Why do my coworkers all of sudden try to up one me, now that I’m voluntarily doing physical labor and working overtime?

[Anonymous]

I don’t get it, it’s obvious my coworkers don’t like me because I’m doing more. But what confuses me is whenever I clock in to work, my coworkers either try to race me to the tasks or work longer hours just as myself. But on my days off, I have noticed that my coworkers don’t do much of the tasks and my boss gets upset about it. That whenever I voluntarily step up, so do my coworkers. Why?

[Oliverlogan263]

Hmm, that's a weird move by your coworker. My guess is they're threatened by you stepping up and showing them up. Here's what I think is going on:

- When you put in extra work and OT, it shows the boss you're a hard worker and reliable. That makes your coworkers look bad by comparison.

- So when they see you grinding, they panic and feel like they gotta prove they can keep up to not get shown down. Even if they ain't really bout it.

- But as soon as you dip, they relax cuz you're not making them look lazy no more. Boss can't see the difference when you're both just doing the minimum.

- Basically they're just tryna save face in front of the higher-ups. Not cuz they actually want those hours, just cuz they don't wanna get caught slacking next to you.

I wouldn't let those posers get to you. You're really doing it for yourself and your own hustle. As long as the boss knows you're the real one putting in work, who cares what these clowns do? Just keep doin you and shining, let them follow your lead!

[ManOnFire]

It's because you're doing everything right and they see that and are jealous, and want to compete. This is common workplace toxicity. They hate you because you're 'going above and beyond' which gives you more favor with management and shows you have very good work ethic. Your co-workers know that they're lazy and slimy and they feel like you show them up, which you're not doing on purpose, you're doing it for you.

But still a word of advice: don't be too good at working too hard. Because even managers can take advantage of that and lowball you by leaving you in that hard working position.