While some of us have lost all semblance of a work-life balance, thanks to working from home, others have managed to take full advantage of this phenomenon, using some rather ingenious solution.

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A post on Reddit blew up recently when a man shared a rather unique experience about working from home.

He stated that he had discovered a way to finish up 8 hours worth of work in just two hours, and would enjoy the remaining 5-6 hours, just browsing the internet, day trading, and looking at YouTube videos.

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If you think that the man found a super-efficient way to work, well you are just partially right. In reality, the guy found it a very cool trick to hack the system and use automation to do most of the leg work.

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He said, that most of the times, his job entails writing reports based on some calculations. Now, no matter what the situation is, the calculations are usually similar in nature. Therefore, he tried to use some basic MS Office tools to make his work easier.

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He said that he created a large and quite extensively detailed database on Excel, set the formulas every day that he worked, let Excel carry out the calculations, and give out automated sentences, which, again, would be automatically exported as a Word document.

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The end result was, that the work that his colleagues would take about 8 hours to finish, he would finish it up in under two hours.

Seems a little too hunky-dory, doesn’t it? Well, the man wasn’t supposed to enjoy this utopia that he had created for himself for very long. He had a girlfriend who was working in the same company and would report to the same manager. The OP shared his trick with his girlfriend and taught her how to do this as well. After they broke up for some reason, his ex-girlfriend, revealed this to his boss. 

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She also shared his screen via Skype, and unbeknownst to him, he proceeded to live his workday, as he usually did - set up his work, and then browse the internet, watch YouTube videos, and day-trading.

The next day, he was called in by HR for some disciplinary action. The HR apparently had screenshots and videos of what he was doing. Luckily, the man wasn’t terminated. He also stated that he now regretted showing off this hack to his ex-girlfriend.

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Several other users commented below his post, saying that this hack should have been a secret that he should have taken to his grave. Another user commented that this is why one should never reveal the secrets of their trade, to anyone, ever.

What do you make of this situation? Suppose you find a secret hack for your job that made your life much easier, would you keep it to yourself, or tell a select few people? Do let us know in the comments below.

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