Man who got laid off pretended to 'work' for months — until a fake LinkedIn post changed his life

After being laid off without warning or severance, a man smartly kept up the appearance of employment for months and ended up landing a better job in the process. The story was shared on Reddit by u/VelvetViiibes, who explained that he received the news during a brief restructuring call in August and immediately went into panic mode. The post, shared on June 28, has since garnered 40,000 upvotes and over 2,500 comments. "I couldn’t tell my family yet. Didn’t want my friends or ex-coworkers to know. So I just… pretended I was still working," he wrote.

Each day, he opened his laptop and acted like he was on the clock. He told people he had meetings, walked around with AirPods in, and even posted updates on LinkedIn about "exciting projects at work." Behind the scenes, he was applying for new jobs nonstop, then one of those posts caught a recruiter’s attention. They reached out to ask if he was open to new opportunities, and he agreed. "I lied through my teeth about the 'current job.' Crushed the interviews. Got an offer — higher salary, better title, remote, actual work-life balance," he wrote. Five months later, he still hasn’t told most people he was ever unemployed. "Honestly? Don’t think I ever will," he added.

He admitted that he used to feel guilty for faking it, but that feeling didn’t last. "The system’s built on BS anyway. I just played along until it worked." His post touched a nerve among readers who said they recognized the pressures that lead people to take similar steps, and that pressure isn’t unusual. In fact, studies have found that this kind of mismatch between what companies say and what they do — known as corporate hypocrisy — can have serious consequences.

Research across multiple firms shows that employees who perceive hypocrisy in their organizations are less committed, perform worse, and are more likely to engage in counterproductive behavior. The study focuses especially on corporate social responsibility, where companies make public claims about their values while quietly cutting staff, reducing benefits, or pushing unrealistic goals. In that context, the man’s decision to keep up the appearance of being employed fits into a broader pattern of people adjusting their image to avoid being penalized.

People on Reddit shared similar stories and supported his decision to stay quiet. u/EnterThePug wrote, "Don’t ever let them know either. If someone has a problem with you, it will 100% be used against you." Another user, u/brownianhacker, said they were in a similar situation. "Most people take a lot of time before changing their LinkedIn. I'm about to be let go, so I will probably do the same."

Others reflected on how often unconventional approaches work out. "My friend applied for a job while he was drunk. One, he wasn’t qualified technically. He got it and still works there," u/Objective-Object4360 said. u/teetoyouu added, "I haven’t done all of this lol but I have definitely pretended I still worked at the job I was laid off from. It’s like they want to steal u so badly." u/xsapphireblue shared a similar story, "I once quit a stressful job but didn’t tell my family & still pretended I had meetings in my room (since it was remote) during the pandemic. I got lucky, though, and was able to find another job 3 weeks after. I did DoorDash on the side, though, until I got my first paycheck to keep earning money."