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‘Seems like a fair trade’: Laid-off employee takes out frustration on former work laptop

"That was therapeutic, thank you."

Screengrabs via @LyssG717 on TikTok

Everyone has been there. Stuck in a job you hate in a company that makes billions while you barely scrape by. If it weren’t so hard to find a job you might quit or make a big public statement that gets you fired, but the best thing you can do is daydream at your desk. If you want to see someone else live out those urges, this viral TikTok is the total embodiment of letting those intrusive thoughts win.

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This TikTok user was recently laid off from their corporate job just after the company achieved fifty billion dollars in sales. To get out her frustration over the fact that making billions somehow translated to her losing her job, she decided to destroy her company-issued laptop. She noted in the comments that she had been at the company for three years and thought the laptop’s untimely death was a fair trade for her unemployment.

@lyssg717

I think the laptop was more than a fair trade #ihatecapitalism

♬ original sound – Lyss

Commenters found the video just as cathartic as she did, thanking her for such a “therapeutic” watch. A couple of people raised concerns that her destroyed laptop would be taken out of her next paycheck, but she assured her viewers that she’d made sure it was already processed before throwing her computer on the concrete. Followers even encouraged her to take more office supplies, some even saying that they had done the same thing themselves. The comment section is also chock full of words of encouragement, advice, and praise for the TikToker as she starts her next phase of life. “Girl, I need to send you some tequila to celebrate because you already know a better easing is coming your way. You got this,” one person added.

This particular isn’t the only corporate employee dissatisfied with their job. According to SHRM, research shows a significant decline in employee morale, especially after the pandemic. Discontent is attributed to salary, burnout, and insufficient benefits such as poor healthcare coverage. On top of that, employers don’t seem to care. Business Insider reports that CEOs like Tim Gurner think unemployment is good for companies. He believes it reminds corporate workers who is in charge and what work expectations should be.

It seems that, based on the comment section and the whole laptop destruction, employees don’t quite agree with those comments. Many, like this TikToker, are taking layoffs and unemployment as a sign to invest in themselves and move on to bigger and better things.