This Woman Went Viral For The "Amazingly Chaotic" Prank She Played On Her Old Office After Being Laid Off

Getting laid off absolutely sucks — trust me, I know from experience. But while some people (me) just tearfully pack up their desk and go home to wallow, others see being let go as an opportunity for a bit of hilarious mischief.

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Take Marchie (@the.marchie), for example, a 25-year-old sales and marketing professional who played a little parting prank to make sure that her former employer would NEVER forget her. In a TikTok that's been viewed over 5 million times, she explained her devious plan.

In the video, Marchie explains, "So I was laid off and Friday was my last day and I was the only member of my team to get laid off, which really super sucked. But to prove that I will never actually leave, I hid these pictures of myself all over the office with different things in the speech bubble."

She goes on to share, "And at 3:30 today on Monday, I've been informed that this is what they've been doing all day." And she moves her head aside to reveal a white board where her former coworkers are collecting the pictures.

But here's the twist that makes her prank especially chaotic. "The best part about it is, I numbered all these photos, but I skipped numbers. They'll never think they've found all of them," Marchie says before bursting into another fit of laughter. Check out the video below:

@the.marchie / Via tiktok.com

In the comments, people are loving how Marchie handled this, with the top comment saying, "The skipping number is absolutely cruel, I approve."

Another person wrote, "I just know they regret laying you off. This is hysterical. They are gonna miss this kinda energy."

Others shared pranks they've played around the office. One person wrote, "What I left my old job, I left loads of tiny ducks around the office. I told them I placed 200 when I only placed 34, they're still hunting them down."

And one person asked how to prank a remote job like this, and Marchie suggested a classic Rickroll.

I loved how Marchie turned layoff lemons into delicious prank lemonade, so I reached out to her via email. She told BuzzFeed that the layoff actually took her by surprise. "I probably should have known, because other departments were doing major lay offs, but I didn’t have an inkling of anyone in my department. Ultimately, I was the only one in my department to be laid off."

And she shared that the prank helped her feel like she was leaving on her own terms. "After the initial shock, private meltdowns, and financial calculations, I realized I would be alright until a new job which allowed me a little bit of levity about the situation. Even though none of this was my choice, I still wanted to leave somewhat on my terms. I knew my office mates would enjoy this scavenger hunt and it would waste company time, so it was a win-win!"

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If you're curious how the hunt is going, Marchie shared that it's definitely still afoot. "My work bestie kept me updated on the numbers and mounting frustration as they couldn’t find them all, just as I had designed. As far as I’m aware, they still have not found all of the real ones and it’s likely it will be a long time until they do."

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Finally, she shared her frustrations with how sadly common layoffs are in our current work world. "I am lucky to be in a financial position that this wasn’t completely detrimental to my ability to pay rent or buy groceries. I’m aware that’s a position many are not in. It’s endlessly frustrating to me how careless companies can be with their employees lives. With rising costs and most people being radically underpaid, it’s difficult to save. America also does not provide the social safety net many countries do for situations like this. I don’t think I would have found this humor if I weren’t lucky enough to be financially secure, in part because of my online presence."

No matter your circumstances, getting through unemployment after a layoff is not easy. If you're in this boat, here are 3 stories from members of the BuzzFeed Community that might help you figure out what to do next:

1. "I was fired from my job with no warning or probationary period beforehand. I am a single mother of two young sons, so I was very scared as to how I would be able to financially support them as well as myself. I applied for unemployment benefits immediately and called 211, which is a local helpline to locate other resources available to us such as rental assistance, food stamps, etc.

2. "I'd been laid off from a corporate job with no desire to return to anything on my résumé. My local employment office set me up with a counselor to help me figure out what I DID want to do, and what I needed to do to get that job. We landed on a career as a paralegal, which was the opposite of my experience and education.

3. "I was laid off and got COVID on the same day. Needless to say, it was an awful week. As soon as I received the news, I started reaching out to my network on LinkedIn. I asked former coworkers to write me recommendations on the LinkedIn platform and also polished up my résumé. I am in the final consideration set for three jobs and hope to receive an offer soon!

Follow Marchie on TikTok and YouTube.