Josh Williams was dismissed from his role in customer service administration after only three months on the job.
His employer presented him with a printed record of 50 hours’ worth of internet search history and brought him into a meeting where they criticized him for being absent on three occasions, calling his reasons “bloody stupid.”
In response, Williams posted a TikTok video explaining the situation, which he admitted was made “in the heat of the moment.” Unfortunately, the video didn’t go down well and ended up backfiring.
Reactions online were mixed, with some users criticizing his behavior and others questioning his professionalism. One person commented, “You’re getting on, mate. It’s not funny anymore.” Another said, “What’s the longest you’ve ever held a job? Maybe try working in a supermarket or retail where you won’t be tempted to search things all day.”
Others pointed out the obvious alternative: “Who even Googles stuff like that at work? Just use your phone.”
Howevers, others defended the TikToker and said ‘it’s great you’ve a sense of humor about it.’
Now, Williams is warning others to be mindful about what they post following the ‘backlash’ he got from it.
Williams had decided to upload the video detailing his firing in order to earn himself some much-needed cash.
He said: “Obviously my rent wasn’t being paid because I lost my job, I had no income coming in. I got behind on my bills I got behind on my rent.
“I knew I had no income coming in so I thought the only other source I’ve got is TikTok so that’s why I decided to put it up on there.”
Posting the TikTok content about losing his job made Williams a combined amount of £450 ($597).
“It’s not a life-changing amount, definitely not. But it’s the majority of my rent,” Williams added.
“I received a lot of hateful criticism but as I said it was the income that it was gaining what made me keep it up.
“I suppose when you post I suppose you’ve got to expect some sort of criticism but obviously it made me feel quite rubbish but I stopped reading them after a while to stop it from getting to me.
“I massively regret keeping the video up now. I think the sort of two days after posting it I wanted to delete it but I wanted the money so I kept it up there.”
Williams, who now works as a supply chain coordinator in the food industry but wants to content creation long time, claims he’s since been rejected from three further roles and believes this is because potential new bosses have seen his content online and did not approve of how he presented getting fired from his previous role.
“When it came to me actually applying for other roles in the same sector, there were two or three jobs where I went in for the interview and they obviously recognized the video and said that my values didn’t align with their company,” he claimed.
“Basically saying we’ve seen your TikTok and we think you’re s*** and we’re not having you here in other words.
“Obviously I didn’t feel good about it. It made me feel quite embarrassed to be honest and quite ashamed of myself.”
Williams was fired from his previous role as he reportedly spent 50 hours searching ‘stupid’ things, such as ‘Simon Cowell botched Botox’ and ‘Does Turkey teeth hurt?’ as he was going to get his done.
“I was still on probationary period [in the job I was sacked from]. I had two or three sick days and the excuses I used were just bloody stupid excuses,” he said.
“It had come to the point where the workload for myself just wasn’t enough for me. I just didn’t have any work given to me so I found myself Googling on the company computer.
“It was just stupid stuff. About Simon Cowell botched Botox and stuff. It was quite embarrassing but I felt like because I had been sacked, I’m going to put it online.
“I felt really rubbish. Obviously I’d spent all my savings going on holiday getting my teeth done to come back to no job.
“Obviously my rent wasn’t being paid because I lost my job, I had no income coming in. I got behind on my bills I got behind on my rent.
“I knew I had no income coming in so I thought the only other source I’ve got is TikTok so that’s why I decided to put it up on there.”
