Gabrielle Judge (@gabrielle_judge), a TikToker who often criticizes “corporate America” and refers to herself as the “Anti Work Girlboss” recently went viral after sharing a story of how she was accused of “time theft” at her first managerial job.
In a video posted on Feb. 28, Judge shared that her ordeal began during her first stint as a manager, a college job she secured due to her experience as a Resident Assistant (RA) in the dorms. However, due to studying abroad in Thailand during the summer training, she missed some crucial onboarding sessions.
“I just figured very naively, that when I got back from Thailand and started the senior year and started my job, that I would just be CC’d into the training materials or that it would be made up,” she said.
Instead, the TikToker found herself months into the job without proper training. The situation escalated when she was summoned by her bosses without warning, only to be accused of “time theft.”
Judge recounted, “What was happening was, when I was clocking in, there was always two different job codes that I could clock into. But these job codes didn’t make any sense. Each job code had this description on it, but it was like an acronym that didn’t make any sense and then just a number next to it number didn’t make any sense.”
@gabrielle_judge This is a story time of how i got accused of stealing at a job while being a manager. I rarely share crazy work stories so I thought I would bring you through one of my most embarassing times at work. #firedfrommyjob #quittok #toxiccoworker #corporateamerica #careertips ♬ original sound – Anti Work Girlboss
She continued, “I asked what the differences between the two job codes were. And they said there was one job code that paid $2 extra an hour. I even explained that the reason that I didn’t ever notice this is because $2 an hour extra after taxes is nothing.”
Despite her attempts to clarify and her track record as a diligent employee, Judge says she was handed a written warning, leaving her feeling “scared” and “traumatized.”
“I definitely should have been making sure that my training was made up with my manager when I got back from my study abroad for sure, but I just didn’t know all this at 21. So stories like this is what made the anti-work girl boss that you know and love today and that teaches people how to be lazier at work,” she concluded.
The TikTok video quickly went viral, amassing over 896,700 views and sparking a wide variety of reactions in the comments.
One commenter said, “Your manager 10000% blamed you for their mistakes. I’m so so sorry.”
“Corporate leadership is always so lacking (in my experience) but the finger-pointing is actually the biggest issue imo,” a second added.
“My manager accused me of time theft when I was 15 for going to the bathroom after clocking in,” a third claimed.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Gabrielle Judge via email for comment.