As job cuts sweep across U.S. businesses, one man decided to enter his layoff call with a brave face—and a pink wig.
Recruiter and actor Isaac Moran recorded his theatrical exit from real estate brokerage Compass in a video that has delighted the internet, amassing nearly 800,000 views.
This comes after Compass announced that it was cutting 10 percent of its staff in June, or about 450 employees. The company also paused mergers, acquisitions and new market expansion for the rest of the year. According to an email obtained by real estate magazine The Real Deal this month, CEO Robert Reffkin was planning another round of layoffs by the end of September.
Moran showed up to the Google Hangouts call with his department head and an HR representative on August 25, he told Newsweek. He entered the video call with a long pink wig on his head and a glass of wine in hand.
"I have some difficult news to share," the department head said. "I know obviously you saw Robert's note earlier this month and Priyanka's note this morning."
As Moran took a delicate sip of wine, the department head suppressed a smile and the HR representative covered her face, appearing to avoid a visible smile.
"Unfortunately based on the actions that the company needs to take with where the market is headed, your role is one that is impacted," the executive went on.
Moran twirled a pink strand of hair before burying his head in his hands and throwing it dramatically side-to-side, long hair swinging. The other professionals finally could not suppress their laughter and cracked broad smiles.
"When you get laid off but you have a BFA," Moran captioned the clip.
"We were let know ahead of time so I knew what the meeting was going in," he told Newsweek. The theater-lover added that he had no "hard feelings" toward the company.
"It's a way for me to cope and just for me to laugh it off," he said. "As an actor, I thought I definitely have a wig lying around, and I poured myself a glass of wine and just tried to make myself laugh."
TikTok viewers clamored to share their appreciation for Moran, with many arguing that the company should have kept him on just for that performance.
"They lost a personality hire for sure. The office culture will suffer," one viewer wrote.
"I'd have to make the executive decision to keep you after this," others agreed.
Compass lost $300 million in the first half of thisyear, hit hard by rising interest rates and slowing home sales nationwide, according to Reffkin's letter.
Economist Peter Schiff predicted in July that the U.S. was headed toward mass layoffs, as a second consecutive quarter of gross domestic product (GDP) decline pushed the country into an unofficially defined recession. Although unemployment is low, Schiff pointed out that most workers have suffered significant pay cuts due to inflation.
"A lot of companies that were kind of holding on to their workers because they had a more optimistic view of the future are going to have a more realistic view, and I think there are going to be layoffs," Schiff told Newsweek.
Peloton announced this month that it was cutting hundreds of jobs, joining other large companies including Redfin, Netflix, Shopify, 7-Eleven and Tesla.
Compass declined to comment on the video.
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