A TikToker fired from his job after bosses discovered his self-confessed ‘stupid’ internet queries has issued an urgent warning to others.
Josh Williams claimed he began searching up weird and wonderful pictures on his old company computer to fill in his time.
The 26-year-old, who was in his probationary period, admitted he was struggling with the lack of tasks his employers were sending him so took to the internet to occupy himself.
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During work hours, he spent time Googling images of former X Factor judge Simon Cowell and searched questions such as: “Does turkey teeth hurt?”
As well as totting up a whopping 50 hours worth of search history on the company computer, the content creator had feigned illness on numerous occasions.
Williams was later confronted with his search history and was swiftly dismissed from his job. He later took to TikTok to discuss his past actions.
“It was quite embarrassing but I felt like because I had been sacked, I'm going to put it online,” he recalled.
"I felt really rubbish. Obviously I'd spent all my savings going on holiday getting my teeth done to come back to no job.
"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."
Williams took to TikTok to reveal the details of how and why he had lost his job—clips that earned him a tidy £450 in profit.
"It's not a life-changing amount, definitely not. But it's the majority of my rent,” Williams explained. "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.
"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."
After posting his original video, the Bristol-based influencer took to TikTok again to explain how his digital footprint had continued to affect him.
He claimed he’d been turned down for three similar 9-5 roles after they recognised him from his viral video.
“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.
“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.”
Williams has since issued a stark warning to others who overshare about their lives on TikTok and how it can affect them in the long run.