TikTok personality Sarah Trefren has taken to the social media platform after being “yelled at” for asking a “reasonable question” during an interview to attend trade school.
Posting under the username @chaotic_philosopher, the Alaskan-based woman shared the video titled Worker’s Rights to her followers.
It has since racked up more than 4.6 million views.
In a piece to camera, Trefren — who has both autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — tearfully explains she was “yelled at” for asking what accommodations the school had for people with “time blindness”.
“I just got yelled at for asking a very reasonable question,” she said at the start of her video.
“I am applying to go somewhere and I just wanted to know, are there accommodations for people who struggle with time blindness and being on time, you know?
“And then the person I was with interrupted and acted like I was asking something else and then when we were done, they actually started yelling at me and saying that accommodations for time blindness don’t exist and if you struggle with being on time you will never be able to get a job … provided you are trying your absolute best to be there.”
Trefren later revealed it was in fact her own mother that yelled at her.
She claimed her mother had labelled Trefren’s generation “stupid”, alleging they wanted to “destroy the workplace”.
Trefren said the culture in which “workers are just cut off because they struggle being on time … needs to be dismantled”.
“If people think its OK to treat others like this, that’s entitlement,” she concluded.
Time blindness is attributed to people struggling with losing track of time or being unable to gauge accurately how much time has passed, and is often a symptom of ADHD.
The video went viral, sparking a huge debate, with people labelling Trefren’s request a “joke” and “laughable”.
Many understood what it was like living with time blindness, but offered the young woman some words of advice.
“I struggle with time blindness so I accommodate myself by showing up 30 min early,” one said.
“So I have this. I have to set myself reminders and alarms to keep myself on track. I do not expect my co-workers to stay late/wait for me bc that is entitled,” another said.
“Sure maybe time blindness is a thing, but it’s easy to combat/fix. You’re just being ‘lazy’ or victimising yourself if you can’t do those simple solutions I mentioned above,” someone else added.
Others posed questions to the TikTokker.
“What if you had a life threatening accident and your paramedic struggled being on time?” one asked.
“So if you’re supposed to get paid on the 1st but the company struggle with time blindness and pays you on the 30th . . . is that okay?” another wondered.
“Does ‘time blindness’ apply when going to a movie, concert, or anything else that starts at a certain time? Or is it just work?” a third chimed in.
Australian occupational therapist Selah Dimech also commented on the video.
“Let’s say you are starting your shift at a cafe, yes you have to be there on time otherwise there is not going to be anyone there to make people coffees, you know?” she said.
“Time blindness strategies are a thing, but … if you need to be there on time for the job, I am sorry … that’s just something you gotta do.”