TikToker Fired From Job for Uploading During Work Meeting

“Yeah my big six-figure remote tech job, yeah they canned me and you guessed it, it was because of a TikTok.”

TikToker Chelle says that she was handed her pink slip because, during a 4:30 a.m. remote meeting, she walked to her kitchen to get a cup of coffee from her Keurig machine and recorded the fallout for the social media app.

When she spilled a bit of coffee, instead of cleaning it up and heading back to her meeting, she decided to film a “quick little snippet of the coffee everywhere” along with her reaction to the spill, then uploaded it to TikTok and went about her day.

However, Chelle admits that she “did not use [her] big giant brain to think about the fact that, in the background of that video, you could hear my chief product officer talking…because I was in a meeting.”

The meeting was a weekly team-stand up, and Chelle says the other folks on the call were “having a conversation that had absolutely nothing to do with” her.

The former tech employee said she didn’t “think anything of” uploading the 20-second video during the conference call, “until the next day when [she] got called into a meeting with HR and my chief product officer and they say, ‘Hey, somebody sent us this video and we are immediately dismissing you from this company for gross negligence.”

Chelle seemed baffled by the company’s quick decision to cut ties with her, but said that she replied to her chief product officer and HR with, “It was great working with you.” Then she says, “I hung up the call and I said ‘holy s–t…this is gonna be perfect for my memoir.'”

The TikToker also weighed in on whether she thinks she should’ve been fired for her TikTok. While Chelle conceded that few people who have been fired ever really think they deserve it, she does think her company overreacted.

“They weren’t talking about anything super confidential you could honestly barely hear them in the background but, alas, they found it to be a fireable offense and so they canned me and I have nothing left to do except for accept it. I mean, s—, I f—– up. it was an oversight.”

Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Chelle immediately looked for ways to feel better and thought to herself, “Well, what would any college dropout who got fired from their job do next?”

And her answer to that was: “I’m gonna start my own company.”

Chelle’s decision to start her own company wasn’t a spur of the moment idea but one she has been forming for quite some time. She just always felt like it wasn’t “the right time” because she was very comfortable in her “great job” and didn’t want to rock the boat.

Strangely enough, she says she was actually talking with a friend “the night before,” who suggested she go full-time with her company idea, but that she didn’t want to compromise her “sweet gig.” Then, twelve hours later, she lost her job.

“If that isn’t a sign from the universe, I don’t know what is,” she said. “So the next day I was pissed off, I got on TikTok, and I was like, ‘I’m gonna start a company, I’m gonna change the world.’ This is what I’m doing, and I’ll tell you guys when I’m ready to soft launch and I’ll tell you why I’m doing this.”

She then used the story to “soft launch” her company Bridle, which combines her two loves: technology and horses. She calls her application the “number one tool for equine professionals to manage their businesses.”

Chelle says she will seek funding for her business in Silicon Valley and plans to document the entire experience on TikTok.

“I got fired, I dropped out of college, and now I’m gonna start my own company. Tell me that doesn’t sound, like a really great f—— idea? I’m gonna do it. So yeah.”

She finishes her video by giving a message to the person who sent the video to her company: “Karma’s a b—-.”

TikTokers who saw Chelle’s post were encouraging of her new career goals and said her idea could apply to all different types of livestock, namely cattle, which Chelle says is coming next.

Others applauded her decision to turn a negative experience into a positive one and go after her dreams instead of just trying to find security employment in another gig.

One user wrote: “Sounds like the success story of a future multi millionaire.”

“A 4:30am weekly standup meeting? OMG,” one user reacted.

“Employers are honestly OFF THEIR RROCKER with social media policing,” one user added.

“Good luck in your journey,” one user added. “I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason.”

Another added: “This video was so inspiring you’ve got this, cheering you on!”

What do you think of the situation? Was the company within their rights to fire Chelle over the incident?