Viral videos wrap: Getting fired, and hippo tastes snow
A gopher gave us a real-life Caddyshack moment and animals tried snow for the first time in this week’s viral stories.
There was also a woman who uploaded a video of her getting let go from her job to TikTok, with many people praising her for standing up for herself, but others not too impressed.
Also, police claim a new TikTok trend has taken to the streets in Texas, but Australians know it’s really just a creepier version of knock and run.
Here are some viral videos you may have missed this week.
Caddyshack in real life
A gopher provided a real-life Caddyshack moment on a golf course.
In the viral video, a golf ball is seen being pushed out of a hole, then a gopher emerges.
The video was shared on Reddit, and the person who uploaded it made reference to the 1980 movie, Caddyshack.
In the film, there’s a subplot where the groundskeeper tries to get rid of a gopher.
Woman fired in viral TikTok
Earlier this month, a woman knew she was about to get fired, so she decided to set up her camera and record the meeting she had with two people from the company she had never met before.
Brittany Pietsch had been working at Cloudflare for just a few months at the time of the meeting.
Within moments of a man joining the meeting, he said based on performance, Pietsch would be let go. However, she wanted to stand up for herself, thinking she had nothing to lose.
@brittanypeachhh Original creator reposting: brittany peach cloudflare layoff. When you know you’re about to get laid off so you film it 🙂 this was traumatizing honestly lmao #cloudflare #techlayoffs #tech #layoff
She said she was in a three-month “ramp” after starting in August, which then led into the holidays and during her time at the company she had the highest activity among her team.
Pietsch then spoke about the impact she had during her time, questioning why her own manager was not the one doing the firing and saying he had only praised her work so far.
The video, which has been uploaded twice on Pietsch’s TikTok, has had millions of views.
Plenty of people have praised Pietsch for advocating for herself and many sympathising with the fact that layoffs are traumatising.
She has since created a lengthy post on LinkedIn providing more context from her perspective.
@brittanypeachhh My response on LinkedIn #techlayoffs #cloudflare #brittanypietsch #layoffs
The founder and CEO of Cloudflare has since addressed the fact that 40 people were fired from the company.
“When we’re doing performance management right, we can often tell within 3 months or less of a sales hire, even during the holidays, whether they’re going to be successful or not,” Matthew Prince said on X.
“Sadly, we don’t hire perfectly. We try to fire perfectly. In this case, clearly we were far from perfect.”
Tweet from @eastdakota
Knock and Run
Police in Texas are warning people of a string of “distressing” incidents where young people are knocking on strangers’ doors in the middle of the night.
Friendswood Police Department said it was aware of the viral TikTok “Door Knock Challenge”, which is exactly what it sounds like.
People taking part are encouraged to bang or kick doors in the middle of the night to startle residents, the police said, adding there had been “several” incidents in recent weeks.
“This trend is causing both physical and emotional distress for residents of all ages,” the police department said on Facebook.
Animals try snow
This week, a few animals were treated to some snow, but not to play in, to eat.
In San Antonio, a hippo named Timothy was seen munching on some snow the zoo provided to him and he looked quite content.
However, a lizard at the Oklahoma City Zoo was a little more apprehensive when faced with the snow.
@sanantoniozoo Timothy trying snow! ❄️😂 #animals #cute #cuteanimals #fyp #foryou #funnyanimals
@okczoo Some animals loved the snow yesterday, the ornate uromastyx was NOT a fan #okczoo #reptiles #snowy
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