A 21-year-old says her supervisor criticized her water intake and bathroom

TikToker chrissyvbarron says her coworkers blamed her after her supervisor was fired for singling her out at her first job after college. She was 21 at the time and working full-time at a medical supply company.

As first highlighted by The Daily Dot, her TikTok has drawn over 2 million views and hundreds of thousands of likes. She was responding to another woman’s comment about how young women should prepare for conflicts with older female coworkers.

“I was never prepared for how much middle-aged women hated me in corporate America,” she said. Before this job, she had worked in accounting during her last two years of college, where she said no one bothered her and she could listen to comedy while working.

Her transfer request did not go the way she planned

At the medical supply company, she quickly moved from a junior position to an intermediate role. Many of her colleagues were much older, sometimes 30 or 40 years her senior.

She said employees could choose different shifts depending on their accounts. She worked from 6 AM to 2:33 PM, then picked up her dogs from daycare before training and coaching CrossFit.

The trouble started with one supervisor who she said often singled her out. The supervisor would come in around 7 or 8 AM, after the TikToker had already been working for some time, and allegedly monitored her computer activity. The supervisor also allegedly criticized how much water she drank and how often she used the bathroom.

The TikToker said she initially thought some of the criticism was fair and that her supervisor was simply being hard on her. Looking back, she said she was so naive that she did not realize how bad the behavior was. Her supervisor had reportedly worked at the company for 30 or 40 years.

Eventually, the TikToker asked about transferring to another manager’s team, where a friend worked. She described that manager as kind, but her request was instead referred to human resources.

HR asked why she wanted to switch teams, and she explained that her supervisor often singled her out. She said she made it clear she planned to quit and did not want the supervisor fired. “They fired her. Then everyone blamed me,” she recalled.

She ended up resigning anyway, accepting a job in Belgium and moving there. Walking away from a job over a manager is not unheard of, as one coffee shop worker who quit mid-rush showed.

Research has looked at how often women are on both sides of workplace bullying. The Workplace Bullying Institute’s 2021 U.S. survey, conducted with Zogby Analytics, found that men make up 67% of workplace bullies. When women are the bullies, however, their targets are other women 65% of the time.

Other viewers shared their own experiences. One commenter, who identified as a healthcare worker, agreed and wrote, “I got bullied from my old job and verbally abused.” That person eventually transferred as well.

A middle-aged parent said her 20-year-old daughter has dealt with similar treatment “every where she’s worked.” She called the situation atrocious and added, “I do not understand.”

Another viewer recalled a colleague at the same level assigning them duties. “This lady immediately tried to make me her secretary,” the commenter wrote, adding that their role was equal in rank. They believed the colleague felt threatened, saying the situation “was so confusing until I realized.”

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify the supervisor’s or the company’s side of the story, as this account comes solely from a TikTok video. The identities of the employer, supervisor, and commenters have not been confirmed.