Worker Told They 'Lack Passion' For Refusing To Answer Messages At 10 PM
Dikushin Dmitry | Shutterstock Employees have been emphasizing the importance of work-life balance for decades now. Unfortunately, some bosses still just don’t seem to get it. They expect their workers to be available at all hours to satisfy their every whim. Of course, that’s simply not humanly possible, but the employers don’t really seem to care.
One worker found themselves in this position during a performance review. Their boss informed them that they “lack passion,” simply because they aren’t available to answer messages after hours. They shared their bizarre, but not unheard of, experience in the r/antiwork subreddit, where other Redditors suggested some humorous ways they could show more passion for the company.
The worker said that they were criticized for not being as ‘available’ as other employees at their company.
“[I] had my annual review today and my boss literally said I need to work on being more passionate about the company,” they said. “When I asked what he meant, he brought up how I don’t respond to messages after hours and how other team members are ‘more available.’”
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This might be understandable if this person worked in a high-stakes job, like emergency medicine or law enforcement. But, no, that’s not the case. “I work in marketing,” they said. “For a company that sells industrial cleaning supplies. I make $19 [an] hour. What passion am I supposed to have for mop buckets at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday when I’m trying to watch a show with my girlfriend?”
The employee also wants a raise, but because they aren’t putting in that after-hours work, their boss doesn’t think they’ve earned it. “He also mentioned I should be ‘going above and beyond’ if I want that raise I asked for,” they explained. “I’ve been here three years and haven’t gotten a single cost-of-living adjustment. Inflation is insane and they’re really out here asking me to be passionate about email campaigns for floor wax.”
One commenter highlighted how different American work culture is from that of other countries.
Reddit users made plenty of jokes about how this employee could quit at 10 p.m., or they could ask for their boss to be “more passionate about paying a living wage.” One person made a comment that really stood out, though. “German here,” they said. “When I answer emails [on] my holidays, I get [in] trouble with my boss. The American work culture is sick.”
This commenter may be onto something. Every year, international human relations company Remote.com releases a Global Life-Work Balance Index. The company ranks the countries with the top 60 GDPs based on “important work-related factors” and gives them an index score out of 100.
According to their 2025 list, the top five countries with the best work-life balance are New Zealand, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, and Norway. On their list of 60 countries, the U.S. came in at number 59. The country’s index score was 34.28 out of 100.
The U.S. has not been able to develop a healthy work-life balance.
According to research from MIT Sloan School of Management, one in 10 U.S. workers considered their workplace to be toxic. “Even companies with healthy cultures overall typically contain pockets of toxicity, due to abusive managers or dysfunctional social norms among certain teams,” they said.
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While it is surprising that one of the most advanced countries in the world can’t develop better work-life balance or workplace culture for its employees, it does make sense in some ways. The U.S. is a country that is wholly devoted to work. People are quite literally expected to live for the purpose of working, not the other way around.
As for our worker from Reddit who “lacks passion,” things might be looking up for them. “I’ve got two interviews lined up next week,” they said in conclusion. “They can find someone else who’s passionate about bleach or whatever.”
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
