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Why did my joke at work get me fired · Martin Animations

0:00
Speaker 1: Why did my joke at work get me fired? I
0:02
Speaker 1: made a joke during our Monday morning team meeting and
0:04
Speaker 1: my co-worker Vanessa screamed. Not a little gasp or nervous laugh,
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Speaker 1: but an actual horror movie scream that echoed through the
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Speaker 1: entire fifth floor. She knocked over her coffee and ran
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Speaker 1: out of the conference room so fast she left her
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Speaker 1: phone and laptop behind. Everyone else just stared at me
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Speaker 1: with their mouths open and my manager Keith stood up
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Speaker 1: slowly with this look on his face like I'd just
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Speaker 1: confessed to murder. He told me to stay exactly where
0:24
Speaker 1: I was and not move or speak to anyone while
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Speaker 1: he made a phone call. The other twelve people in
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Speaker 1: the meeting gathered their things in complete silence and filed
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Speaker 1: out without making eye contact with me. I sat there
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Speaker 1: alone in that conference room for twenty minutes, watching the
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Speaker 1: coffee from Vanessa's mug drip onto the carpet, trying to
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Speaker 1: figure out what had just happened. The joke wasn't even
0:42
Speaker 1: that edgy, just something casual I'd said while we were
0:45
Speaker 1: discussing our quarterly sales targets. Everyone had been stressed about
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Speaker 1: the numbers, so I'd tried to lighten the mood with
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Speaker 1: a common phrase I'd heard a thousand times before. Keith
0:52
Speaker 1: came back with two people I'd never seen before, both
0:55
Speaker 1: wearing dark suits and looking extremely serious. They introduced themselves
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Speaker 1: as building security and asked me to follow them to
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Speaker 1: an office on the second floor. The walk through the
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Speaker 1: building was humiliating because word had already spread and people
1:05
Speaker 1: were literally backing away from me in the hallways. Some
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Speaker 1: were crying, others were on their phones, and I heard
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Speaker 1: someone whisper, I can't believe he actually said that, as
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Speaker 1: I passed. When we got to the office, Keith told
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Speaker 1: me to sit down and wait while he consulted with HR.
1:18
Speaker 1: I pulled out my phone to text my girlfriend about
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Speaker 1: what was happening, but I had no service. The office
1:23
Speaker 1: was clearly designed to block signals, which made my heart
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Speaker 1: start racing because why would they need a signal blocking
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Speaker 1: room for a normal HR issue? After another 30 minutes,
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Speaker 1: Keith returned with our HR director Monica and a woman
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Speaker 1: in a pantsuit who introduced herself as corporate legal counsel.
1:36
Speaker 1: They sat across from me at the table, and Monica
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Speaker 1: pulled out a folder that already had my name on it.
1:40
Speaker 1: Monica asked me to repeat exactly what I'd said in
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Speaker 1: the meeting, word for word, and I did. The three
1:45
Speaker 1: of them exchanged looks, and the lawyer started writing furiously
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Speaker 1: in her notepad. Keith asked if I understood what I'd
1:50
Speaker 1: just said, and I told him honestly that I was
1:53
Speaker 1: completely confused about why everyone was reacting this way. It
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Speaker 1: was just a phrase, something people say all the time
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Speaker 1: when talking about taking action or making a decision. Monica's
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Speaker 1: voice got very quiet and careful as she asked if
2:04
Speaker 1: I'd been present at work during the incident three years ago.
2:06
Speaker 1: I had no idea what incident she was talking about
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Speaker 1: because I'd only been at this company for 18 months.
2:11
Speaker 1: Keith's face got even paler, and he asked Monica if
2:13
Speaker 1: that was possible, that I might actually not know. The
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Speaker 1: lawyer said it didn't matter whether I knew or not,
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Speaker 1: the company still had to follow protocol. Monica turned back
2:20
Speaker 1: to me, and asked where I'd worked before joining this company.
2:23
Speaker 1: I told her I'd been at a startup in Austin
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Speaker 1: that went bankrupt, then unemployed for four months before getting
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Speaker 1: hired here. She wrote all of this down and asked
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Speaker 1: if anyone had told me about the company's history, or
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Speaker 1: required me to complete any specific training when I was hired.
2:35
Speaker 1: I remembered doing the standard HR orientation and signing a
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Speaker 1: bunch of forms, but nothing stood out as unusual. Keith
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Speaker 1: muttered something about how the onboarding process had changed after
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Speaker 1: the incident, and maybe people hired after that weren't given
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Speaker 1: the same briefing. The lawyer interrupted and said none of
2:48
Speaker 1: this changed what needed to happen next. She explained that
2:51
Speaker 1: due to the severity of the situation and company policy,
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Speaker 1: my employment was being terminated effective immediately. I started to
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Speaker 1: argue that this was insane, that I hadn't done anything wrong,
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Speaker 1: and that they couldn't fire me for saying a common phrase.
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Speaker 1: Monica held up her hand and said I would understand
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Speaker 1: soon enough, but right now, I needed to collect my
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Speaker 1: belongings and leave the premises. When I asked if I
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Speaker 1: could at least know what I supposedly did wrong, the
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Speaker 1: lawyer said she couldn't discuss it while the situation was
3:15
Speaker 1: still developing. The vague answer made everything worse because now
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Speaker 1: I was being fired for something nobody would explain. Security
3:21
Speaker 1: escorted me to my desk, where a cardboard box was
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Speaker 1: already waiting. My co-workers had all been moved to a
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Speaker 1: different section of the floor, leaving my area completely empty.
3:29
Speaker 1: I packed up my laptop, coffee mug, and the few
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Speaker 1: personal items I kept at my desk while security watched
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Speaker 1: my every move. They wouldn't even let me log into
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Speaker 1: my computer to save personal files, saying IT had already
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Speaker 1: locked my accounts. The elevator ride down was silent, except
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Speaker 1: for the security guard's radio occasionally crackling with chatter. When
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Speaker 1: we got to the lobby, he walked me all the
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Speaker 1: way to my car and waited until I drove off
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Speaker 1: the property. I sat in a parking lot three blocks
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Speaker 1: away and tried to call my girlfriend Autumn, but it
3:55
Speaker 1: went straight to voicemail. I tried calling my best friend Lucas,
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Speaker 1: same thing. I texted my brother asking if he was
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Speaker 1: free to talk and the message showed delivered but no response.
4:03
Speaker 1: My phone buzzed with a notification from LinkedIn showing seven
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Speaker 1: connection requests had been withdrawn. I checked my profile and
4:09
Speaker 1: saw that three former co-workers had already removed their recommendations
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Speaker 1: of me. Whatever was happening was spreading fast through my
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Speaker 1: professional network. I drove home in a daze and found
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Speaker 1: Autumn's car wasn't in our driveway, even though she should
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Speaker 1: have been working from home that day. Inside our apartment,
4:22
Speaker 1: I noticed some of her things were missing from the bedroom.
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Speaker 1: Her laptop was gone from the desk, her favorite jacket
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Speaker 1: wasn't on the hook by the door, and the toothbrush
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Speaker 1: she kept by the sink had been removed. I called
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Speaker 1: her again, and this time she picked up. Her voice
4:34
Speaker 1: was cold when she asked what I wanted. I tried
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Speaker 1: to explain that I'd been fired over some misunderstanding about
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Speaker 1: something I'd said at work, but she cut me off.
4:41
Speaker 1: She said she'd already heard from three different people about
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Speaker 1: what I'd done, and she couldn't believe I would say
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Speaker 1: something so horrible. When I asked her to please tell
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Speaker 1: me what everyone thought I'd done, she started crying and
4:51
Speaker 1: said she couldn't talk to me right now. She needed
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Speaker 1: space to figure out if she could even be with
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Speaker 1: someone capable of that kind of cruelty. The line went
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Speaker 1: dead before I could respond. I tried calling back five times,
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Speaker 1: but she'd blocked my number. My hands were shaking as
5:02
Speaker 1: I opened Twitter to see if anyone had posted about
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Speaker 1: what happened at my company. Nothing came up in the
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Speaker 1: search results, but that almost made it worse because it
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Speaker 1: meant this was still contained within my immediate circle. My
5:12
Speaker 1: phone rang from an unknown number, and when I answered,
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Speaker 1: A man's voice asked if this was me and confirmed
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Speaker 1: my full name and address. He identified himself as Special
5:20
Speaker 1: Agent Faulkner with the FBI and said he needed to
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Speaker 1: ask me some questions about an incident at my workplace today.
5:25
Speaker 1: My stomach dropped and I asked why the FBI was
5:27
Speaker 1: involved in an HR issue. He said he couldn't discuss
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Speaker 1: details over the phone but I needed to come to
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Speaker 1: their field office downtown within the next two hours. I
5:34
Speaker 1: asked if I needed a lawyer and he said that
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Speaker 1: was my right but I wasn't under arrest or being
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Speaker 1: charged with anything at this time. This was just an
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Speaker 1: informational interview that was standard protocol for situations like mine.
5:45
Speaker 1: The phrase, situations like mine, echoed in my head because
5:49
Speaker 1: I still didn't understand what situation I was in. I
5:51
Speaker 1: told him I would be there, and he gave me
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Speaker 1: the address and instructions for security screening at the building entrance.
5:56
Speaker 1: After we hung up, I sat on my couch and
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Speaker 1: tried to piece together what could possibly connect a workplace
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Speaker 1: joke to an FBI investigation. Nothing made sense, and the
6:04
Speaker 1: not knowing was worse than any punishment. I called my mom,
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Speaker 1: and she answered sounding upset. Before I could say anything,
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Speaker 1: she asked how she was supposed to face her friends
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Speaker 1: at church, knowing what her son had done. I tried
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Speaker 1: to explain I hadn't done anything wrong, that I'd made
6:15
Speaker 1: a simple comment at work, and everyone was overreacting. My
6:18
Speaker 1: mom's voice got sharp, and she said Lucas had already
6:21
Speaker 1: called her explaining the whole situation. She wanted to know
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Speaker 1: how I could be so callous, and whether she'd raised
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Speaker 1: me to have such disregard for other people's suffering. I
6:29
Speaker 1: begged her to tell me what Lucas had said, because
6:31
Speaker 1: nobody would explain what was happening. She went silent for
6:33
Speaker 1: a long moment before asking if I was seriously claiming
6:36
Speaker 1: ignorance about the Riverside incident. The name meant nothing to me,
6:39
Speaker 1: and I told her I'd never heard of it. She
6:41
Speaker 1: made a sound of disbelief and said every person in
6:43
Speaker 1: our state knew about Riverside. It had been national news
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Speaker 1: for weeks. My confusion must have sounded genuine because her
6:48
Speaker 1: tone shifted slightly from anger to concern. She asked when
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Speaker 1: I'd moved back to this state from Texas, and I
6:54
Speaker 1: told her it had been 18 months ago. She calculated
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Speaker 1: something and then said very carefully that the Riverside incident
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Speaker 1: had happened two months before I'd moved back. My mom
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Speaker 1: explained in halting sentences that that there had been a
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Speaker 1: workplace shooting at a tech company called Riverside Solutions about
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Speaker 1: three years ago. Seven people had been killed by a
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Speaker 1: former employee who'd been fired for poor performance. The shooter
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Speaker 1: had left behind emails and social media posts that were
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Speaker 1: analyzed by the FBI, and apparently they'd identified certain phrases
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Speaker 1: and language patterns as warning signs. She said companies were
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Speaker 1: required to report anyone using those specific phrases to federal
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Speaker 1: authorities as a precaution. My chest got tight as I
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Speaker 1: realized my workplace joke must have somehow matched one of
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Speaker 1: those flagged phrases. I asked my mom what the phrase was,
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Speaker 1: and she said she couldn't remember the exact wording, but
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Speaker 1: it was something casual that the shooter had used repeatedly
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Speaker 1: before the attack. She said the FBI had published a
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Speaker 1: whole guide for HR departments about recognizing warning signs in
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Speaker 1: employee communication. I thanked her and said I had to
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Speaker 1: go because I needed to get to the FBI office.
7:50
Speaker 1: She told me she loved me, but needed time to
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Speaker 1: process everything, and we'd talk later after she knew more
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Speaker 1: about what was going on. I drove downtown to the
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Speaker 1: federal building and went through three different security checkpoints before
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Speaker 1: being directed to the fourth floor. Special Agent Faulkner met
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Speaker 1: me in the lobby and led me to a small
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Speaker 1: interview room with a table and four chairs. He was
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Speaker 1: joined by another agent who introduced herself as Special Agent Patel.
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Speaker 1: They both had folders with my name on them, which
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Speaker 1: meant they'd been building a file on me. Faulkner started
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Speaker 1: by explaining that I wasn't in trouble, but they needed
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Speaker 1: to understand the context of what I'd said at work
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Speaker 1: that morning. He asked me to repeat the exact words
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Speaker 1: I'd used and I did, still confused about what was
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Speaker 1: wrong with the phrase. Patel pulled out a document and
8:28
Speaker 1: slid it across the table to me. It was titled,
8:30
Speaker 1: Red flag communication patterns, Riverside Solutions case study, and was
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Speaker 1: marked as internal FBI guidance for corporate security. She pointed
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Speaker 1: to a highlighted section that listed several phrases that should
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Speaker 1: trigger immediate reporting to authorities. Right there on the list
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Speaker 1: was the exact phrase I'd said in the meeting. My
8:45
Speaker 1: hands started shaking as I read the document explaining that
8:48
Speaker 1: this specific phrase had been used by the Riverside shooter
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Speaker 1: in 14 separate communications before the attack. The FBI had
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Speaker 1: determined it was his way of signaling intent without being obvious.
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Speaker 1: and they'd asked all major employers in the region to
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Speaker 1: flag any use of this phrase immediately. Faulkner said my
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Speaker 1: company had done exactly what they were supposed to do
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Speaker 1: by reporting me within 30 minutes of the incident. I
9:07
Speaker 1: tried to explain that I'd had no idea about any
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Speaker 1: of this, that I'd been living in Texas when the
9:11
Speaker 1: shooting happened, and had never heard of Riverside Solutions. Patel
9:14
Speaker 1: asked me to provide proof of where I'd been living
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Speaker 1: three years ago, so I pulled up old lease documents
9:19
Speaker 1: and utility bills on my phone showing my Austin address.
9:22
Speaker 1: She photographed them with her phone and said they'd verify
9:24
Speaker 1: the information. Faulkner asked why I'd used that specific phrase,
9:28
Speaker 1: and I said it was just something people say, a
9:30
Speaker 1: common expression about taking action or making a decision. He
9:32
Speaker 1: nodded and said that was exactly why the shooter had
9:35
Speaker 1: used it, because it sounded innocent to anyone who didn't
9:37
Speaker 1: know the context. The agents asked me questions for another
9:40
Speaker 1: hour about my employment history, political views, social media activity,
9:44
Speaker 1: and whether I had any connection to the shooter or
9:46
Speaker 1: anyone at Riverside Solutions. I answered everything honestly and showed
9:50
Speaker 1: them my social media accounts to prove I had no
9:52
Speaker 1: extremist content or concerning posts. Patel finally closed her folder
9:56
Speaker 1: and said they believed I'd genuinely been unaware of the
9:59
Speaker 1: phrase's significance. However, she explained that my former employer was
10:02
Speaker 1: still within their rights to terminate me because having an
10:05
Speaker 1: employee use that phrase, even innocently, created an unsafe environment
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Speaker 1: for the survivors and families affected by Riverside. Faulkner added
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Speaker 1: that my name would be added to a watch list
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Speaker 1: as a precaution, which meant I'd face extra screening at airports,
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Speaker 1: and my background checks would be flagged for the next
10:19
Speaker 1: five years. I asked if there was any way to
10:21
Speaker 1: avoid being on a watch list when I hadn't actually
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Speaker 1: done anything wrong. Patel said the system wasn't designed for nuance,
10:27
Speaker 1: and once someone was reported for using a red flag phrase,
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Speaker 1: the protocol was automatic, regardless of intent. I left the
10:33
Speaker 1: FBI building feeling like my life had been destroyed by
10:36
Speaker 1: something completely beyond my control. The phrase I'd used was
10:39
Speaker 1: so common that thousands of people probably said it every
10:42
Speaker 1: day without knowing its dark history. But because I'd said
10:44
Speaker 1: it in a workplace connected to the Riverside incident's aftermath,
10:47
Speaker 1: I'd triggered an entire security protocol. I drove to Lucas's
10:50
Speaker 1: apartment and banged on his door until he opened it.
10:52
Speaker 1: His face was wary when he saw me, and he
10:55
Speaker 1: asked what I wanted. I demanded to know what he'd
10:57
Speaker 1: told my mom and why everyone was treating me like
10:58
Speaker 1: a criminal. Lucas let me in reluctantly and explained that
11:01
Speaker 1: one of his friends worked at my company and had
11:03
Speaker 1: texted him immediately after the meeting. The friend said I'd
11:06
Speaker 1: quoted the Riverside shooter, and everyone was terrified I might
11:09
Speaker 1: be planning something similar. Lucas had panicked and called our
11:11
Speaker 1: mom to warn her in case I showed up at
11:13
Speaker 1: her house acting unstable. I told him about the FBI interview,
11:16
Speaker 1: and how I'd proven I didn't even know about the shooting.
11:19
Speaker 1: His expression softened slightly, and he admitted he'd been scared
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Speaker 1: when he first heard, but was starting to believe I'd
11:24
Speaker 1: made an innocent mistake. Lucas showed me his phone where
11:27
Speaker 1: our family group chat had been discussing me for hours.
11:29
Speaker 1: My dad had suggested maybe I needed psychiatric evaluation because
11:33
Speaker 1: making that kind of joke showed poor judgment, even if
11:35
Speaker 1: I didn't know the history. My aunt said I should
11:37
Speaker 1: issue a public apology to anyone affected by Riverside. My
11:40
Speaker 1: younger sister had defended me saying I wouldn't hurt anyone
11:43
Speaker 1: on purpose. Reading through the messages, made me realize how
11:46
Speaker 1: quickly my own family had been willing to assume the
11:48
Speaker 1: worst about me. Lucas said that's what happened when something
11:50
Speaker 1: touched on collective trauma. People reacted emotionally rather than rationally.
11:54
Speaker 1: He promised to tell the family about my FBI interview
11:57
Speaker 1: and hopefully that would help them understand I was just ignorant,
11:59
Speaker 1: not malicious. I asked him what I was supposed to
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Speaker 1: do now that I was unemployed with a ruined reputation
12:04
Speaker 1: and on an FBI watch list. He suggested I might
12:06
Speaker 1: need to move to a different state where the Riverside
12:08
Speaker 1: incident wasn't as well known and start over somewhere fresh.
12:11
Speaker 1: The idea of fleeing my home state because of one
12:14
Speaker 1: sentence I'd said felt absurd, but also like the only
12:17
Speaker 1: realistic option. That night, I tried to research the Riverside
12:20
Speaker 1: shooting to understand what I'd walked into. The articles were
12:23
Speaker 1: horrifying to read because the shooter had killed people I
12:25
Speaker 1: would have recognized if I'd been living here at the time.
12:28
Speaker 1: The company was only 15 miles from my current apartment,
12:30
Speaker 1: and several victims had been community leaders whose names appeared
12:33
Speaker 1: on buildings and scholarships. The shooter's manifesto had been published
12:36
Speaker 1: by police as a warning, and I found it online.
12:39
Speaker 1: Reading through his writing, I saw the phrase I'd used
12:41
Speaker 1: appeared over and over in different contexts. He'd used it
12:44
Speaker 1: to talk about his plan, to encourage himself, to signal
12:46
Speaker 1: to online followers who were later investigated. The FBI had
12:49
Speaker 1: been right that it was his signature phrase, and seeing
12:52
Speaker 1: it repeated dozens of times in such a dark context
12:55
Speaker 1: made me feel sick. I understood now why Vanessa had
12:57
Speaker 1: screamed when I said it. She'd probably lost someone in
13:00
Speaker 1: the shooting or knew survivors personally. Everyone at my company
13:03
Speaker 1: had lived through the aftermath of that trauma, and then
13:05
Speaker 1: heard me casually use the shooter's catchphrase like it meant nothing.
13:08
Speaker 1: I spent the next three days in my apartment barely
13:10
Speaker 1: eating while my phone blew up with messages from people
13:12
Speaker 1: I barely knew. Former college classmates reached out asking if
13:15
Speaker 1: I was okay or if the rumors about me were true.
13:18
Speaker 1: My landlord called saying other tenants had complained about having
13:21
Speaker 1: someone on an FBI watch list in the building. My
13:23
Speaker 1: car insurance sent a notice about elevated premiums due to
13:25
Speaker 1: a change in my risk profile, which I later learned
13:28
Speaker 1: was because being on a federal watch list affected insurance algorithms.
13:32
Speaker 1: Autumn finally answered one of my calls and agreed to
13:34
Speaker 1: meet me at a coffee shop to talk. She looked
13:36
Speaker 1: exhausted when she arrived and said she hadn't been sleeping
13:39
Speaker 1: since leaving. I apologized for everything and showed her the
13:42
Speaker 1: FBI documents on my phone proving I hadn't known about
13:44
Speaker 1: the phrases' meaning. She read through them carefully and her
13:47
Speaker 1: shoulders relaxed slightly. She admitted she'd wanted to believe I
13:50
Speaker 1: was innocent, but everyone had been so certain I'd done
13:52
Speaker 1: it deliberately that she'd started doubting herself. Autumn said she
13:55
Speaker 1: needed more time to think about our relationship, but at
13:57
Speaker 1: least now she knew I wasn't dangerous. A week after
14:00
Speaker 1: being fired, I got a call from a journalist who'd
14:02
Speaker 1: heard about my case and and wanted to write an
14:04
Speaker 1: article about the dangers of zero-tolerance policies and context-blind enforcement.
14:09
Speaker 1: I initially declined, but he kept pushing, saying my story
14:12
Speaker 1: illustrated important problems with how we handle security threats versus
14:16
Speaker 1: innocent mistakes. I finally agreed to speak with him on
14:18
Speaker 1: the condition that he verified every fact before publication. The
14:22
Speaker 1: resulting article was published in a major newspaper with the headline,
14:25
Speaker 1: When Common Phrases Become Career Killers, The Hidden Cost of
14:28
Speaker 1: Security Culture. It detailed my situation, while also explaining the
14:31
Speaker 1: Riverside shooting's impact on regional employers. The article generated thousands
14:35
Speaker 1: of comments arguing both sides, with some people saying I
14:38
Speaker 1: should have educated myself about local history before making jokes
14:40
Speaker 1: at work, while others argued that expecting employees to memorize
14:44
Speaker 1: lists of forbidden phrases was unreasonable. Several employment lawyers commented
14:48
Speaker 1: that my termination was likely legal, but ethically questionable, given
14:52
Speaker 1: my documented ignorance. The article's publication had unexpected consequences, as
14:56
Speaker 1: three other people contacted the journalist with similar stories. A
14:59
Speaker 1: teacher had been suspended for using a phrase that connected
15:01
Speaker 1: to a school shooting she'd never heard of because she'd
15:03
Speaker 1: just moved from another state. A retail worker had been
15:06
Speaker 1: fired for a comment that matched something a serial killer
15:08
Speaker 1: had said, though she'd been quoting a TV show. A
15:11
Speaker 1: government contractor lost his security clearance for using a phrase
15:14
Speaker 1: flagged in a terrorism case, even though he'd learned the
15:16
Speaker 1: phrase from his grandfather years before it became associated with extremism.
15:20
Speaker 1: The journalist wrote a follow-up piece about how the expanding
15:22
Speaker 1: list of forbidden phrases was creating a minefield for workers
15:26
Speaker 1: who couldn't possibly keep track of every phrase that had
15:28
Speaker 1: been co-opted by violent actors. Some security experts defended the
15:32
Speaker 1: policies as necessary precautions, while civil liberties groups argued they
15:35
Speaker 1: were ineffective and destroyed innocent lives. I became an accidental
15:39
Speaker 1: spokesman for a debate I'd never wanted to be part of.
15:41
Speaker 1: Three months after losing my job, I'd applied to 72
15:44
Speaker 1: positions and received 72 rejections. Every background check flagged my
15:48
Speaker 1: FBI watchlist status, and every reference check revealed I'd been
15:51
Speaker 1: fired for using threatening language. No amount of explanation seemed
15:54
Speaker 1: to matter once HR departments saw those red flags in
15:57
Speaker 1: my record. I consulted with an employment attorney who said
15:59
Speaker 1: I could potentially sue my former employer for wrongful termination
16:03
Speaker 1: if I could prove they'd failed to properly onboard me
16:05
Speaker 1: regarding the company's security protocols. We reviewed my hiring paperwork
16:09
Speaker 1: and found that the mandatory training module about prohibited phrases
16:12
Speaker 1: had been added to the onboarding process six months after
16:15
Speaker 1: I'd been hired. Nobody had ever informed existing employees about
16:18
Speaker 1: the new requirement. The attorney said this might be grounds
16:20
Speaker 1: for a lawsuit, but warned that suing my former employer
16:23
Speaker 1: would make me even less employable and could take years
16:26
Speaker 1: to resolve. I decided to hold off on legal action
16:29
Speaker 1: while I figured out my next move. My brother got
16:31
Speaker 1: me a job interview with his company in Denver, which
16:33
Speaker 1: meant moving to a state where the Riverside shooting wasn't
16:35
Speaker 1: part of the local consciousness. The interview went well until
16:38
Speaker 1: they ran my background check and saw the FBI watch
16:41
Speaker 1: list notation. The hiring manager called me in for a
16:43
Speaker 1: second conversation where he asked me directly if I was
16:45
Speaker 1: a security risk. I explained the entire situation, and showed
16:48
Speaker 1: him the newspaper articles about my case. He said he
16:51
Speaker 1: believed me and wanted to hire me, but his corporate
16:53
Speaker 1: office had a blanket policy against employing anyone on federal
16:56
Speaker 1: watch lists regardless of circumstances. He apologized and said he'd
17:00
Speaker 1: try to get an exception approved, but couldn't make any promises.
17:03
Speaker 1: Two weeks later, he called to say corporate had denied
17:05
Speaker 1: the exception. My brother felt terrible and offered to let
17:08
Speaker 1: me stay with him while I kept looking, but I
17:10
Speaker 1: could see the strain my situation was putting on his family.
17:12
Speaker 1: His wife was uncomfortable having me around their kids, because
17:15
Speaker 1: she didn't fully understand the circumstances and worried about what
17:18
Speaker 1: her neighbors might think. Six months after the incident, I'd
17:21
Speaker 1: burned through my savings and was working nights stocking shelves
17:24
Speaker 1: at a warehouse that didn't run background checks. The work
17:27
Speaker 1: was mindless and exhausting, but at least it was income.
17:30
Speaker 1: My co-workers knew nothing about my past, and I intended
17:33
Speaker 1: to keep it that way. Autumn and I had tried
17:35
Speaker 1: to make things work, but the stress of everything had
17:37
Speaker 1: broken us, and we'd officially split up two months ago.
17:40
Speaker 1: She'd moved back in with her parents and started dating
17:42
Speaker 1: someone new, which I'd learned from social media before blocking
17:45
Speaker 1: her accounts to save myself the pain of seeing her
17:47
Speaker 1: move on. My mom called once a week to check
17:49
Speaker 1: on me, but our conversations were strained because she still
17:52
Speaker 1: didn't fully understand why I couldn't just apologize and move on.
17:55
Speaker 1: The concept that I'd already apologized but nobody cared seemed
17:59
Speaker 1: beyond her comprehension. My dad had stopped calling entirely after
18:02
Speaker 1: I'd snapped at him during an argument about personal responsibility.
18:05
Speaker 1: Only Lucas remained fully supportive, regularly reminding me that I'd
18:08
Speaker 1: done nothing wrong, and eventually, the dust would settle. Eight
18:11
Speaker 1: months later, There was a development that changed everything. The
18:14
Speaker 1: FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit published a new study examining the
18:17
Speaker 1: effectiveness of their phrase monitoring program. The data showed that
18:20
Speaker 1: of the 847 people who'd been reported for using flagged
18:23
Speaker 1: phrases over the past three years, only two had actually
18:26
Speaker 1: posed legitimate threats. The other 845 cases had been false
18:30
Speaker 1: positives like mine, where innocent people used common phrases without
18:33
Speaker 1: knowing their dark history. The study concluded that the program
18:36
Speaker 1: was creating enormous collateral damage for minimal security benefits. Several
18:40
Speaker 1: civil liberties organizations seized on the report and filed a
18:43
Speaker 1: class action lawsuit against the FBI demanding the watchlist program
18:46
Speaker 1: be dismantled. I was contacted by the lawyers handling the
18:49
Speaker 1: case and asked to be a named plaintiff representing the
18:51
Speaker 1: falsely accused. I agreed immediately because I had nothing left
18:54
Speaker 1: to lose and maybe something to gain if the lawsuit succeeded.
18:58
Speaker 1: The lawsuit attracted national media attention and suddenly I was
19:01
Speaker 1: doing interviews explaining my situation to a broader audience. Some
19:04
Speaker 1: people remained convinced I must have known what I was
19:06
Speaker 1: saying and was playing innocent but many others expressed outrage
19:09
Speaker 1: that our security apparatus had become so indiscriminate. My former
19:12
Speaker 1: company issued a statement defending their decision to fire me
19:15
Speaker 1: and saying they would do it again under the same circumstances.
19:18
Speaker 1: But the publicity also brought job opportunities from companies that
19:21
Speaker 1: believed in second chances or wanted to make a point
19:24
Speaker 1: about not letting fear dictate hiring decisions. I received three
19:27
Speaker 1: job offers, all from smaller companies that didn't have corporate
19:30
Speaker 1: policies against watchlist employees. I accepted a position at a
19:33
Speaker 1: tech startup in Portland and that specifically recruited people who'd
19:36
Speaker 1: been wrongly caught up in overzealous security measures. My new
19:39
Speaker 1: boss had been fired from a previous job for accidentally
19:41
Speaker 1: triggering a similar protocol and understood exactly what I'd been through.
19:45
Speaker 1: A year and a half after making that joke in
19:47
Speaker 1: the conference room, my life had finally stabilized into something
19:50
Speaker 1: resembling normalcy. The class action lawsuit was still grinding through
19:53
Speaker 1: the courts, but the publicity had resulted in the FBI
19:56
Speaker 1: quietly reforming their watchlist criteria. I remained on the list,
19:59
Speaker 1: but new guidance had been issued to employers explaining that
20:02
Speaker 1: watchlist status should be evaluated in context rather than triggering
20:05
Speaker 1: automatic disqualification. My new job was going well, and I'd
20:09
Speaker 1: been promoted to team lead after proving myself over several months.
20:11
Speaker 1: I'd started dating someone new who knew my whole story
20:14
Speaker 1: before our first date and hadn't been scared off by it.
20:17
Speaker 1: The financial damage from my months of unemployment would take
20:19
Speaker 1: years to fully recover from, but at least I was
20:21
Speaker 1: moving forward rather than drowning. I'd learned to be extremely
20:24
Speaker 1: careful about workplace communication and made a habit of researching
20:27
Speaker 1: local history before making jokes anywhere new. The paranoia about
20:31
Speaker 1: accidentally triggering another security response never fully went away. Looking
20:35
Speaker 1: back on everything- The hardest part was accepting that I'd
20:38
Speaker 1: been punished so severely for genuine ignorance. I understood why
20:41
Speaker 1: the systems existed and why people were traumatized by the
20:43
Speaker 1: Riverside shooting. But the total lack of proportionality or willingness
20:47
Speaker 1: to consider context felt fundamentally unjust. A simple conversation when
20:51
Speaker 1: I was hired explaining the company's connection to Riverside and
20:54
Speaker 1: asking me to avoid certain phrases would have prevented everything. Instead,
20:57
Speaker 1: I'd been fired, investigated, watchlisted, and nearly destroyed financially because
21:02
Speaker 1: nobody had bothered to consider that a new employee from
21:04
Speaker 1: out of state might not know about a regional tragedy.
21:07
Speaker 1: The experience had taught me that intent matters far less
21:10
Speaker 1: than impact in our current cultural moment, and that sometimes
21:13
Speaker 1: there's no amount of explanation that will save you once
21:15
Speaker 1: you've accidentally crossed an invisible line. Two years later, I
21:18
Speaker 1: still think about that morning meeting and wonder how different
21:21
Speaker 1: my life would be if I'd just stayed silent instead
21:23
Speaker 1: of trying to lighten the mood. But I also know
21:25
Speaker 1: that living in constant fear of saying something accidentally wrong
21:29
Speaker 1: is its own kind of prison, and at some point
21:31
Speaker 1: you have to accept that controlling every possible outcome isn't realistic.
21:34
Speaker 1: Sometimes you get unlucky and pay a price far exceeding
21:37
Speaker 1: any reasonable judgment of fault. All you can do is
21:39
Speaker 1: survive it and try to build something new on the
21:42
Speaker 1: other side. If you enjoyed this, you'll definitely want to
21:44
Speaker 1: see the next ones too. So subscribe now and let
21:47
Speaker 1: me know your take in the comments.