TikToker Amber Leavy (@amber_peavy) gave the internet a hilarious peek into the real-life sitcom that is office life, netting a sweet 1.3 million views as of Friday.
Picture this: an employee at a property management office dived under a desk to dodge a customer who was basically their personal Voldemort. Peavy, with her camera rolling, captured the ordeal on video with barely contained giggles.
The on-screen joke, “When your employee has to hide from that one customer…” set the stage, and just when you thought it was all quiet on the western front, a loud noise signaled the coast was clear. The result? A crescendo of laughter and the undercover employee proclaiming, “It’s was so f*cking hot under here.”
TikTok users jumped into the comments sharing their own tales from the customer service battlefield. One user shared a cringe-worthy moment of being spotted while hiding, saying, “I did the same thing and the customer looked over the counter at me.”
Another comment reflected the universal dread of dealing with tough customers, “When you see the strongest woman you know, hiding under her desk from a customer.”
For others, this was common for the property management industry, stating that they’re all too familiar with this type of dynamic in this line of work.
“Started a new job in the property management industry and I already knew this was that lmao,” one person wrote.
@amber_peavy I don’t think she could hear us. #fypシ #foryoupage #customerservice #hidingplaces ♬ original sound – amber
“This HAS to be property management,” another echoed. The TikToker replied affirming, “BINGO!”
However, according to some viewers, other businesses have this same type of customer-dodging behavior.
“I did that when I was a teller at a bank. Eventually we were all hiding and basically played Russian Roulette on who had to help them,” another joked.
But there’s always a twist: behind the laughter, there was a bit of truth about today’s economic squeeze. Rent prices had skyrocketed by 29.4% post-pandemic, and with inflation making the stock market twitchy, it was no surprise people were a bit on edge. This skit, whether knowingly or not, lightly tapped into the reality that visits to the property management office could sometimes be the last straw for folks feeling financial heat.
There have been instances where TikTok users have gone viral after expressing how they’ve gone out of their way to hide from customers, but they weren’t as lighthearted as the incident uploaded to Peavy’s TikTok. One female retail employee relayed a scary incident involving three men who came into the store where she worked late one evening, forcing her to hide behind a cash register as she feared for her safety.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Peavy via TikTok comment for further information.