A teacher has gone viral on TikTok after telling the story of how a misunderstanding with a teacher she was subbing for ended up with the teacher getting fired, and the TikToker landing a full-time job in her stead.
The video, posted on Jan. 27 by TikTok user Rieko Safiyya (@riekosafiyya), recounts her experience of subbing for a fourth-grade class at a private Catholic school. The original teacher, whom the TikToker initially described as a sweet and helpful woman in her early 40s, returned after a month’s absence, during which Safiyya had built a strong connection with the students.
“She was always very helpful, she was like, letting me know about a lot of the things that the kids needed help with, and she would check in with me often,” Safiyya recounted.
However, things took a turn when the original teacher began accusing her of taking her laptop charger. Despite repeated denials and the fact that their laptops were different models, the teacher allegedly persisted, escalating to daily text messages.
“She goes from the sweetest lady, helping me, with all of this stuff to literally harassing me about a laptop charger that does not exist,” the TikToker alleged in the video. “So I keep texting her politely at this point. Because you’re harassing me, right? But I’m trying to be nice to you.”
The prolonged argument finally erupted when the teacher confronted Safiyya in the teacher’s lounge. “I walk in. The first thing that comes out of this woman’s mouth is, ‘B*tch, where the f*ck is my charger?’ I said, ‘Excuse me, who are you talking to?’ And she literally starts charging at me and tries to fight me in this teacher’s lounge at the private Catholic school, in front of the nuns and other teachers,” Safiyya claimed.
This resulted with the teacher being escorted out of the building and subsequently fired. Safiyya was then reportedly offered a full-time position as the fourth-grade teacher, which she accepted.
The TikToker concluded, “And that’s how I, you know, didn’t have a formal teaching degree and I was able to work full time… I really couldn’t have done it without [her]. So thank you. Thank you so much.”
@riekosafiyya #stitch with @Actually It’s Katie no because I forgot this happened until I just saw this video 😭😭😭 my life is a movie. #substituteteacher #teacher #privatetutor #teachersoftiktok ♬ original sound – RiekoSafiyya
The video received over 834,800 views, with many commenters speculating that it was the students who had taken the charger to keep Safiyya as their teacher.
One user commented, “the kids DEFINITELY took that charger!!”
Another added, “I just imagine the kids hyping her up that you have her charger because they knew she’d do that.”
A third noted, “Definitely wasn’t about the charger lol she was hating.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Rieko Safiyya via her email for comment.
