‘Could have been an email’: Worker takes 2-hour lunch to make up for ‘unnecessary’ 2-hour meetings
An office worker has gone viral after he posted a video to TikTok in which he claims that if his work holds an 'unnecessary' two-hour meeting, he takes two-hour lunch to make up for his lost time.
TikTok user Brian Kearney (@krianbearney) has previously gone viral for demonstrating another method of taking back company time and his newest video shares a similar sentiment.
@krianbearney Unnecessary meetings 👨🏻💻 #quietquitting #9to5 #corporate #comedy #meetings #workhumor ♬ Karma - Taylor Swift
In this video, which currently has 1 million views, Kearney shows himself eating at a table.
"When your boss makes you join a 2hr meeting that could have been an email so you take a 2hr lunch that could have been 15 min," he writes in the text overlay of the video.
Many commenters speculated as to why meetings like these happen in the first place.
"It’s because if they didn’t have meetings they wouldn’t have a job," wrote a user.
"I’ve learned that people just like to hear themselves talk & have others agree with them," added another. "And this isn’t just in the workplace."
"Nothing is worse than pointless meetings. An old boss would schedule them bc 'he missed seeing us on the weekends,'" recalled a third.
If you’ve ever worked a 9-to-5, you’re likely well acquainted with the drawn-out, unnecessary meetings. A boss may bring the whole team together, say a few sentences about what needs to be done, give some words of encouragement, then send employees on their way — wasting their time for something that could have been a brief email.
The idea that meetings like these are a waste of time is one backed up by data. A study by Steven Rogelberg from the University of North Carolina surveyed 182 senior managers across a host of industries.
Of those senior managers, "71% said meetings are unproductive and inefficient," and "65% said meetings keep them from completing their own work," per Harvard Business Review. Despite this, company employees spend an average of 33% of their week in meetings.
As a result, many employees seek petty ways to claw back the time they feel has been taken from them, like Brian taking a 2-hour lunch.
The aforementioned Harvard Business Review article also offers their own explanation as to why bosses may decide to conduct so many meaningless meetings.
"Executives want to be good soldiers," explain authors Leslie A. Perlow, Constance Noonan Hadley, and Eunice Eun. "When they sacrifice their own time and well-being for meetings, they assume they’re doing what’s best for the business—and they don’t see the costs to the organization. They overlook the collective toll on productivity, focus, and engagement."
This may be one of the reasons why some businessmen, such as Mark Cuban, have sworn off most meetings entirely. "The only way you’re going to get me for a meeting is if you’re writing me a check," Cuban told Inc. Magazine in 2014.
Back on TikTok, other users shared their own methods for exacting revenge following an unneeded meeting.
"I put on my headphones and take an hour walk," claimed a user.
"I spend the /hr meeting eating sunflower seeds & THEN my 15 minutes 'washroom break' and then 1 hour lunch break followed by another 10-15 minute toilet break," stated a second.
The Daily Dot reached out to Kearney via Instagram DM.
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