QuitTok – how walking out on your job became viral content

Workers are quitting on camera and going viral – from marching bands to TikTok rants.

Maybe you’ve heard about a trend that became popular during the pandemic: “quiet quitting.” It basically means doing the minimum amount of work possible at your job.

Well, the term was misleading, as no one was resigning – if anything, people were lazily staying put.

So, how about a phenomenon called viral quitting?

Content creators like Brianna Slaughter are leading the Gen Z charge. Slaughter recently went viral with a rousing pep talk for those stuck in the mire of corporate employment.

As she explains, she didn’t give the required two months’ notice to the oppressive Japanese school where she taught English.

“You’re lucky if I give you two hours, babe, because I’m leaving now!” she exclaimed, wowing her viewers.

@fkamorena I quit my job because I didn’t want to go #japan #idgaf ♬ Sound effect glitter magic - Quetzal BGM

Cybernews spoke to Eric Kingsley, attorney and partner at Kingsley Szamet Employment Lawyers, who explained:

“It is a new-age protest… something that is supposed to be a gesture of opposition to exploitation,” which, by flipping the narrative, feels like serving it back to suffocating workplaces.

As Slaughter explained in her video, she made around $7,000 in two months of content creation on TikTok, so the financial benefits are obvious.

From rage to revenue

Viral quits are spreading like wildfire, often filmed and shared immediately. Take former restaurant worker Samantha Rae Garcia, who, back in 2022, filmed her manager badmouthing her and quit upon the posting of her video.

In a larger corporation, you’d be able to take up an issue like this with HR. But what Rae Garcia did is more empowering than suffering in silence.

TikTok started rolling out the new creator monetization in December 2023, so it’s unclear how much Rae Garcia would have made from the vid. But supposing it was made more recently, she could have pulled in anywhere from $1000 to $2000.

@samantharaegarc

I quit my job of 4 years today. I’m done with these disrespectful, hasn’t had manager training in 50 years managers. BYE❤️ but also $samgar2769

♬ original sound - Samantha Garcia

While monetizing the drama through storytelling is the name of the game, Chase Ridgeway took a slightly different approach.

In his quit video, Ridgeway mentions that the six figures he was making in tech sales were quite okay. However, he valued time over money.

The influencer claimed that he’s not going into content creation full-time, but he and the platform would profit nevertheless.

As Kingsley points out, “Workers post their experiences in order to regain their say, while the companies profit from that anger in terms of clickthroughs and advertising revenue.”

@chaseridgewayy Season 4, Episode 1: I quit my job. #fyp #vlog #9to5 #quit #corporate #routine #quitmyjob #finance #work #freedom #grind ♬ original sound - chase ridgeway

Marching out in style

The track record of audacious millennial quitting can be traced all the way back to 2011, when 22-year-old hotel porter Joey La Neve DeFrancesco brought in a marching band to quit his job, much to his boss’s shock-horror.

Instead of the old-fashioned handing in your resignation letter, the viral quit helped DeFrancesco turn the corner from a monotonous job (he got hired in a museum soon after, despite posting the vid), and forge a new path onwards.

@thehoppers4 #hire #band #quit #omg #boss #lol #work #funnyvideos #humour #fyp #thehopperclan #goviral #foryou #viral #comedy #legend #funny #trending #haha ♬ original sound - The hoppers

Employees do regain power by authoring their own narratives in the public space, something that their employers once had in extremely tight control.

Eric Kingsley, employment attorney

Kingsley: “Employees do regain power by authoring their own narratives in the public space, something that their employers once had in extremely tight control.” (pull quote)

As viral quitting picks up momentum, it’ll be interesting to see whether bigger corporations adjust their more outmoded practices.

“Individually, viral resignations are unlikely to alter a toxic workplace,” explained Kingsley.

“But collectively, they bring attention to systemic problems such as burnout, low pay, and harassment.”