A tech worker posted a nine-minute video of herself getting fired went viral on TikTok last week — and she said she has been inundated with messages from other, out-of-work colleagues who wish they had done the same thing.
Brittany Pietsch, 27, who worked as an account executive at Cloudfare until she was laid off on Jan. 9, told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday: “I don’t regret sharing that.”
“I have received so many messages of people telling me, ‘I wish I would have stood up for myself the way you did’,” she said.
Pietsch told The Journal that she never intended for the video to go viral and that she posted it just so she could keep her family and friends up to date.
She never tagged Cloudfare in the video, though the company’s identity was revealed during the conversation.
In the video which was posted on Friday, Pietsch is seen from her Atlanta home talking with two human resources reps from the San Francisco-based company who inform her that she is being let go.
After being told of her dismissal, Pietsch demanded to know why her manager wasn’t on the call. She also asked for a reason she was being fired.
“I’ve been on a three-month ramp,” Pietsch, who was hired on Aug. 25, told the HR reps in defense of her performance.
“I have had the highest activity amongst my team, I’ve had three contracts out, done a really great job managing my deals.”
One of the HR reps, Dom, said the dismissal was part of a “collective calibration for Cloudfare.”
When Pietsch asked for a specific reason for her firing, Dom replied: “I won’t be able to add any specifics for numbers.”
The other HR rep on the call, Rosie, said she would be “happy to follow up to see if we can get that with you,” though she added “I cannot share that with you now.”
Matthew Prince, the CEO of Cloudfare, reacted to the video on X, saying it was “painful to watch.”
“Managers should always be involved,” Prince wrote.
“HR should be involved, but it shouldn’t be outsourced to them, No employee should ever actually be surprised they weren’t performing. We don’t always get it right.”
The Post has sought comment from Cloudfare.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
