Laid off worker who filmed sacking hits back at ‘loose cannon’ comments

Losing your job is a truly grim experience, just ask Brittany Pietsch.

The American tech worker was 'unexpectedly' sacked from her job as an account executive at web firm Cloudflare after just three months.

Feeling something was wrong in the build up to the sudden virtual meeting which confirmed the unpleasant news, Brittany set up a camera to record the conversation unbeknown to those on the other end of the call.

The video, which is more than nine minutes long, was posted to TikTok and has been viewed millions of times across different social media platforms including X, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

It shows the tech specialist trying to find reason in the decision despite what she calls good performance on her end.

Now, the act of recording of the video has now been discussed as much as the content, with people butting heads. And it's resulted in Brittany being forced to defend herself after she was labelled a 'loose cannon employee' for the next business that hires her.

It's safe to say, the Atlanta resident has backed her decision to record and publish the clip.

Taking to LinkedIn, she said she 'wouldn't ever want to work for' a company that saw a problem with what she did. A person of principle, then.

Brittany wrote: "The last few days have been a roller coaster and I have been sent more messages and DMs this week than I have probably ever in my life. The most incredible outpouring of support has honestly restored my faith in the corporate world.

"However, the most common message I’m receiving is how many people have experienced something shockingly similar. Cold, unexplainable firing by people they’ve never met - even after years of loyalty for some.

"All people saying they wish they would have stood up for themselves as I did. Heartbreaking stories of people’s lives suddenly changing with no explanation and just told to 'deal with it'. What???

"I’ll never be able to wrap my mind around it. We as employees are expected to give two weeks notice and yet we don’t deserve even a sliver of respect when the roles are reversed?

"I’ve also read some comments about how I’ll never be able to find a job now because I’m a 'loose cannon employee'.

"I’ll tell you what, any company that wouldn’t want to hire me because I shared a video of how a company fired me or because I asked questions as to why I was being let go is not a company I would ever want to work for anyway.

"If I don’t stand up for myself… who will?

"Thank you so much to everyone who has reached out to me with stories and support and positivity. It has made this process so much easier and I cannot appreciate it enough.

"Best of luck to everyone currently going through this situation - we are in this together!"

Brittany's defiant stance was well received on social media.

One person said: "People who haven't experienced a layoff don't understand how traumatic it is.

"I experienced this five years ago and I still get anxious when an HR leader wants to meet with me out of the blue without telling me why."

Another said: "I empathise with your situation, you handled it very well and set an example for others. You should be very proud of how you handled the situation.

"I know you will come out stronger from this and wish you all the luck in your future."

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has responded to Brittany's video, saying on X: "The video is painful for me to watch."

In a statement, he explained the company "fired ~40 sales people out of over 1,500 in our go to market org", which he said was "normal quarter" behaviour.

He said: "When we’re doing performance management right, we can often tell within three months or less of a sales hire, even during the holidays, whether they’re going to be successful or not.

"Sadly, we don’t hire perfectly. We try to fire perfectly. In this case, clearly we were far from perfect.

"The video is painful for me to watch. Managers should always be involved. HR should be involved, but it shouldn’t be outsourced to them."