Heat. Heat. Those were the federal workers who just found out they lost their jobs. Apparently, the State Department was set to lay off more than 1,300 employees last Friday. These cuts are part of a major reorganization plan by the Trump's administration. The administration says it's about streamlining and making the department more efficient. But critics argue that these move will seriously weaken US diplomacy at a time when global tensions are rising. So, welcome back everyone. In this video, you're going to be watching people tell their stories, sad stories actually, of how they were laid off in 2025. The first individual is Michelle. She was let go from a job she loved so much. >> So, I was let go today from my job. My family counseledled me for health insurance like I just I love this company so much. I just I go from getting a promotion that was supposed to start next month to being let go. And I know the Lord will lead me and I've been dealing with a lot. I was told on Friday I might get let go. And I sat here and still did my job until today. And it's like in this economy, losing a job is crazy. And I know that it could be worse. There's people out there struggling worse, you know, and stuff like that. But it's just it hits hard because, you know, my family depends on me for this income, this health insurance. And it just sucks, man. Just please pray for us. I'm going to still be faithful. was still leaning on the Lord. >> This is Ivory Lane. Ivory Lane was laid off for the first time in her life. She said she knew layoffs were coming, but she didn't know it was coming for her. >> I'm getting laid off today for the first time in my life. Um, so that's a fun, new, and exciting thing. No. Um, I'm sad about it. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to pretend. Um, it really sucks. Uh, I knew it was coming. I didn't know it was coming for me. I knew layoffs were coming, but I didn't know they were coming for me. I've been at my job almost seven years and I love it. I love my team. I love what I do. I'm good at what I do. Like, all of the things, you know, but it happens. It's happening to me. Um, I literally told my parents and they're like, "Oh, you know, layoffs happen. I've been laid off this many time like this many times. You'll be fine." I'm like, "That doesn't help me. That doesn't help." What does that have to do with anything? I mean, I get it, but like I'm just in that space where I'm like everything sucks. Um, I have a afternoon meeting with HR on a Friday. Like obviously I'm getting laid off. That's what it is. So, we will see. But I'm I'm pretty sure that I'm I'm getting that that paper today. This individual is a professional yapper who got laid off a few days ago from her full-time job. >> So, I just got laid off from my full-time job a few days ago, which means I'm about to lose access to healthcare because I get my health insurance through my employer like so many other Americans do. We are the only developed nation that does this. The only developed nation that does not recognize health care as a basic human right. The only developed nation that does not have universal healthcare. I do have a couple options of what I can do. I can go on my ex-employer's health insurance, but it I would be paying that out of pocket and that would be probably around $700 a month, which is going to be hard to swing now that I'm out of a job. I could go without health insurance and just hope that I don't have a medical emergency. That'll put me tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. You also get penalized on your tax return if you don't have health insurance. I could get married to my partner and get put on his health insurance that he gets through his employer. That's actually a very common practice in the US. A lot of people get married so they can go on their partner's health insurance. I can also purchase health insurance individually on the market. I've never done that before. I can't imagine that it's cheap, but that's probably the option I'm going to take. One of the stupidest things about the US is that our healthcare access is largely dependent on our employment status. >> Next is Lindsay. Lindsay was laid off again, the second time this year. Take a listen to her story. >> Well, second time in a year, almost a year to the day, I got laid off again twice in a year. And uh what the what is anyone supposed to do? And they said because of the economy, the economy is crap right now. So, uh, we're going to lay off a whole bunch of people again. And I already was struggling so hard, actually, low key, um, to even keep the current roof over my head. And now I have no idea how I'm even going to get through the next few hours. I just don't understand. Um, but yeah, the economy is America is right now. Um, I feel like there's a really big plan for them to, you know, tank this so that we have to rely on other things, other people. It's And I'm quite frankly tired of it. I'm tired of my livelihood being in other people's hands. And I have no idea how to fix that, but I'm going to because this is just wild. Wild. And I'm angry more than I am hurt or sad. I'm scared. I have no idea where any of my bills are going to come from or come, you know, the money. I'm more angry than anything because I just cannot even believe. I used to be able to get a job like the week later if I got laid off. So, I have no idea what's going to happen. And I was really hoping at one point I would make money on Tik Tok and I still only have 1,500 followers or whatever. So, um, if you could just like, I don't know, blow this up and let's get 10,000 followers plus whatever. Um, because I might be homeless in a week or two if I can't figure it out. So, um, yeah. I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday. a way better Tuesday than me. And um if you have any tips, tricks, or whatever to help right now and get me through this, greatly appreciated. Um yeah, this is Tia. Tia just got laid off from her job. She didn't even know what to say or what to think when she got the sad news. She's angry at the fact that she didn't even get a heads up that she could be in danger of losing her job. I just got let go from my job without a warning um at all. Nothing. I had I didn't see it coming at all. And I get paid through today and that's it. And what's shocking to me is there's no there was no I had no warning. Not a clue. Not a freaking clue. But if we as employees, if we just up and quit like we're not harmable, like if we don't give a two week notice, that's very that's that's shameful. But companies can literally just call you and be like, "Hey, no, we're you're you're today is your last day." And I was working. I was doing my work. I was a recruiter. You can't make people say yes to wanting to try to talk to you about a job opportunity. Oh man. And I'm a single mom. I'm I just I don't even I don't even know what to think or to feel. There's so many things running through my head. And I know that I'm not the only one. I have a bunch of friends that have gotten let go with so many layoffs and everything. I I just You're not alone. And I I think it's going to be okay, but I'm scared. >> Everyone meet complainy recently. complaining about laid off from her job. She felt like a failure after she was let go from the job. She called a Korean mom to tell her about the whole ordeal. >> I need to tell my mom that I got laid off. This is not going to be an easy call. We're going to just FaceTime her from my phone. [Music] Oh, I can turn Labor Department. foreign. Okay. I love you. [Music] Everyone meets Simone. Simone is single. She just bought a house. She went into credit debt to furnish a new home and then bam, she gets laid off. She said for over a year she's been hoping this wouldn't happen to her, but it finally did. She got laid off and she doesn't know what's going to happen next. Hello. >> Hey, Son. How are you? >> I'm good. How are you doing? >> Um, hey, thanks for making time on short notice. I'm sure my invite was um rambling and not awesome and you do not have to um turn your camera on if you don't want to. Um, I have a couple of uh notes to share with you. Um but uh I'll so I'll be glad to get those notes to make sure I cover things but um I will also follow up with an email so you don't have to retain everything I'm going to say made the difficult decision to restructure the XD or uh as a as a as a result uh reduce the size of the or unfortunately you've uh you're impacted by this change. Um so your last working day is today but the good news is is you'll be paid through February 2nd. Um uh those are the most important pieces um of information. Your system access as an employee will be turned off at some point today. I'm not sure when exactly. Uh and your workday and benefits portal, you'll still have access to until February 2nd as an employee and then after that you'll have access to it as a as an alumni. Um, and then I'm going to email you the specifics of your severance, uh, benefits and a few few other details that will probably be helpful later when you're ready to go through them. Um, and then on your last day, uh, you'll get your seven documents via docuign to sign and I'll go to your personal email address. Um, I want to pause. I know I just rattled off a whole bunch of really big news. Um, is there any questions or or um or anything that you want to ask? Are there any reasons other than just like restructuring? Like what's the reason for the restructuring? >> That's a really good question. Um it has to do with the company is doing consolidated priorities this year and next year. They are looking to um so the order it has nothing to do with performance. It has nothing to do with um location and everything to do with the company wanting to do less in tech and do take on less priorities and as a result um you know maybe the team is being reduced for them to support that. >> Another question I had was around um like my remote status. Is that like a factor in this as well? >> Yeah, that's a really good question. Um it did to be perfectly honest it did come the remote status in general came up as a potential discussion but um it ended up not being a factor. Well please don't obviously feel a pressure to do anything today other than take care of yourself. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. >> Oh I'm so sorry. Well, um please again like take today and um take care of yourself and again I'm really sorry that this is happening. >> Okay. Thank you. See you on a plank. I guess >> I have already cried today. Um I'll probably cry more. Um yeah. So, I got an email like an hour ago that said, "Hi, I'd like to get together and share an update on our organization and what this means for you." So, yeah, I already knew that this was coming. Um, at first I thought that like maybe it wouldn't just impact me because someone else mentioned that they got the same email and I was like, "Oh, well maybe." because this has happened before when they laid off all of our managers. So, I was like, well, maybe they're telling all of us at the same time that someone else is getting like someone big at the top is getting laid off. But I reached out to that person and I was like, "Does your meeting start at 12:00?" And she said, "No, my meeting starts at 12:30." So, when she said that, that's when I had my breakdown and that's when I started crying. Um, uh, I think the best news out of that is that I'm going to get my bonus, so that will help. Um, I don't know how much the bonus will be cuz I don't know how well the company performed, but that check will come in March and I'll still get another regular paycheck um, from work. I don't know what I'm going to do. I do have savings. Thank God. Thank God. But like I don't know what I'm going to do if it takes months to get a new job because I still want to remain in tech. I still want a remote position, which those are harder to come by now. And um like I don't know what I'm going to do if I can't get another job because I have the mortgage now and the mortgage is like 2,700 a month. Um I have my trip planned to New Zealand next month. I should probably cancel that. If I can get a refund on my flight, I should probably cancel that, which sucks because I've been planning that since like this time last year. Um, I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't I don't know. I don't Um um I don't I don't know what I don't know what's going to happen. I'm trying I'm trying to um have faith that everything is going to um everything's going to work out eventually. I just don't know uh how long it'll take for things to work out. And um it just really scares me because I don't I don't have anybody to like lean on. Um like I'm not rich. My family isn't rich. Um like I don't know. I don't know. I'm sure it's all going to work out. I'm sure it's all going to work out. I just don't know how it's going to work out, but I'm I'm sure it's all going to work out. >> This is Carmen. Carmen got laid off back to back. She said it's hard to feel secure at a job anymore because the days of job security are over. 2025. Uh I'm going to need a refund because this year sucks already. Uh I just got laid off for basically the second time back to back. Um if you didn't know, I worked at Twitter and I got laid off when acquired the company. Since then, I've been working at a um like a content strategy agency type place as a director of strategy. And um I just got laid off yesterday. Uh it's surreal because I definitely didn't want to go through another layoff. Being laid off the first time was one of the most traumatic events that have ever happened to me. Um especially because it happened so publicly. this time was obviously a little bit different, but um the company lost some clients and now here I am without a job. It's hard not to re-evaluate um my life choices at this point. I work in tech. Um and so I'm wondering if that's still what I should be doing. It's hard to feel like secure in a job anymore. It feels like those days are over. So, I don't know if I should be in tech anymore or working this corporate life. I love the security of having a stable job, but um that hasn't been the case for quite some time for me because it's just been so unstable in the industry. So, um I'm considering other options. Obviously, I had a wild idea. I think somebody on TikTok said, "Hey, become an ultrasound tech. that takes like two years of schooling and then you're in. And I was like, sounds good to me. But again, I I also really enjoyed my job doing marketing strategy, working in the digital space, working with tech. It is fast-paced and it's very exciting. So, I honestly don't know what to do. If you have any advice for me, um I would love to freaking hear it because I'm swirling. This all happened yesterday. So, um I've been like waffling between panic applying to places and just rotting on the couch. Um would love something more constructive to do with my time. Um but if you have any advice, any tips, any job leads or connections, please let me know. I'm in the Bay Area, remote work, anything. I I I want to be busy. I'm somebody who likes to do things. So, um this is my plea to you, Tik Tok. Thank you so much. >> This is Kathy. Kathy also got fired from a company she's been working at for the last eight years. >> I got fired this morning from a company I have been working at for the last eight years. I've had the same boss for the last eight years. And yeah, it happened this morning 9:00 a.m. I had a meeting booked with my boss. uh our HR business partner immediately joins the call. They tell me that uh due to restructuring they have to make hard decisions and they have decided uh after review at all leadership levels that my job will be terminated. This came as a massive shock. There was no performance improvement plan. There was no conversation about how I could have been performing better. They essentially just told me effective Friday, your role is no longer here. Uh my only question I could muster the strength to ask is like what's happening with my team? Are they also being let go? And they said that they could not answer that question at the time. >> This is Murray. Murray was terminated from her job because she left her shift. Even though Murray claims that one of her managers approved the leave verbally, please make sure to watch her tell her story to the end and leave your responses in the comment section. Let's know if her termination was justified. I'm >> like 90% sure that I just got fired and I'm so embarrassed and mad about it. So, I went into my one-on-one at 11:00 at 11 11:00 a.m. I went in and my manager said that there was just a few things that was just concerning from last month and they wanted to review. I was like, "All right, no problem." So, the first was yesterday I had a day off that was in the system. I checked. I knew it was in the system. I literally have a photo of it being approved in the system because something like this happened last month or last year where I had approved PTO and then it disappeared. So, I learned my lesson to start taking photos of the approved PTO. And then yesterday she messaged me while I was gone and she said, "Hey, you have an unmarked absence today. What's going on?" And I said, "No, no, no. It was approved." And she said, "I wasn't in the system at all." So she said it was no big deal. We moved on, whatever. I just called out that day. And then I go in for my one-on-one. And she said that because I got involved in that system, they pulled up the entire system and they realized there was a few other things that they were not like sure about. One of them was the fact that my outbound calls last month were pretty low, which makes sense. I had bronchitis. I called out. I had PTO. I also had like a little bit of a vacation at the beginning of the month and then on top of that my computer stopped working and it's documented that there was multiple times where I called into it and I would spend the entire day on it and then last week I got a whole new computer that they sent me and then I had a lot of issues with the new computer and this like so it's all documented as to why my outbound calls would be low because I couldn't get into the systems because their IT system is horrible. Their IT department doesn't know what they're doing. But then the caveat on it is that they noticed that every day I've been clocking out for like 30 minutes towards the end of the day and then clocking back in. And I said, "Yeah, that's because I've been working so much overtime lately and I have to pick up my daughter from school." And my old manager, just before our manager switch, said that that's fine. All we have to do is just flex it out. If we leave for 20 minutes, just add the 20 minutes at the end of our shift. And that's what I've been doing. And my current manager said, "Oh, well you you're allowed to flex out time, but if you don't tell anyone, you can't do that I was like, "Well, I talked to my old manager and this was an agreement that I can leave to get my daughter." Like, that was fun. And and she even told me that if you're just leaving for like 20 minutes, you really don't have to tell anyone. Just leave, come back, and then add it in. As long as your time slots add up to 8 hours at the end of the day, they don't care. I was specifically told this, and I told her all of this in our one-on-one at 11:00 a.m. And she's like, "Okay, cool. We're just going to put you on a written warning just now that you know the procedures. We're just going to put you on a written warning." And I was like, "All right." I'm a little annoyed by it already cuz I'm working so much overtime lately. Like we are so overwhelmed and understaffed. I've been doing so much. I've been working like easily 5 hours, 6 hours of overtimes a a week easily after I do my shift. So like the idea of me clocking out for 20 minutes at the end of my shift is so irrelevant because then I'm clocking in to do 2 hours extra overtime. Like why does it matter? Especially when I had this conversation and you knew that this was happening. So, she says she's going to put me on a written warning at 11:00 a.m. And I sit down. I'm already upset about it because I'm like, I feel disrespected because I feel like this is stupid for me to be on a written warning, but it is what it is. And then at 11:45, she taps me on the shoulder. She's like, "Hey, can we go talk real quick?" And she said that she wanted me to collect all my personal belongings and wouldn't tell me why and pulled me into the side room. It was like, "I just need to talk to you." So, as soon as I get in that side room, she says, "So, you're going to go home for the rest of the day and in about 2 hours, you're going to get a call from HR." And I said, "Am I being terminated?" cuz I had no idea why I would be getting a call from HR. She was like, well, I don't know, but the call will let you know whether you are or not. I can't make that decision. It's like, you can't even tell me whether I'm terminated or not. And this is what got me so embarrassed is that I went from being on a written warning almost immediately to no written warning, no warnings at all, just reviewing for termination, but she won't even tell me that. All she said is I had to collect all my personal belongings and that the security guard would walk me to the front. She didn't even let me just walk to my own car. So, in front of all of my peers, they saw me like back all of my stuff up and get escorted to my car with no warning. And I'm so embarrassed. And she wouldn't even tell me whether I'm fired or not. She just said that like in 2 hours I'm going to get a call from HR. And like I have a daughter. She knows that my daughter's birthday is like next week. And she knows that. Like I told her that I have a daughter who's turning three next week and I have to pay for her stuff for her party. I have to pay for her ticket. like she knows that and I get it. Like you can't just leave a shift. But is the fact that I was told that I can do that and the fact that no one had this conversation with me or even told me that wasn't okay up until they're reviewing a term and the fact that not even an hour ago she told me it was a warning and then she's not even going to tell me that it's not a warning anymore. But it's very clear and I've never been fired other than like one small serving job when I was like 19. So I don't know what to do. I don't I I'm just scared right now. >> This is why you have to stop playing with people. If you're going to fire somebody, fire them before they come in. Fire them when they come in before they start the shift. This lady worked her whole entire third shelf, then went and set up breakfast for all the customers and then after she did that, y'all fired her. So, she crashed the out. Now, was she right or was she wrong? In my opinion, baby, I'm going say she right because you didn't work me a whole third shift and then I set up breakfast and then after I do all of that, you fire me. Well, you could have clearly fired me before I clocked in or before I even got here over a phone call. She crashed the out and I agree with her. >> Stop playing with people. >> Thank you. >> Thank you all for watching this video. Please don't forget to subscribe to the channel, like and share the video. See you in the next one. Bye for now.