As Wellingtonians contend with impending Level 2 water restrictions, in force from next Wednesday—meaning no sprinklers or other unattended outdoor water devices are permitted—Wellington Water has been embarrassed by a Chinese staffer who uploaded a video to social media showing her doing what she said was “slacking off” at the office.
The organisation manages the water supply on behalf of local councils, which retain ownership of the assets.
The video, entitled “Council Engineer—Challenge one day slacking off and do no work. Making money while I play” was uploaded to the Chinese social media site Xiaohongshu but has since been deleted.
The female employee, believed to be a graduate engineer, said she left work at 11:40 a.m.—two hours after she had arrived—with part of that time taken up by meeting with a friend for coffee. She then left the office for the day because “the weather looked good outside.” She is then pictured spending the rest of the workday going to the gym, car wash, and even the movies.
She also admits that she had not attended the office for several days before making the video, saying, “I wanted to continue slacking off at home, but my partner is worried my company might fire me so he took me to work.
“Actually, today is the third working day but having just returned from South Island, I’ve been tired so [I] worked from home ‘half lying down,’ which actually is doing nothing”, she says, adding “Usually the best way to slack off at work is to stare at the screen and sigh.”
The young woman claims to have finished all her work prior to Christmas and says “I will never feel apologetic in the slightest sense for having nothing to do at work.”
This is despite some parts of the region losing an estimated 52 percent of its water to unfixed leaks, and residents being warned of the likelihood of harsh restrictions in coming weeks, up to and including the rationing of drinking water.
Water Storage Advised
Wellingtonians are queueing for hours to buy 200-litre water tanks from councils, supplies of which were exhausted within hours which meant many people left empty-handed.The capital is currently at Level 1 restrictions, meaning sprinklers are only allowed every second day.
While suggesting water tanks as the obvious solution for houses, those in apartments were advised to “get creative and take measures such as storing containers behind the couch, under beds or in the back of cupboards.”
Meanwhile, the young engineer replied to criticism on her Xiaohongshu post by commenting, “Hope 2024 stays the same, don’t have to do any work and keep getting salary, yay.”
Wellington Water confirmed the video poster was an employee, and said it had undertaken an internal staff investigation, adding, “This video is not representative of Wellington Water staff, who are a dedicated team focused on providing water services to our communities 24/7.”
The spokesperson said that, following the investigation, the young woman was “genuinely remorseful” for the content of the video, describing her as “one of the younger whanau [family]” at the organisation.
Last week, Wellington Water issued a press release warning that water use in the region is at an all-time high, partly because of high use by residents but also admitting much of the problem lay with leaks from aging pipes.
It said severe restrictions were only avoided in the summer of 2023 because of higher-than-usual rainfall due to Cyclone Gabrielle.
