Woman Shows up Hour Early Just to Sit in Her Car Before Shift — People Think It’s for a Good Reason

A man who recorded his co-worker coming to work at least an hour early, something she purportedly does every day, ignited a litany of speculative reasons as to why she engages in this behavior in a viral clip he posted to TikTok.

Josh (@beardenjosh) writes in a text overlay of his video while keeping his camera focused on what is presumably the parking lot for the business he works for: "She gets to work at least an hour early every day. She sits in her car until her shift start time."

"There's Melody, at 8:45 for her 10 am shift. How early do you guys get to work?" he asks as he records his co-worker back her vehicle into a parking spot to the beat of "Everyday I'm hustling."

Josh's clip lent itself to various theories about what she was doing in her car before her shift. More than a few people were convinced that she was sitting in her whip before her start time so that she could burn one up and fade before work.

"Can we all agree she shmokn," one TikToker wrote, which culminated in a variety of different responses:

"Came to comment section to see if anyone thought this," one said.

Someone else wrote that they believed this was the case as they would be doing the exact same thing: "That’s exactly what I’m doing if I get there early"

However, there was another person who wrote in response that it was probably just a case of her attempting to gather herself before her shift so that she's able to have a great day at work...or at the very least, a less miserable one: "either that or trying to give herself time to collect herself so she doesn’t have a panic attack during her shift. this is coming from someone who would do both"

This appeared to be a sentiment echoed by others, as another TikToker wrote: "She’s mentally preparing she’s so me," while someone else just thought that it was a case of her wanting to sit in her vehicle and enjoying some "peace and quiet" at the beginning of the day.

"That’s Melody’s relaxation time. No judgment here," someone else penned.

Another person thought that Melody had some family at home that she didn't want to be around and just wanted to be by herself for a little bit: "She’s escaping her family and getting an hour of quiet time. Melody is on to something"

The phenomenon of sitting by yourself in your car, even while stationary, is one that a lot of people appear to engage in. A post uploaded to the Central Mass Mom blog touches on this very phenomena, with the author going so far as to call the act a demonstration of "self care."

In her post, she wrote how she discovered in a group chat with her friends that all of them enjoyed this particular brand of automobile alone time: "She told the group that she was in a Target parking lot just enjoying the alone time. Several others in the group responded and admitted they had started doing the same thing. Any solo car trip was an opportunity to sit, soak up the quiet, and recharge a little."

The blogger continued: "Before I knew my friends were doing it too, I felt guilty about my clandestine car-sits. Once I realized we were all doing it, it felt a lot less wrong and a little more like self-care. In order to show up for the rest of the day, we all need a little time to ourselves. Whether it’s to drink your coffee, catch up on emails, or just listen to your favorite songs without a child screaming over them, we should all feel good about taking that time for yourself."

TikToker Phoebe Parsons (@phoebeacp) also uploaded a video of her own supporting this thesis, stating that she, too, enjoys her own form of self care by sitting inside of her vehicle by herself while urging other folks to go ahead and do the same exact thing.

Why do you think she's showing up to work early? Do you think it's so that she could have a few moments to herself without having to worry about a boss or someone at home asking for anything? Or do you think it's because traffic is really bad at that time and she wants to make sure she gets to her shift on time?

Or maybe it's what some of the other commenters were speculating — that Melody wants to burn get lit by herself prior to her shift and even if she does manage to get a little too faded, she knows that her job is just a short walk away.