This is Sarai Soto, a 30-year-old content creator who may look familiar if you've ever scrolled through TikTok and come across one of her comedic skits about life in corporate America. She's developed a whole world of characters, including Veronica (the employee who "acts her wage"), Debra (who works entirely too hard considering how much she's paid), Susan (the boss who low-key takes advantage of her employees), and Bianca (the tired HR rep).
Recently, Sarai shared a video in which one employee in her universe calls in to work during a hurricane and lets her boss know she won't be able to make it due to the weather. "I see the tornado outside my window right now, so I won't be able to go into work today," she says.
"Well," her boss responds, "it's not that bad over here, so I'll see you at 9."
When speaking to BuzzFeed about her inspiration behind the now-viral skit, Sarai said it was all too familiar. "There were many times that I had to go to work during a snowstorm when I lived in New York," she said. "My husband was a door-to-door salesman in Seattle, and they had him come in during a snowstorm and walk door to door during it in order to meet his quota."
"Although it wasn't inclement weather, I also worked for a company that had me keep the store open during the pandemic," she added. "All the other stores in the mall had closed, and I was the only one open. They left me there all alone in a dark mall. Many of my videos are based on true events."
Unfortunately, many people in the comment section of Sarai's video could relate and they began sharing their own similar horror stories:
1. "My boss offered to come pick me up on a snowmobile once to get to work. PASS."
2. "One time my boss asked me to drive to work when the FREEWAY WAS ON FIRE."
3. "Lived in a town on a no drive order during a blizzard and my boss told me to drive anyhow and he'd pay the fines. No one could even come in, though."
4. "I work in a hospital. There was a blizzard. My boss offered me one of the beds in the hospital to sleep in so I wouldn't have to commute."
5. "My husband's previous boss wanted him in when Hurricane Sandy was starting. My previous job wanted me in after blizzards because they thought that parents would want to drop their kids off for tutoring when there was like two feet of snow."
6. "Boss: 'Well, if you get here and the roads are bad, we do pay for a hotel.'"
7. "Our driveway was full of trees and my mom's boss asked if she was coming. She said 'not unless you have a helicopter.' He and the assistant director showed up with their tractors and spent the entire day cleaning up about 20 trees from our driveway."
8. "My boss told us to keep the office open in a blackout with tornado sirens sounding."
9. "I had a boss that told me to rent a car and drive 16 hours home to make my shift because my flight got canceled due to a hurricane."
10. "I was evacuated from my house 'cause of wildfires. Work [wanted] me to come in while I was living out of my car 'til it was safe to go home."
11. "One of my bosses told me I should ski to work like one of the other employees. He went 'above and beyond' and received some hot chocolate afterwards."
12. "My garage door was frozen shut and my old job was like, 'You have to come in!' I sipped my hot chocolate from my bedroom window all day."
13. "I got hit by a tornado and my boss made me come into work the next day for a meeting."
14. "My boss offered to send a taxi. Our complex was flooded and I couldn't get my car out. I was like, 'How is a TAXI gonna get in if I can't get out?'"
15. "During a massive snowstorm where my coworker got her car stuck in the snow, our supervisor told her to call an Uber."
16. "I worked during hurricane Sandy. They wouldn't let us leave until the lights went off. [I] got stranded because the street lights went out. Had to walk."
17. "My boss told us we had to stay overnight in the call center because we were a 24-hour office and roads were closed."
18. "This happened to me [on] 2/14/07. There was a massive blizzard that brought in 27.5 inches of snow and my boss said to come in or I'm fired. I didn't go in!"
19. "Bro I had a job that went and picked everyone up in their truck because we'd gotten snowed in."
20. "I sent a picture of my parking lot covered in over a foot of snow and someone double parked behind me. Still asked to come in."
21. "I work in healthcare now so it's different, but when I worked at [my old job], we were expected to come in NO MATTER WHAT. I went off the road trying to get there one time in a big snowstorm. If I knew then what I know now, that would've never happened. Not risking my life for a job."
22. "Actually, during the Texas winter snow, my employer asked us to go to the office still. This is REAL."
23. "I'm a teacher. My former district was in a neighboring city on the Texas coast and still held school during HURRICANE IMELDA."
24. "This gave me flashbacks of when my area was dumped on with record snow that shut down public transit and my boss told me to 'plan better.'"
25. "My past employer wanted me to drive to work during a category five hurricane when I was seven months pregnant. Needless to say, I quit."
26. And finally, "I live in Miami and this happens to us all the time. My coworker's car got flooded and she was asked [to] 'wear rain boots and walk the rest of the way.'"
