‘That’s why I be on mute’: Woman starts new WFH job and goes to orientation. Then she realizes she’s talking to someone unexpected

Starting a new work-from-home job? You might want to watch what you say during your training sessions. In a shocking viral video, a TikTok user revealed that one of her fellow trainees wasn’t a recruit, but rather an undercover employee.

“Baby, floored!” TikTok creator BetterKnownAsTAI (@thewaysofme) said. “Floored! Do you hear me? Like, why y’all undercover in these damn trainings?”

BetterKnownAsTAI stumbled across her workplace spy after she started a new job in August. After getting her work equipment, she joined a meeting with a trainer, a moderator, and over a dozen new workers. Training seemed to go smoothly enough, but before her first shift ended, BetterKnownAsTAI was pulled into a team meeting with management.

And that’s when her new job dropped the news: One of the employees that went through training? She was a manager herself.

“She gets on, she says, ‘Hi guys! I know I’ve introduced myself as something else, but my real name is yadda-yadda-yadda. And I am one of the managers here,’” BetterKnownAsTAI recounted.

The TikTok user then pointed out that trainees might talk to one another in confidence, only to divulge something to a manager by accident. Which could be a total disaster for a new employee trying to fit in at their new workplace.

“Baby! Be careful what you be saying in there,” the TikToker warned.

Undercover managers under fire

Playing Undercover Boss might sound appealing to some employers and staff workers, but it’s not necessarily the best way to gauge feedback in the workplace. Distribution Strategy Group, a wholesale distribution consulting organization, criticized Undercover Boss for highlighting CEOs that are completely out of touch with their employees. If a CEO has to go undercover, it’s safe to say they’re "an invisible, ineffective CEO.”

“I’ve worked for some fantastic distribution CEOs in my career and not one of them could have been on Undercover Boss. That’s because they were constantly communicating with the customer-facing people in the business,” company CEO Ian Heller wrote. “The best of them spent so much time on the front lines that they couldn’t have remained anonymous if we’d dressed them like Storm Trooper ballerinas: Everyone knew them—what they looked like, what they sounded like, even their favorite expressions.”

Granted, it’s a little easier to play Undercover Boss with a bunch of new hires. But it still doesn’t bode well for an organization if management has to send cloaked operatives into a training meeting just to get feedback… especially when there are all already two other staff members conducting the meeting. Is honest and open communication that hard to come by at BetterKnownAsTAI’s company? Most likely, if it has to be pried out via deception.

“That’s a red flag to leave whatever company that is,” one TikTok user said in response to BetterKnownAsTAI’s video.

“Not leave, but run,” another wrote.

Granted, most companies don’t need to execute a mock Undercover Boss stint to begin with. If you’re on a call for a work-from-home job? Management is likely reviewing everything said one way or another. So going undercover is a moot point.

“Coming from a sales manager for people that WFH. Please don’t talk about anything on Teams/Zoom,” one commenter told TikTok users. “We can log in and hear/see EVERYTHING.”

@thewaysofme Its crazyyy out here…????‍???? #wfh #wfhlife #becareful #itsweird #fu #tipsandtricks ♬ original sound - Ty | Content Creator ????

The Daily Dot reached out to BetterKnownAsTAI for comment.

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