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‘Just pretend to be busy’: Remote worker shares what 99% of workday looks like for him, sparking debate

‘I don’t know why I need to be here 8 hours when I get all of my work done in under 2.’

Photo of Melody Heald

Melody Heald

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While studies found that most remote workers have actually been overworking since the onset of the pandemic, one worker on TikTok is sharing that he’s going against the grain.

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Sergio Torres (@sergiomtorress) shared with viewers what a remote workday looks like for him in a skit that’s been viewed 339,000 times since it was posted on Aug. 9.

In it, Torres (@sergiomtorress) sits at his computer while on his phone. A Microsoft Teams notification goes off, alerting Torres to a work message. Torres reads the message, laughs, and says, “OK” while shaking his head. He quickly goes back to being on his phone. 

“When you’ve reached peak performance working remote,” text overlay on the video reads.

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“Remote work 99% of the time,” the text overlay, accompanied by hashtags about corporate and remote work life, reads. He also clarified here the video is a skit.

@sergiomtorress Remote work 99% of the time #remotework #corporate #peakperformance #skit #reality ♬ original sound – Sergio Torres

Many viewers speculated that Torres quickly gets his work done and is then able to relax while on his phone. Forty percent of remote workers claimed, according to Zippa, that working remotely increased their productivity. Viewers co-signed this statistic in the comments section.

“Dude i don’t know why i need to be here 8 hours when i get all of my work done in under 2 and then just pretend to be busy. it drives me mad,” one user wrote.

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“I’m unmotivated and bored to tears,” another said.

People also remarked on the Teams notification ping, which has been a subject of interest on TikTok in the past.

“Lol that’s teams noise gave me anxiety,” one person stated.

“That team’s notification gave me fight or flight,” another said.

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According to Zippa, 26.7% of Americans work remotely, and that number is expected to grow (by 2025, 36.2 million Americans are expected to work from home). Torres seems to be in the minority when it comes to how long remote workers are working for. On average, remote workers tacked on an extra 3 hours to their workdays each day during the pandemic, according to a study by TechRepublic, which analyzed VPN and desktop use in addition to employee hours.

The Daily Dot reached out to Sergio Torres via TikTok comment.


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