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‘Your place of employment is not your friend’: TikToker says she was offered a promotion—only for another person to be announced in the role at a meeting

‘That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen if I ever saw one.’

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Brooke Sjoberg

woman speaking in car (l) vacant spot recruitment concept wooden blocks with faces one spot open with question mark on blue background (c) woman speaking hand up caption 'part 2' (r)

A TikToker’s story of their former employer telling her she would receive a promotion that was then given to someone else has sparked discussion of bad bosses on the platform.

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Posted by @_cal_cifer, the “story time”-style video details an experience wherein she applied for an event coordinator at a winery where she was an assistant manager.

@_cal_cifer “We’re so happy to announce” *not me* 🥲 #workhorrorstory #badboss #toxicworkenvironment #toxicworkplacestorytime #newjob #2weeksnotice ♬ original sound – Callie
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“I had been there for a while when their event coordinator position opened up,” she says in the video. “Now, I always wanted to be in events, and this was a great opportunity. I had my interview with the general manager, who told me that it went really well and they had really good things to say about me to the two owners. She went to talk to the owners and then came back to me and said that I was basically a shoe-in. They had already put my position as assistant manager on websites to try and get my replacement, and that they were going to announce me at the next staff meeting.”

Excited about taking on her new role, @_cal_cifer said she told her family and friends about the promotion and was excited to attend the staff meeting, anticipating her announcement as the winery’s new events coordinator.

“The next staff meeting rolls around, and on the agenda it says, ‘new event coordinator.’” she said. “I sit through the staff meeting and I am so freaking excited. I’ve already told my family and friends. We get to the end and they announce the new event coordinator. They say, ‘please welcome…’ and it’s not my name they called.”

@_cal_cifer Reply to @_cal_cifer Learned a lesson I guess 🤦🏻‍♀️ #workhorrorstory #badboss #toxicworkenvironment #toxicworkplacestorytime #2weeksnotice #newjob ♬ original sound – Callie
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In a second video, @_cal_cifer says she emailed her manager and the owners after the meeting to voice her confusion, hurt, and astonishment at the situation. Less than 10 minutes later, she says she received a response from her general manager accusing her of lying and calling her delusional. In response, she gave her 48-hour notice of resignation.

“Your place of employment is not your friend,” she says. “Do not trust them.”

Her initial video received over 370,000 views, while her follow-up garnered over 730,000. In the comments, some viewers shared similar experiences of being burned by their jobs.

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“My boss replaced me while I was on maternity leave, did not tell me until I called her and said the Doctor told me I could return to work,” one commenter wrote.

“I was offered a manager position,” another viewer wrote. “Not only did my cheap ass boss call it a ‘lateral’ move to avoid giving me a raise, all of a sudden at a team meeting she announced that she’s restructuring the entire management team just so we wouldn’t be able to call ourselves ‘managers’ as an excuse to not pay us properly. We were given titles like ‘____ coordinator’ and just divided all of the work between our three locations.”

“Yup, happened to me too,” a third user wrote. “Got offered Management position on Friday, on Monday was told I was the new manager’s secretary!!”

The Daily Dot has reached out to @_cal_cifer regarding the videos via TikTok comment as other methods of contact were not available.

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