A dramatic outburst at a Denver Marriott, in Colorado, has gone viral after a hotel worker, furious over being fired at the end of her overnight shift, trashed the breakfast area in front of stunned guests and coworkers. The chaotic scene was caught on video and shared by TikTok user @Letaleja, quickly spreading to Reddit.
The video shows the unnamed woman storming through the hotel’s breakfast room, knocking over equipment, throwing food, and screaming at anyone who tried to intervene. Her rage erupted after a manager told her she would not be returning the next day, effectively terminating her after she had completed the graveyard shift.
“She fired my ass!” the worker shouted as people tried in vain to calm her down. In the video, guests can be heard gasping and attempting to de-escalate, but the worker remains livid, wrecking everything within reach before leaving the property. According to the TikTok caption, she returned moments later after realizing she had left her phone behind.
“That’s Cold”
Online reaction to the incident was overwhelmingly sympathetic to the employee. The top-voted Reddit comment put it bluntly: “It’s f**ing cold to fire someone after they worked any shift. Especially the graveyard one.”*
Another user added, “They do that at my job. Let someone work the full shift. Then right before they clock out, ‘Hey bring your stuff and go to HR.’” The post sparked a wave of similar stories from workers who had been blindsided by sudden terminations, often right after wrapping up a long day or night on the clock.
Reddit users recounted everything from post-BBQ mass layoffs to managers smiling through company events while secretly planning to fire attendees the following morning. One comment read, “Being in a celebration, walking out to Bob and Jill and little Mikey and shake their hands and share a laugh… all the while knowing they won’t have a job tomorrow. That’s physically sickening.”
Industry Conditions Under Fire
The hospitality industry, and particularly overnight hotel staff, has long struggled with understaffing and burnout. Multiple commenters pointed out that it is not uncommon for a single employee to handle both the front desk and breakfast prep during the graveyard shift.
“There’s no HR at the beginning of the night shift,” one person explained. “They come in during the morning when your shift is over.” Another wrote, “If you’re going to fire someone, you call in HR off hours or you figure it out. What happened here is just scummy.”
The TikTok that captured the meltdown has drawn millions of views. In the comments, many sympathized with the woman’s emotional breaking point, noting that while the destruction was intense, the anger behind it was not difficult to understand.
“She snapped, but people only snap after enough is piled on,” one user commented. “This isn’t about one conversation. It’s about how people get used up and thrown out like trash.”
This incident in Colorado highlights the poor treatment many hourly workers continue to face across the United States. Whether it is being asked to finish a shift before being let go or having HR weaponized as a disciplinary tool, the bottom line is more humane practices should be a priority.
One commenter summed up the mood: “We’ve been exploited for so long, it’s like half the country has Stockholm syndrome and the other half is ready to burn it all down.”
In a job market that too often views workers as disposable, people are starting to push back, even if it’s with a viral moment of chaos.
