In the United States, it’s not uncommon for employees to be discouraged, or outright banned, from sitting at work. While some states have “Right to Sit” laws, workers in most states can be forced on their feet across their entire shift, leading to them inventing creative ways to rest while still not technically sitting.
Some of these resting methods have gone viral after being shared on TikTok. Workers from many different businesses have hopped on the trend, with employees at everywhere from smoothie shops to fast food restaurants posting their ingenious non-sitting resting methods on the platform.
Now, another social media account has posted a video related to the trend—and caused major controversy in the process.
Foot Locker is a retailer of footwear and sportswear. Recently, the company has been reposting TikToks and short videos made within their stores across their social media, generally sparking little controversy in the process.
However, that wasn’t the case with a recent video. In fact, the backlash seems to have been so severe that the company removed it from its social media—but not before TikTok user Raych (@raychjackson) saved it.
@raychjackson Whew who approved that 😭😭#badidea #viral #greenscreenvideo #footlocker #socialmediamarketing #majormistake ♬ SHAKE SUMN – DaBaby
In a video with over 889,000 views, Raych shows the video Foot Locker posted on their Instagram account. The video is a take on the popular “not allowed to sit at work” trend—only this time, it was posted by the account of the company allegedly not allowing its employees to sit at work.
“The lack of self-awareness is astounding,” Raych says in a clip criticizing the post. “Posting yourself on your own account, that you don’t allow your employees to sit, is crazy.”
As Raych notes, the video was eventually deleted.
“I know whoever runs their social media is shaking in their boots right now,” Raych states.
Raych wasn’t alone in her criticism. Numerous users in the comments of the now-deleted video were ridiculing the brand for the Reel. The video was also reposted on the subreddit r/AntiWork by user knowbuddy1 with the caption, “Love to see corporations posting the abuse their employees endure for likes.”
This criticism continued in the comments under Raych’s video.
“It’s so many customer service jobs that you’re not allowed to sit and I just CANT believe the people in offices making that choice ever had to do that,” wrote one user.
“I’ve never understood why retail workers can’t sit,” shared another. “As someone who worked at Aeropostale my feet and back use to be hurting.”
“The job I’m at also doesn’t let people sit and it never makes sense to me,” detailed a third. “Get folk some chairs!”
We’ve reached out to Foot Locker and Raych via email.
