A laid-off worker called his bosses out in front of the entire company during the layoff video call. Someone had to do it.
In the viral video, which TikTok user Erick (@erickspunchable) has since deleted, he said the higher-ups had a company-wide video call to let the team know that nearly everyone was being laid off immediately, except for a select few who would be given the option to stay on for a few extra weeks to help with the transition.
Despite his utter shock at the news, Erick said that his team consisted of mostly quieter people, so he knew it was up to him to ask the questions that were on everyone’s minds.
Erick told his now-former bosses that while he wasn’t trying to be disrespectful, he had questions about why the layoffs were so sudden. Fighting back emotions so he could get the words out, he said he felt betrayed that they were telling the team one thing about how great they were doing meanwhile the layoff plan was being formed behind the scenes.
“They literally decided to disrupt people’s lives with no remorse. I think that’s the worst part,” Erick said.
“Because we preached again that we were such a, like, tight-knit team and all of us made a lot of sacrifices for the team because we thought we were building something. We were fed something that was complete bullshit.”
Erick explained that his fiance, who lives abroad, quit his job and was just approved for a fiance visa to move to the United States to be with him. His fiance isn’t legally allowed to work right away, so now Erick needs to figure out a new way to financially care for them both with no income coming in.
“I Was in the middle of planning my wedding, and they decided that that’s it. Like, they didn’t care. I’m still reeling from it,” Erick said. “… Just being left in the dark and being, like, basically thrown to the wolves with. With no remorse, it’s. It’s just a lot.”
His bosses, including the CEO, said that they didn’t mean to lead the workers on and claimed they only decided recently to do the layoffs saying that investors wanted their money back.
Erick said he ended up taking the video down because he found out that in his state of California, it’s not legal to record audio without the other person’s consent (in many states it is legal), he didn’t want to get in trouble, and because he wants to put the situation behind him.
He also said people wanted him to name and shame the company, but that’s not how he wanted to handle the situation, since he had many good years there.
“I wanna close this chapter in my life. It was a great chapter, starting a new book. I’m turning the page and I’m leaving it all behind,” Erick said in a follow-up video.
@erickspunchable Replying to @teenager317 thanks for yhe support, its been helping me cope #techlayoffs #laidoff #laidofftiktok ♬ original sound – Erick
Commenters had a lot to say under his follow-up video.
“Two things to to learn from this. Companies are just a paycheck. Don’t invest your soul into. Learn and gain experience. Second, although difficult, don’t get emotionally inveted. They don’t care,” a top comment read.
“My company poached me from a great team, then 2 months later started doing layoffs, I was cut in the second round a year later, that was July. The Tech layoffs are so messed up,” a person shared.
“You handled it so well. You didn’t deserve that kind of treatment & there will be a better opportunity ahead!” another wrote, echoing many people’s comments.
The Daily Dot reached out to Erick for comment via TikTok direct message.