With the surge of tech layoffs in 2023 across massive corporations like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta, numerous people are posting about the warning signs that clued them into the fact that they were getting laid off.
Some telltale signals include impromptu meeting requests, laptop or internet access being revoked, or unannounced gifts or treats to help mitigate the sting of being laid off.
TikTok user Jaymo (@jaymofiasco) experienced all three of those things the same day, leading her to believe she was getting fired from her new job. Jaymo posted a video about the signs on March 14. In its first five hours on the app, the video has gone viral with nearly 34,000 views.
The video seems to encapsulate the panic many folks feel when they’re fearful of no longer being employed and the subsequent ways we often read into things when we think our jobs are on the line.
@jaymofiasco ummmm…what’s going on? 😅 I just got this job so let’s hope this isn’t anythjnf serious lololol #worktok #corporatelife ♬ original sound – Steven Johnson
Jaymo took viewers through her thought process with a series of text overlays. “Am I getting laid off?” she wrote to start the video.
The clip then cuts to footage of her zooming in on the no network connectivity icon on her computer: “Is the internet just down?” she questioned. She followed this with a recording of a half-eaten vanilla frosted donut with sprinkles: “Are they giving us donuts just because?”
In the video’s final clip, Jaymo showed a Microsoft Teams notification from her email inbox that said there would be a meeting in 29 minutes. “Or because they are putting this random, last minute team meeting on our calendar?” she asked, once again questioning why she received a donut.
Viewers who saw her clip expressed that they, too, worry upon receiving “signals” like the ones Jaymo listed in her TikTok.
“Why is this me too?!?!?” one commenter wrote.
“Wait this was me 2 weeks ago when I couldn’t sign into teams or outlook turns out it was an outage but immediately thought I was fired lmaooo,” another remarked.
Jaymo provided an update in the comments section indicating that all was well with her job and the triad of precursors to termination weren’t the omens of doom that she thought they were:
“Update: meeting prob could have been an email to keep us from freaking out lololol,” she wrote.
One commenter said their manager must’ve anticipated that workers would freak out over a random call for a meeting. Hence, they immediately allayed everyone’s fears in the subject of the invite.
“I had a meeting like that once and my boss put GOOD NEWS in the title and subject and body lmaoo,” they wrote.
The approach is one Jaymo appreciates: “Honestly, as they should lmao tensions too high for surprise meetings,” she replied.
The Daily Dot reached out to Jaymo via TikTok comment for further information.
