Sometimes a bad first impression can turn any one off, and it’s especially true when it comes to new jobs, one TikToker recently shared.
In a recent video, viewed more than 68,000 times, TikTok user Samira Wiley (@samhuncho13) revealed how she wanted to quit during the first day at her new retail job, where she said she was asked to work a 12-hour shift. In her video, she wrote the caption “POV: [It’s] your first day at your new job after 9 months of not working.” (Wiley did not reveal where she is employed.)
“I woke up at like 7 o’clock this morning [and] was not feeling it,” Wiley said. “I cried to my boyfriend and everything.”
She said when she arrived at the job, she and other new employees received a welcome speech and tour of the store. She said they were then told to stand outside while the store was testing its fire alarms.
“Y’all why we’ve been sitting outside the store for two going on three hours, not doing nothing?” Wiley said. “Bruh, I could’ve went rolled up, went and got me a black, went home, took a nap, got me some food. And the whole time, guess what they’re doing? Testing the fire alarms. And to top it all off, when I got up to come to the car, my wig was sliding back. So I’m pretty much ready to go home.”
In the comments section of her video, Wiley said she hopes to become a makeup artist but is currently having a hard time getting booked.
In a follow-up TikTok though, Wiley changed her tune about the job.
“OK, so, y’all, I lied,” Wiley said while proceeding to giggle.
“All we really went in and did today was put out inventory,” Wiley said. “I’m chopping it up with the store managers, chopping it up with the supervisors, chopping it up with my white and Black co-workers, chopping it up with the old people. … But I gotta go back for the rest of the week and do it all over again, 8 to 8.”
“I’m not gone quit my job. I fuck with it, for now,” she said. She also revealed she graduated with a degree in business administration and had been out of college for two years. According to Bloomerg, about 41% of recent college grdudates are “undemployed,” or “working in jobs that typically do not require a college degree.”
Wiley said she’s hoping to look for a work-from-home job.
Commenters on her previous video sympathized though with her hesitancy to continue with her new job.
“Yea baby i would of quit after the first 10 mins,” one person commented.
“Hang in there. I’m starting my new job next week after 3 months of not working. No job is perfect,” another person said.
“You’re just outside of your comfort zone after 9 months!! ‘everything you’ve ever wanted is right outside your comfort zone’ YOU GOT THIS BESTIE,” another commenter said.
Update 2:30pm CT October 28: In an Instagram direct message exchange with the Daily Dot, Wiley explained that she made her video simply to vent about returning to work and her difficulty finding a good job in her area that pays more than $15 an hour.
With a degree in business administration, Wiley said she spent 9 months job-searching, and this retail position was the first employer to hire her.
“I honestly was just expressing how I felt finally returning back to work after 9 months of not working. I didn’t expect to go viral at all,” she said. “Some people laughed, some agreed, some called me ‘lazy’ instead of addressing capitalism and work environments after Covid as well.”
