A user on TikTok has gone viral after sharing a warning for those who work in jobs with shared Google Drive accounts: be careful what you search for.
In a video with over 941,000 views, TikTok user Liz Jane (@thelizjane) stitched a video advising employees to search their names on Slack with her own story of searching for her name in a shared work application.
According to Liz, when she searched her name on Google Drive to find a document, she inadvertently came across the notes from her initial interview.
While most of the comments were positive, Liz said there was one note from a co-worker that she felt was “kind of personal.”
@thelizjane #stitch with @Dero ALSO be aware of the channel you’re speaking in and who is able to access it – you never know who’s reading or listening! #careertiktok ♬ original sound – liz jane | work/life/balance
“It made me look at my co-worker differently after I read that piece of feedback,” she said. “Obviously, he made that comment not knowing that I would ever read it.”
In a follow-up video, Liz said that the comment claimed she was “really selfish for only wanting a remote job,” and that the remote nature of the work was “probably [her] only motivation for wanting this particular job.”
In response to these claims, Liz said she was just looking for a job working with a specific piece of software that the company was developing.
@thelizjane Replying to @V27ck it’s not that juicy but I’m a sensitive gal and took it personally lol 😬 #careerjourney ♬ original sound – liz jane | work/life/balance
She further speculated that the overstated claims of her desire for remote work likely stemmed from her enthusiasm at the prospect, as she had previously been in a role that required her to be “chained to [her] desk.”
“I couldn’t even go to the washroom without asking or telling somebody to watch the phones for me,” she recalled. “So yeah, I was psyched that I was able to work from home, have that flexibility…”
In the comments section, users told their own stories of searching for their names on Slack and Google Drive.
“I did this and found out they were planning to fire me,” one commenter alleged.
“I found an excel spreadsheet of every mistake I had ever made at the job, even the tiniest thing,” a second recounted. “I sent it to myself, then to HR, my boss, and my boss’s boss in a resignation email where I cc’d the girl who made it too.”
“I did this to try to find the last report I submitted to verify a detail. found my performance report calling me lazy unmotivated and always tired,” a third shared. “My manager constantly switched me from 6:00 a.m. shifts to the overnight shift every few days. no duh I was tired.”
Some users noted that this was a warning to be careful what you put online, even if you think it’s private.
As one user summed it up, “don’t ever put something in writing that you wouldn’t want the person it’s about to read.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Liz via email.
