Leaving the office before everyone else and having to walk out in front of them has to be one of the embarrassing in the office.

You can't really look at your colleagues because they would be definitely thinking something like "hmm he gets to leave before me every day".

You can't really walk out infront of them ignoring their existence. That would be rude I feel.

This is one of that moment where I wish if I had the power to be invisible.

Huh, I feel no emotion about it whatsoever, regardless of whether I'm leaving early or someone else is.

Give it time. Before long, you'll scrape the emotion off it, too.

Start wearing disguise

That's some guilt you've got there.
You may want to look into why.

(If you can't find a source, maybe it's genetic? I know quite a few people who feel like they must devote their entire existence to others. It must absolutely suck.)

I leave before the rest AND actually work fewer hours because I negotiated 35h instead of 40h. :-)

I get in at 9 and leave at 4. I'm salaried. It doesn't matter. My output is what matters.

I agree with @root.

Frankly I often leave before others, because I either came in earlier or I have finished that day's plan before 5 [5 is when my biorythm disables my thinking and turns me into a veggie anyway..]

and when I leave I know these folks still have late meetings or are just nolifers. I'm happy to leave before them. I really am. And I think should you. Let them envy your better life [at least in that sense :)]

Walk out backwards.

@Fast-Nop i guess you get paid by hour.

Where I'm from, salary is monthly and time is not really counted.

They don't have an official work hour. Everyone says there is no strict policy on work timing but it seems everyone has come to an understanding and arrives at about noon and leaves by 8 or 9 in the night.

@HoloDreamer I also get paid monthly, but the contract specifies for how many hours, and I don't work for free.

The funny thing is that my projects are still among the few that actually meet the schedule.

@Root i guess i was conditioned by bad working environment from previous company.

There were cases in my previous company where I had to sit and wait till 3 AM next day for deployment to go through even though it had nothing to do with me.

You're considered as a bad team player by the boss if you leave on time and don't look like you're not over working.

@HoloDreamer Now that you've identified the problem and its source, you can begin to work on it.

I understand what you mean, though: I worked at several jobs where that was the expectation, and it's persisted for me, too. I haven't found a solution other than telling myself that it's actually okay to leave and not strive to outperform all expectations regardless of the health effects.

I find myself overworking myself particularly when starting a new job, which is bad because that sets the standard for your future work, meaning you will have to outperform your already excessive pace later once you're considered "up to speed." Leaving early, or not pushing yourself to finish "just two more tickets..." also means your bosses will expect less of you, and therefore you don't need to maintain that ridiculous pace.

I have no concept of a work/life balance. I'm still struggling with that work/sleep balance.

@HoloDreamer I'd just consider such a boss being full of shit.

@R2-D2 Being an intj and a misanthrope, I'm quite low in "agreeableness." Interest in others? Not a chance. Caring about others? not really. Strong empathy and concern for others? I'm experiencing a strong emotion right now, and I think it's called "revulsion."

Anyway. I suppose I overwork myself because it makes coworkers and bosses like and respect me more? As for why that behavior persisted after finally leaving the job, I think it's because the boss in question was very verbally abusive, and I was trapped there for a long time. So I did what I could to minimize the abuse, and simply grew to expect it. It also reinforced some of the abuse and feelings of never being good enough that I experienced during childhood.

Agreeableness does make sense for others, though.