“I debated if I should even post this, but if you got laid off too just know you’re not alone,” was the emotional message that came with this one-of-a-kind TikTok viral video that everyone’s talking about now. This young lady was trying to do her own version of the day-in-the-life viral, and ended up filming her being laid off from Amazon, in what suddenly became one of the hardest days of her professional career.
Life can be cruel, and sometimes it delivers a gut-wrenching blow when we least expect it. Jen Lucas, a recruiting manager at Amazon, learned this lesson the hard way when she unintentionally captured the moment of her own firing while attempting to film a TikTok video. Jen was trying to emulate the whimsical aesthetic of movie director Wes Anderson, but the universe had a different idea.
The Attempt for a Viral TikTok Trend That Became a Total Nightmare
As she recorded her “cute” day-in-the-life video, she discovered that she had been laid off from her job. What a sour plot twist! The video she posted on TikTok went viral, and it’s not hard to see why. It starts with her banging her head against the wall, conveying the sheer disbelief and frustration of the moment. The text overlay reads, “I was trying to film a cute Wes Anderson-style WFH [work from home] and accidentally filmed myself getting laid off??!”
It’s not just Jen’s shock and dismay, but the comedy that comes from the absurdity of the situation. The video captures the burstiness of emotions that we all experience in moments of crisis and turned into some kind of tragicomedy that became viral on the social media like TikTok, where everybody’s looking for fun, not bad news.
From the TikTok Viral to the Shock of Reality
In a follow-up video, Jen explained that despite the humor in the situation, she was genuinely shaken by the layoff. Who wouldn’t? She was working on Amazon, one of the biggest companies in the whole planed. She’ve been there for eight years and was promoted twice last year, so it was a hard pill to swallow. Yet, she also showed resilience and optimism, reminding us that life goes on even when it seems like the end of the world.
“I know it’s not about my performance or who I am as an employee, but that doesn’t make it suck any less. Part of me is glad to be out of this extremely toxic environment. But the other part feels like a failure and a disappointment and hates that I have to tell people that I got laid off from my job, but that is life,” she told her followers. “I am human, and this does not make me any less amazing or valuable or smart. I know I’m gonna land on my feet, I know I’m gonna be fine. But this sucks. Like, this is a top 10 bad feeling,” she added.
Amazon Is Firing Thousands of Employees
As the news of Amazon’s latest round of employee reductions spreads, it’s hard not to feel for the thousands of workers who will be affected. The company has announced that it will be laying off around 9,000 employees, starting with those in its Amazon Web Services (AWS) and human resources departments.
While this may have come as no surprise to those who have been following Amazon’s internal memos, it’s still a tough pill to swallow for those who will be losing their jobs.