Josh Williams only lasted three months in the customer service administrator post and was fired when his bosses printed out 50 hours worth of his search history
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TikTok user reveals he was fired due to his digital footprint
A young man was fired from his office job after wasting 50 hours googling “stupid” things, such as his own Turkey teeth and “Simon Cowell’s botched Botox”.
Josh Williams, 26, said his bosses at the called him into a meeting and lectured him for frequent sick days and spending time googling “stupid” material on work time. He lost his job as a customer service administrator, a position he only had for three months, and now says his “heat-of-the-moment” behaviour has affected his ability to find new work.
Josh, who is from Bristol, 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… I felt really rubbish. Obviously I’d spent all my savings going on holiday getting my teeth done to come back to no job.”
And then Josh shared his experiences in a scathing TikTok, a decision he says has backfired because he claims he’s since been rejected from three further roles after prospective employers saw the clip online.
Some TikTok users suggested Josh was “too old” for such antics, and others said he should have just googled things on his phone instead. Heeding the advice, the young man is now warning people to think before they post in the “heat of the moment” as he says he is “ashamed” about the clip and the “backlash” he got from it.
Josh, who had forked out of his own pocket for his Turkey teeth procedure prior to taking the customer service administrator role, added: “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.”
The TikToks also earned Josh around £450, he claims, which helped cover some of his rent. Since then, he has been offered – and accepted – a position as a supply chain coordinator in the food industry but he wants to pursue content creation as a long-term goal.
“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,” Josh continued.
“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.
“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 recognised the video and said that my values didn’t align with their company.
“Basically saying we’ve seen your TikTok and we think you’re sh*t 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.”
Josh lost the customer service administrator job in July and posted the videos in the days which followed. The three jobs he then went for were all in the same industry, so Josh has since had to go into a different sector.
He said: “It meant I had to jump into a completely different area of work that I’ve never done before just because I didn’t want to go into office based roles knowing that potentially my face would have been seen.
“It really did backlash on me. I’m in a job now that I don’t like at all, it’s not me. I feel like an idiot. I think I should have known better than to do that. But I think with my sort of ADHD and stuff I don’t think things through I just tend to just do it in the moment.
“So yeah it was a silly thing to do, going forwards I hopefully maybe would have learned my lesson. It might seem quite funny but I think looking at my situation and how it’s impacted me I’d say it’s probably one of the worst things you can do for you know future jobs and your career path and stuff. Just be really cautious before you put anything online even if it is just in the heat of the moment.”
Many social media users did not see the funny side in Josh filming his sacking. One user commented: “I’ve never been sacked in my life. It’s not normal that you are let go from so many places. You’re getting on mate. It’s not funny anymore.”
Another said: “What is the longest you have had a job? Maybe try a supermarket or retail where you can’t be distracted by laptop or search stuff.”
Another commented: “Who the heck googles stuff like that at work just use your phone.” However not everyone agreed, with one saying “it’s great you’ve a sense of humour about it”.
