Gen-Z employees are catching bosses off guard in TikTok trend. Their reactions are priceless

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Employees are turning to TikTok for “help” watching their bosses in a new trend to hit the platform.

The videos typically begin with the TikToker — usually younger than his or her boss — turning to the camera and saying something along the lines of, “I’ll be right back, can you guys watch my boss for a second?”

The TikToker angles the still recording video on the boss and exits, leaving the boss to figure out what’s going on and what to say to the camera.

The offices vary from conventional to sleek to open air lofts. But higher-up’s reactions remain similarly perplexed as they try to comprehend if their employee has actually left them alone with a camera that may or may not be live-streaming.

“What are we doing?” one asks in a post shared from the account @dr.rosysandhu. “Watch what? Who is it? Who is it?” The boss from the @anthropologie account says, “I don’t get it? Who’s watching me?”

Some respond with humor. “What are you doing?” one man says through laughter on the @pepperspecs account. Then says, “Hi.”

Some try to play it cool, like the boss featured in @loxclub’s video. He picks up a book to flip through but can’t handle the uncertainty long enough. “Is this supposed to still be filming?” he asks. Then, finally, “I don’t know what the hell she’s doing, but anyways, if you want to watch, go for it. Who are you?”

Others pop right into explaining what they’re doing, whether it’s eating lunch or sunflower seeds or, in Julie Bowen’s case, researching tweens using skincare.

The new trend has captured the confused expressions of celebrities bosses, including John Stamos, Jensen Ackles, Rob Lowe, Giada De Laurentiis, and TODAY’s very own Al Roker. In his, Al engaged us in a prolonged staring contest.

Why are people filming their bosses?

The concept is a mix of office life and playful intergenerational clashes. As one caption summarized, “Confusing my boss for content.”

“I think (the trend) is supposed to be like a comical joke about, like, hierarchy,” Jenyce Kimball tells TODAY.com. Kimball filmed her boss, Dr. Rosy Sandhu, for the trend captured and posted by the @dr.rosysandhu TikTok account.

After working for Sandhu for 10 years, Kimball says she wasn’t surprised her boss had fun with the situation.

“Do you want me to talk about the DEP device that I am excited about?” Sandhu asks with a smile, before going on to explain how new technology is being brought to the office.

“Sometimes there can be that disconnect, either due to hierarchy or education or status level things like that,” Kimball continues. “But (Sandhu) is just so humble, genuine and transparent. She is not just like a business professional. She is a medical professional. So I get the best of both worlds professionally from her, and we’ve just been able to connect personally.”

Jasmine Infante, a 24-year-old social media coordinator based in Houston, Texas, filmed her boss in a video shared on TikTok. Baffled at first, he takes out a nearby package of sunflower seeds and reads the slogan to the camera. One commenter wrote, “Golden retriever boss.”

Infante says the video is a reflection of their good working relationship, as well as her boss’s personality.

“Ever since I started, he wanted me to understand that I could always go to him for advice or questions. Little did he know TikToks were included in it. He’s also a sort of mentor and wants to help me pursue social media on my own time to grow my own personal brand, so he’s very open to continuing the silly TikToks on my personal channel,” she told TODAY.com in an email statement.

“I was pleasantly surprised with his impromptu ad about Bigs Sunflower Seeds because it really added to the video. He used to be in marketing and it just fell in line with his personality.”