A worker on TikTok shares the extent he went to in order to secure a job—including lying about his work experience.
There’s something to be said about the idea of “faking it till you make it,” just as long as you follow through on the lies that you initially told. There are plenty of success stories involving world-renowned and famous actors who were able to secure roles for themselves only by lying, roles that they would eventually knock out of the park.
TikToker Ashton Ray (@ashray) seems to be entirely on board with this philosophy as well, as they relayed a story that went viral on the popular social media application where fibbing ended up working out in his favor.
Ashton explains that he lied through his teeth in order to secure a job at the Cheesecake Factory, which sparked a viral debate in the comments section of his post.
@ashray those who lie, succeed!
♬ original sound – Ashton RAY💜
“Lying will get you so much further in life than telling the truth. Listen to this shit that I just pulled,” Ashton starts.
He explains that he has been applying to several jobs in order to help pay off his Beyoncé tickets. However, he soon grew impatient with employers and their lack of responses.
“I got really tired of waiting for jobs to call me back so I’m like I’m just gonna walk into places and demand an interview,” he says. “And that’s exactly what I did.”
Ashton claims he simply walked into his local Cheesecake Factory location and requested an interview with the manager. After waiting in the lobby, the TikToker says the manager sat down to question him on his previous restaurant experience.
“Lord have mercy,” Ashton says, “I have never worked at a restaurant a day in my damn life. But I told him that I worked at this really nice restaurant down the street for a whole year, so all of my interview questions were in reference to a job that I never fucking worked at. So every single thing that came out of my mouth was a bold-faced lie. Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie but it worked.”
The TikToker claims he advanced to a second interview as a result of his lie. However, he says he likely won’t take the job due to the schedule it offers.
“However, I am very impressed with myself for just being like, ‘hi, give me an interview’ and then crushing it with nothing but lies,” he concludes. “So moral of the story: if you want something, just go get it and lie if you need to.”
There were a number of commenters who cautioned Ashton about filling his “digital footprint” with incriminating posts—but Ashton says he isn’t worried about his content. He also adds that he’s been fired from positions before of his TikTok posts before, but doesn’t seem to care.
@ashray i’m j keepin it real!!!
♬ original sound – Ashton RAY💜
“My digital footprint is already so ruined I’ve been on the internet since I was eleven years old,” he claims. “Trust me, if you dug hard enough you could find something to put me in prison. I’m not scared of shit.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Ashton and the Cheesecake Factory via email for further comment.
Viewers who saw Ashton’s video had a slew of questions, like one commenter who asked what Ashton planned to do if the Cheesecake Factory interviewer asked for a reference. The TikToker replied, “oh i gave them one, we’re just [hoping] they don’t use it.”
Others thought that he may’ve shot himself in the foot.
“Except its not so great if you get the job and can’t do it,” one user said.
Another wrote, “then they call that restaurant for reference then they see this video then they see you actually working having no clue what you’re doing”
