A content creator has made a TikTok video of the moment she was told via email that she had been laid off, in the style of director Wes Anderson.
Jen Lucas, who runs a TikTok account called Jen and Evee, posted a new clip on Wednesday (26 April) inspired by the current trend on the social media platform that emulates the Grand Budapest Hotel filmmaker’s signature style.
However, while she was filming the video, she claimed to accidentally capture the moment she discovered she had been laid off from her job at Amazon.
The clip begins with her standing while hitting her head against a wall in front of her. Text over the video reads: “I was trying to film a cute Wes Anderson-style WFH [work from home] and accidentally filmed myself getting laid off??!”
It was followed by a title sequence that read: “Getting laid off from my job. What the f***.”
Viewers then see Lucas going through her morning routine, from getting out of bed to making a cup of coffee to brushing her teeth.
She then boots up her computer to start her work day. However, one clip shows her placing her hand over her mouth in shock as she stares at her screen, with text explaining: “Real time opening the email.”
Jen then went on a “mental health walk” with her husband and dog, and the last clip shows her walking with her corgi down a road with the text: “Onward to better things.”
In the caption, she wrote: “I debated if I should even post this, but if you got laid off too just know you’re not alone.”
It comes as Amazon began laying off employees in its cloud computing and human resources divisions this week, with the company slashing costs to stay on top of a slowdown in growth in its retail business and the economic downturn caused by inflation and wage stagnation.
The online retail mammoth announced job cuts earlier this year that were expected to affect 18,000 staffers.
In a follow-up video, Jen explained that she was “really surprised” to find out she was one of the many employees whose job was affected by the cuts, as she had been working for Amazon for eight years.
“I got promoted twice last year, I had an amazing review just a month ago,” she said. “I know it’s not about my performance or who I am as an employee, but that doesn’t make it suck any less.
“Part of me is glad to be out glad to be out of this extremely toxic environment and the other part feels like failure and a disappointment and hates that I have to tell people that I got laid off from my job, but that is life and I am human and this does not make me any less amazing or valuable or smart.
“I know I’m gonna land on my feet, I know I’m gonna be fine. But this sucks. Like, this is a top 10 bad feeling.”
Commenting on her original video, fans noted that it was “peak Wes Anderson” as the filmmaker often focuses on themes of loss.
“This is millennial core right now, Wes Anderson and everyone getting laid off,” one person wrote.
Another said: “Honestly it’s so much more Wes Anderson this way.”
