Quit Taking it Personal

It's your first day on the new job. You're sweating on the inside of your body, every ounce of information is throbbing through your brain on repeat in hopes you'll retain enough to last through your second day. You're learning new equipment, software, procedures and meeting new people.

During your interview, the hiring manager mentioned how no place is perfect, but this place was family. Intrigued and in need of some cash to survive, you took the offer. Everything seems to be mostly normal and then you hear someone utter those dreaded words: "Remember Q-TIP. Quit taking it personal."

The moment you hear those magically irritating words, you already know you're in for another toxic, exhausting work environment.

Amid the employment crisis during the aftermath of the 2020 pandemic, it's no surprise that the working class is beginning to call out businesses for their low wages, incompetent management, and grossly unhealthy company cultures.

Just last month the #McDonaldsStrike and #Fightfor15 took off as McDonald's employees took a stand against unfair wages. According to Forbes, the motion to strike came just one day before the fast-food giant was to have its annual shareholder meeting. These said shareholders saw an increase in dividends last year while the CEO was paid more than $10 million. Meanwhile, frontline workers are struggling to make their voices heard just to make a $15 hourly minimum wage that still barely provides enough and does not keep up with the increasing costs of living.

It's no surprise that people "don't want to work" under these pressing conditions when the societal norm is to endure harsh working conditions, irrationally rude customers, mismanagement, and toxic company culture just to make enough money not to starve for the week.

Wages and conditions aside, what truly makes the workplace emotionally and mentally draining, are the continued outdated mottos passed down and chanted over and over again. My least favorite, which happens to be the title of this piece, is the very popular, QTIP.

QTIP stands for 'quit taking it personal' and if you can get past the incorrect grammar, it's supposed to be a phrase of encouragement to give the average worker strength to weather their professional storms.

Instead, QTIP has become a poison to the working class, demanding a sort of emotionless, robotic positivity. Similar phrases include, 'leave it at the door,' 'don't bring your personal life to work,' and of course, 'the customer is always right.'

Phrases like these masquerade as inspiring and motivational, but instead invoke an expectation that the job comes before everything else in life. Telling human beings to 'leave their personal life at home' is like expecting water not to get things wet. In the society we've created for ourselves, work is part of your daily, personal life. You don't suddenly become a nameless, faceless, cog that can shut down their humanity for the sake of the bottom line. Just as a customer walks into an establishment full of expectations, emotions, and the weight of whatever life has given them, an employee walks into their place of work totally and utterly human.

For those lucky enough to only have an 8-hour workday, that's still 1/3 of a full day dedicated to someone else, regardless of the fact you're getting paid to be there, your time is valuable and limited. Another third of your life should then go to sleep. In a perfect world that would mean an entire third or 8 hours would go to life outside of work and sleep. Most of us don't get that. So if 1/3 of your entire life then goes to work, doesn't that make it personal?

If you're required to wear a nametag, doesn't that make it personal?

When a customer or coworker lashes out against you based on something that isn't related to the job (hair, body image, race, etc. ) doesn't that make it personal?

If you communicate a store policy to someone and they ask for a manager knowing they will get what they want then, doesn't that make it personal?

If you can be let go from your job for actions and opinions you have outside of working hours, doesn't that make it personal?

The point is, separating yourself from a job that demands most of your life is a fast track to burnout and burnout leads to frustration and frustration leads to people leaving their jobs.

It's time for new mottos, restructuring of working hours, a new perception of the value of work, and a complete revamp of how companies are allowed to treat their employees. Just like those Mcdonald's workers are fighting for higher wages, we should all be fighting for a better system and a better life.

Take your vacation days.

Call out for mental health days.

Stand up for yourself when managers humiliate and don't stand with you. And when they address your behavior (because they will) asking what has changed to lose your devotion, tell them it's time to start taking things personal.