Lawyer Trolls Her Boss With Unhinged Email Sign-Offs To Prove That He's Not Paying Attention To What She's Sending
Brb, changing my email signature to "live, laugh, toaster bath"
TikTok Have you ever had one of those bosses who just sort of seems to have no idea what's going on? Sure, they're in charge of the entire office but when it comes to the day-to-day details they seem to be totally on another planet... and you kind of wonder how they're keeping it all together?
Well, one lawyer on TikTok's boss has to be first prize in the oblivious bosses competition, there's just no possible way anyone could beat him. Luckily, he seems to have a sense of humor, because she's been calling him out on it in the most hilarious way.
A woman on TikTok has been trolling her boss for ages and he hasn't noticed.
TikToker @bodybytacobell has been posting her various trolls of her boss on the platform, where they have instantly gone viral because they are hilariously off-the-wall. They also tap into a frustration nearly all of us in office jobs share—the incessant deluge of emails flooding our inboxes at rates we will never fully be able to keep up with.
The TikToker's prank combines these two workplace nightmares into one deeply bonkers troll. Even more hilarious—despite the incessant pranks, her boss has stayed utterly oblivious.
The woman signs every email to her oblivious boss with a closing that is absolutely unhinged.
And not just unhinged it's completely unprofessional. She's been documenting the sign-offs in various TikToks, and they're leaving people in hysterics.
Each time Kayla, a lawyer, emails her boss, rather than the standard boilerplate closings we all use like, "regards" or "all the best," etc., she includes something totally wild—and they often give a glimpse into the ways our jobs sort of break our brains, even when we love what we do.
In Kayla's boss's defense, some of the sign-offs are easy to miss, like "Not a single regard, Kayla." If you're quickly scanning an email, you'd probably see "regard," your brain would fill in the rest and you'd just assume it says "regards," right? And the shorter ones like "Don't even, Kayla" and "Violently hungover, Kayla" are succinct enough that your eye might not even bother looking.
So okay sure, those ones slipped past him. But how on earth did "Is buttcheeks one word or are they spread apart? Kayla" get by him?! That's a man who's simply not paying attention! And the more Kayla got away with it—and the more people on TikTok kept begging for more, the more unhinged her sign-offs have become.
The TikToker kept escalating her trolling of her boss the more he failed to notice.
Now you may be thinking that the boss probably *has* noticed and just isn't saying something, possibly while he lies in wait for HR to give Kayla the boot. But it turns out this is just another of those garden variety oblivious bosses being an oblivious boss.
When a commenter suggested her boss has to be seeing these email sign-offs, Kayla assured her, "Girl he’s just as petty as I am, trust me, when he notices we will know!" So her prank has progressed and progressed and progressed.
And as they've progressed, they've begun to take on the contours of existential dread work often fills us with. "On the edge, Kayla," reads one. "From the trenches, Kayla," reads another. And from there, they get downright dark—"With minimal serotonin, Kayla" and "Live, laugh, toaster bath" have become fan favorites among her fellow TikTokers.
The prank has even progressed past email sign-offs. In a next-level attempt to get her boss to, you know, notice literally anything going on around him, Kayla purchased and had framed a sign printed with the definition of Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B's hit song "W.A.P.," which she intends to surreptitiously place in his office to see how long it takes him to notice. Seems likely she'll be waiting... well, forever, maybe?
People on TikTok love the prank and identify with what it reveals about how some oblivious bosses have no idea what's going on.
Some people had tales of doing similar tests on their own oblivious bosses—and them failing hard just like Kayla's. "I used to include Rick rolls in links," one guy wrote, going on to say that he did a system check to see if his boss had ever clicked on any of the links. Surprise! "He didn't."
And others were champing at the bit to pull a similar prank. "Patiently waiting for a reason to send my boss an email so that I can do this," one woman wrote. Even a doctor wanted to get in on the game. "I am a medical provider," they wrote. "I will be utilizing these in emails to colleagues. Thanks."
Now lest you think this whole thing is some form of revenge, Kayla has been clear that this whole thing is just for fun and that she and her boss have a great relationship. After one commenter suggested her boss has to be an awful guy to be so out of it, she responded, "Hey, he's cooler than me!" Still, while he may be cool, he's definitely not observant—which probably makes one of her crazier sign-offs, "Trust yourself cuz I don't, Kayla," a good instinct!
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.