Childfree employee wanted the same workplace flexibility as parents — so he found a clever workaround that broke no rules and actually worked
Workplace flexibility can make a huge difference in how employees balance their jobs with their lives outside work. But when certain kinds of personal responsibilities are treated as more important than others, employees without children may feel like they are being held to a different standard. In a now-deleted post, a Reddit user, u/Electrical_Basis2141, shared such an experience in a post on August 12, 2026, after noticing how easily his coworkers could adjust their schedules when their children needed them. The next thing he did turned out in his favor.
The user explained that he noticed his coworkers regularly arrived late or left early for reasons such as “daughter has softball practice” or “my son has a doctor’s appointment.” According to the poster, these excuses were rarely questioned because everyone understood that children came with responsibilities. But when childless employees needed similar flexibility, even being a few minutes late because of traffic could be a problem. That double standard pushed the employee to come up with an unusual solution. He used AI to create two fictional children, kept their pictures on his desk and in his wallet, and started presenting them to coworkers as his own. As he said, the plan worked out in his favor, as he now enjoys more flexibility.
The employee even named his two children, Pearce and Hailey, framed the images, and placed them on his desk. He also kept the pictures in his wallet and occasionally showed them to his coworkers, saying, “my pride and joy.” Soon, the fictional family became part of his everyday work life, with Pearce playing soccer and his AI-generated wife working late. The employee claimed he began getting more flexibility, including being allowed to leave work early on Fridays to 'pick up' Pearce from school. He ended the post by saying he had received “so much free and excused time off recently.”
Flexibility at workplaces may often differ for married coworkers with children and single employees. This bias is especially noticed in family-friendly work cultures. Research suggests that single employees can face a different standard at work when family responsibilities are given priority. A 2025 study found that supervisors were more likely to demand overtime from single employees than to married employees with children. When single workers turned down extra hours, their decision was more likely to be seen as unwillingness, while parents were viewed as unable to take on the work because of family responsibilities. The findings suggest that workplace flexibility can sometimes favor employees with children, leaving single workers expected to be more available.
In the comments, many Reddit users shared their own experiences with workplace perks and found the employee’s unusual solution humorous. u/delulu4drama played along with the fictional family, writing, “Hi to Pearce and Hailey.” Another user, u/pahrende, revealed a different tactic they had used to get more breaks at work, joking, “I ‘took up smoking’ just so I could have a 5-minute break every hour, on top of my normal breaks.” Meanwhile, u/seriousjoker72 wrote, “God, I wish I didn't work for my own family sometimes.”