Office Heroine or Immature Coward?
Check out this video. It’s short, and it is a hoax . . . but it raises some interesting questions:
So a girl decides to quit her job with a flash-bang by emailing these photos to her entire (made-up) office. On the one hand, watching the little display feels wonderful. I mean, it’s positively cathartic! Who hasn’t had one of those bosses? The kind that make us wish that we could do something like that? I can imagine the air being sucked out of the room as “Spencer’s” entire life is broadcast (and now re-broadcast and re-broadcast). Maybe the girl should be praised? Perhaps she opened the way for some constructive conversation about how things are run in this office.
On the other hand, it’s an awful lot of drama. Don’t get me wrong, as a voyeur, this is a completely enjoyable guilty pleasure. But it’s easy to have chutzpah as you are walking out the door. And as I said to my friend who forwarded me the message, I’m thinking this girl might have gone about doing things a little differently. She might have tried talking to Spencer about how things feel in the office, about morale, about his breath. It seems awfully unprofessional and terribly immature.
This young lady obviously has burned a lot of bridges, so she isn’t going to get any kind of strong recommendation to help her on her next job (although she has probably decided she does not want to be a broker). But the way the world works these days, she just might get noticed and land a great book deal!
So would you hire Little Miss Thang because she is smart and sassy? Or do you think Little Miss Thang might be toxic to your work environment?
This video made the rounds a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, it was a hoax. We call people like this the “vortex of negativity” at work. I have, on occasion, been sucked in… 🙂
Okay, so it was a hoax. Okay. So going with the premise, you’d say “unprofessional vortex of negativity.”
False but not exactly a hoax, or at least not by her. It was apparently a drama class / acting workshop project on communicating emotion without speaking that ended up going viral.
Okay, so still. Work with me. You get to work and you receive this . . . this . . . package of non-verbal communication that indicates someone in your office has quit. What do you think? Is it cool? Or could she be sued? Seriously!
I think, had it been real, it would have been a great and creative way of dealing with a serious problem, i.e., the boss in question. Of course, that opinion is based completely within the context of the displayed situation. Such behavior in other circumstances might well leave me thinking of her as you do.
Fun but … seriously? Would you do this to quit a job? Think about what’s-his-name that popped the door and slid out of the JetBlue plane with a couple of beers. While we all WISH we could take this job and shove it with a coupla beers in hand. We don’t. The question is when things get intolerable, why do we tolerate them?
Same reason the cave people eventually figured out clothing and fire. We hope for something better. Apparently they hoped for better conditions and eventually got them. They had to work at it though and tolerate all sorts of things. Makes you think of today’s (Geico) cave people a little differently now doesn’t it?
Totally fun to think of NOT Tolerating things… but I don’t think actually acting on these thoughts would get us where we want to go. Besides the kids would start bitching about a severe lack of video games.
Er uhm, no, I wouldn’t hire Ms. Thank or Mr. Slidewbeer either. They seem to have given up. Never Give UP! Never Surrender!
Anybody who doesn’t have the balls to quit in person (actually face-to-face barring death or a REALLY good reason), doesn’t have balls. And not having balls makes you completely worthless as a worker. So, no I would not hire her, even to clean my toilet.
As they say, no guts no glory or in this case, No balls no butter. Or something.
I was also taken in by this at first – mainly because it was so enjoyable. But getting back to the point, I think I disagree with some of your other commenters. She quits in such fine style that new opportunities would replace the bridges burnt. Also – it reminded of situations I have encountered. Surely somewhere amongst the cheering masses of victims of similar real life creeps, there would be someone to offer a hand to the person who exposed the creep so effectively.
Isn’t this the chick who’s supposed to look like Angelina Jolie, or something? Everyone’s making a big deal out of her?
Well, the video was funny – but certainly not realistic. I don’t think I’d hire her, though I certainly can sympathize with the toxic work environment. I think this is a video best served up after she’s quit, and after she’s gotten another job – and shared only with close friends. Who, of course, would post it online everywhere and let it go viral.
This is certainly fun to watch, but not the way you handle quitting or an office problem or any problem. You face things head on , person to person. Say it to the person and say it with dignity, maturity, and respect. If you want to be respected you show respect. Be the bigger/better person. Be proffessional at all times. We’ve all had bosses or collegues or just a random person treat us in a manor we don’t like. This does not give us the excuse to do the same back to them.
TIME FOR STUPID VACUOUS MALE INPUT: 1. The babe’s to die for. 2) She gets promotion. 3) She names her terms. 4) Only task is to prevent bugs from eating strawberry patch in farm game. Rest of female staff that looks this way in those denim worn out Jamie Mae shorts – same terms. ONLY MOTIVATION HERE IS TO REDUCE SALARY OF MALE STAFF BY HALF FOR TRIPLE PRODUCTION FOR THE JOY OF WORKING HERE. PS: This clever plan also gets me promotion.
You are a hoot, Carl. You should get a promotion for that. So, Mr. Smarty-Pants. Why did she change her top? And take down her hair? And take off her glasses? Sex sells, huh? Smart girl. If she did this for my class, I’d have to give her an A. She totally knows how to work her assets. (I’m ignoring the obvious pun which could be made here.)
I, too, was taken in by this video when it first came out. I thought ‘wow’…she has guts…it was very entertaining and I think that we all have that fantasy where we can tell the boss to ‘take this job and shove it’, and because she did it in such fine style we applaud her. I was disappointed to learn that it wasn’t real, but she did a wonderful (acting job) nonetheless, and I would hire her for a sales job or a creative job because I think she has what it takes to be successful and think for herself. And, yes, sex always sells..never hurts to use all the assets that you have in your arsenal to get ahead..
Renee, I am looking for an employee with a balanced ego, whose sincerity, honesty, communication and commitment I can always trust, regardless of circumstance and who has the team first at heart. This young lady’s reactivity clear indicates to me that she does not have the adequate problem-solving skills (hard or soft) to stay in her job. I wish her well in the future but believe it will be difficult for her to find a position, provided this information becomes public. Balance is as important as brains and much more important than looks! Thanks for the opportunity to comment on this important issue to save us all time in our future employee selections. I think everyboy on a team needs a pysch eval previous to hire and an in-depth interview by multiple team members. And maybe a trip in the woods together to see how challenges are dealt with. In a quiting situation, it is best to be open to feedback and break as few bridges as possible while maintaining personal integrity (the yin and the yang of the quit) Gracias, Adam
I found the video funny and creative, but would I hire her? Not a chance. Her boss might have been a temperamental, smelly, sexist hypocrite, but that doesn’t mean she had to go as far as she did. I realize this was a hoax, but no one is going to hire her and risk that same kind of humiliation happening to them. It also shows her maturity level, which isn’t very high. Anyone can go and humiliate someone, but it shows real character to just move on and leave it in the past.