People are cheering on this Dutch worker’s brilliant smackdown of the American manager trying to ruin their work-life balance
Back in the Thatcher era, one of the things that people praised her for was her work ethic. Apparently, she ony slept for four hours a night, often working on government papers long after members of her cabinet had slunk off to their mistresses’ houses or to slap the bread from the hands of miners, or whatever.
It’s still part of an unhealthy work-worshipping culture that sees people burning the candle at both ends, then wondering why they wake up with wax burns and a divorce.
Over on the r/WorkReform forum, someone named Dutch_Reality_Check shared a story of how that culture clashed with the more reasonable Dutch attitude to work. Here’s what they wrote, under the heading –
“My American manager tried to write me up for “lack of commitment” because I leave at 5:00 PM sharp. I work in the Netherlands.”
We understand if you want to take a moment to cheer. We did, and these people probably did too.
1.
American management these days is All stick, no carrot (the carrot and the stick, rewards for good, penalties for bad?) Very heavy on threats etc. It’s, well, part of the whole… end stage capitalism “thing” :/
awoodby
2.
I get this completely. I firewall my work from the rest of my life. I kind of treat going to work like being an actor. I don the attire and slip into the role.
professionalconfuser
3.
I’m not missing family time so my gajillionaire boss can make an extra $100k this year. He’ll be fine without it.
LiftingWickets
4.
My company has this same stupid work culture with its salaried employees. I’m on the union side of our work force, and they have to pay us OT if we’re needed for any reason after normal working hours and weekends.
Cubanlinkmj
5.
“if you want to grow” like who said you wanted to? Lmao. I had a job previously where I was a lower manager and they tried to coach me on moving up in the manager ladder. They were acting like I was crazy for not wanting to move up in the company. Like nah dude it’s fine, I actually hated working there.
mmereuhmmm
6.
It constantly amazes me how these companies think their employees have to “go the extra mile” for them, when they never go the extra mile for the employees.
Enfors
Over on Bluesky, the TUC spread the good news.
A Dutch worker went viral after explaining to their American boss that they have a life outside work.
— Trades Union Congress (@tuc.org.uk) January 5, 2026 at 11:52 AM
7.
The stories of US bosses trying to apply US rules in the EU are always good for a laugh.
— Paula Read (@paularead.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 4:37 PM
8.
Had an American manager send the team an out of office draft text, with a section where we should add details of how we could be reached while on holidays. Needless to say, I never used it.
— pheadgirl.bsky.social (@pheadgirl.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 4:48 PM
9.
There's a bit of a disconnect here, Americans often don't take shit from anyone, they don't need to be encouraged to stand up for themselves – they'll do it in spades (good for them). Yet there's this weird servility when it comes to their boss or employer.
— liammcreanan.bsky.social (@liammcreanan.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 4:55 PM
10.
Workers here are brutalized until they can't work any longer. They want us to be dumb emotionless robots that meet unreasonable expectations and get surprised when no one wants to work there anymore.
— Duo Vandal (@duovandal.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 6:15 PM
11.
This is one of these "quality of life" differences that would make moving back to the US real tough.
Oh, and the 30 days of vacation…
And the socialized health care…
— Mark Dziak (@markdziak.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 8:21 PM
12.
Americans in commercials: Because NOBODY tells me what to do. I'm an American! I'm free!
Americans in real life: Yes sir. Great joke sir. Haha. Yes I'll come in Sunday morning.
— Sara Byrella (@umby.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 8:09 PM
13.
i'm gonna be honest, if someone told me they were looking into a PIP for not being willing to work outside of scheduled hours, my response would full-stop, be "maybe YOU need a perfomance improvement plan if you can't get your work done within your designated 40 hour a week schedule"
— aly ☯️ in my DO IT era (@straylize.starlost.cc) January 5, 2026 at 7:25 PM
14.
At my last office there was a joke that if anyone left at 5 they were taking a half day. Everyone there worked long hours with no overtime pay, nobody took PTO unless it was a severe emergency.
Not a very fun place to work.
15.
One of the reasons i quit my job when i took a break from school was they were trying to pressure me into "mandatory" overtime.
— Digital Devil Lycanroc (@lycanoclast.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Life hack ….
I need to become dutch
— BakaTy – orc_tv_ceo (Subsidiary of GOBTV) (@bakatyler.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 8:26 PM
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Source r/WorkReform Image TUC, Thirdman on Pexels