusive relationships. There was discussion between me and this individual of helping with therapy costs; however, given my economic status and their insurance coverage, we decided againstt. Even so, in this case and in the context of an ongoing sexual relationship, I engaged in behavior that, because of this person's history, pushed very sensitive buttons related to prior trauma. I am embarrassed and regretful that even after learning how much it harmed them still engaged in it after the fact. I take consent very seriously. I have a list of behaviors related to cuddling that l've been using for over a year. I'm trying my best to be... More I had woken up one morning with them laying next to me and remembering they felt uncomfortable with me masturbating next to them while they slept; I placed their hand over my boxers. They moved their hand away and thought nothing at what happened and fell back asleep. to me that they had a nightmare involving tho series of events. I admitted that it had happened, apologized, and explained that I was half-asleep and was not in full control of my Yesterday at 1:28pm Like · Reply More I love you and think you're a wonderful person. Yesterday at 1:41pm Like 2 Reply More 3 Commer O Like ney later woke up and mentioned Comment As well, I've used that unhealthy dynamic as way to improve myself; my relationships since this one have been healthy and mutually I do not know what coming forward with this E information will do. But I hope everyone can still trust me to do what is right and hold myself responsible and accountable when I make mistakes. As well, I hope people I realize that I Doreen Cleyre CW: Abuse Due to my dislike of call-out culture, this person will remain anonymous. Border beneficial as a result. actions. Lwrote this a long while ago in case thic More Anvono wbo knowswho thic is advicodagainst ...

/r/Antiwork Goes Private

Also on January 26th, 2022, the mods of /r/Antiwork made the subreddit private after a massive ban spree and multiple posts calling them out received thousands of upvotes. A screenshot of them being privated was posted to /r/WorkReform^[20] by Redditor xXDragoneelXx8 (shown below).

r/antiwork r/antiwork is a private community The moderators of r/antiwork have set this community as private. Only approved members can view and take part in its discussions. Browse Other Reddit Communities

The subreddit was un-privated on January 27th, followed by a long-form written statement to the subreddit from the moderators. It was posted to /r/Antiwork^[23] by the moderator Kimezukae and was restricted from being upvoted or downvoted (opening paragraph of the statement shown below).

Posted by u/Kimezukae Post-Left Anarchist |||| Lazy 7 hours ago 2 4 F 2 5 4 A 3 3 Statement /r/Antiwork Transparency We will now focus on more transparency regarding media We're going in the short-term future not accept any media interviews and we will ask the community on feedback regarding whether we will accept an interview or what kind of media outlets are outright banned. However, at this point we still have past interviews that were done but haven't released yet. Namely: Kyodo News (Japanese) by /u/Kimezukae, release unknown. New York Times by /u/Kimezukae, release unknown - community members of this subreddit also have given answers, as far as we are aware. • Fast company by /u/Kimezukae, release unknown • Bayerischer Rundfunk: Workin' Germany by /u/Grammorphone, release unknown /u/Kimezukae in general was reading feedback and was setting up r/antiworkmedia, a counter- platform for Antiwork so that we have our own media. However, the 'project' was not started to begin with, /u/Kimezukae just started the subreddit and sort of forget about it later, as in the internal chat other things unrelated were discussed and at that time /u/Kimezukae was a very new moderator, so /u/Kimezukae did not want to make severe decisions to continue the spirit and the project was abandoned the same time the subreddit was created. /u/Kimezukae thought the name however should be reserved at the very least, so /u/Kimezukae did not delete the r/antiworkMEDIA subreddit O C)

Search Interest

External References

^[1] Reddit – /r/antiwork

^[2] Reddit – /r/antiwork

^[3] Brookings – The ‘lying flat’ movement standing in the way of China’s innovation drive

^[4] Wikipedia – Great Resignation

^[5] The Washington Post – Transcript: The Great Resignation with Molly M. Anderson, Anthony C. Klotz, PhD & Elaine Welteroth

^[6] BBC – The Great Resignation: How employers drove workers to quit

^[7] Harvard Business Review – Who Is Driving the Great Resignation?

^[8] The Atlantic – The Great Resignation Is Accelerating

^[9] Reddit – Quit my job last night, it was nice to be home to make the kids breakfast and take them to school today! Off to hunt for a new opportunity, wish me luck :)

^[10] Reddit – Who’s the boss now?

^[11] Reddit – Never told a boss off like this. And it felt amazing.

^[12] Rolling Stone – Do These Viral Stories About Shitty Bosses Signal an Anti-Work Revolution?

^[13] VICE – This subreddit will make you want to quit your job

^[14] Slate – The Real Point of Reddit’s Antiwork Sub

^[15] Reddit – /r/Cringetopia

^[16] Reddit – /r/WorkReform/

^[17] Reddit – /r/WorkReform/

^[18] Reddit – /r/awfuleverything

^[19] Reddit – /r/awfuleverything

^[20] Reddit – /r/WorkReform/

^[21] Reddit – /r/antiwork/

^[22] Reddit – /r/antiwork/

^[23] Reddit – /r/antiwork

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Top Comments

superjumpman

Nov 15, 2021 at 05:01AM EST

You know, just form Unions like we do in Europe. It's fun!

Wage cuts? Go on strike!
Sweatshop circumstances? Go on strike!
No strikes allowed? Too bad, you can't stop us so you get one anyway!

Unions too unamerican? THINK AGAIN, YOU INVENTED IT!

They want you to think you are weak, you are not! Your strength is in numbers! Band together!

[USER HAS BEEN BANNED FOR COMMUNISM]

+82

Mr. Sneed

Jan 27, 2022 at 01:21PM EST

This movement had the same problem that happened with Occupy Wall Street, semi-good points got put into some sort of movement, then loud idiots showed up and immediately coopted the movement for their own dumb ideas. These movements also explcitily reject the strong powerful leadership required to manage a group of that size.

+81

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