'Sprinting to HR': Woman Accuses Boss of Catfishing Her in Viral TikTok

A woman went viral after accusing her boss of catfishing her in a TikTok video that left millions of viewers concerned, urging the incident to be reported to human resources.

Olivia Fenton, or @oliviafenton4 on TikTok, uploaded the video on January 22 and received more than 3.8 million views and 13,400 comments.

"Catfished by my own boss!" the caption of the TikTok read. "Has this also happened to any of you nyc girlies out there I must know."

The term catfishing, which became popular after a documentary in 2010 and a show later called Catfish in 2012, refers to a person pretending to be someone else through a fake virtual persona.

While the act of catfishing is not illegal, it can sometimes be considered harassment and could possibly create a hostile work environment if the person involved is a coworker or boss.

The Cut noted in an article that if a person is being sexually harassed or harassed that they should immediately contact HR about the situation. The Cut also recommended going to HR if you are unsure of your rights as an employee.

In the now-viral video, Fenton explained that her female manager came into the office one day and said she wanted to set her up with her best guy friend.

Fenton agreed and said the two planned a first date but that the guy stood her up. She said they planned a second date but he was stuck in meetings and couldn't make it.

"You planned a third date, he came to the bar didn't see you and left," Fenton explained. "Then tried to come back to find you and his train got stuck underground."

She said she texted her manager and told her it wasn't going to work between herself and the friend. But Fenton said that on Christmas, she received a text from the guy asking for one last chance and she agreed.

"Then you planned a redemption dinner which he never arrived to because he got in a car accident," she explained. "Then did you also start putting the pieces together like maybe it was your manager the whole time?"

Fenton claimed she later found out her manager had a burner phone and was using photos of a random person from Georgia. She said her manager also sent flowers and a handwritten note to her house pretending they were from the guy.

She said after looking over the handwriting on the note she realized it was the same as her manager's handwriting.

Many commenters on Fenton's video expressed their concern about the manager's actions and advised her to go to tell HR about the incident.

"Sprinting to HR," one comment that received more than 58,000 likes read.

"I'm not sure how...but this feels like an OSHA violation..." another user wrote.

"So does she love you or hate you," one comment asked. "I'm so confused why anyone would do this."

In a follow-up video that received more than 735,000 views, Fenton said she went to HR and her manager was fired. She said she also discovered the manager catfished a woman at her previous job.

"What were her motives you ask?" Fenton said in the video. "A lot of you guessed correctly. It's speculated she is deeply in the closet and is coming to terms with her sexuality."

Fenton said the manager possibly had a crush on her and took it all too far.

Newsweek reached out to Olivia Fenton for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.