Girl Quits Via Dry Erase Board: Fact or Fiction?

August 10, 2010 in Viral with 11 Comments

Real of fake? Did this girl Jenny really quit her job by exposing her boss's Farmville addiction?

**UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF STORY**

Something that is making the rounds in social media right now is a link to an article on The Chive called “Girl quits her job on dry erase board, emails entire office (33 Photos)“.  The article is, as described, a series of photos that tell a story of a girl that got fed up with the behavior of her boss and quit by emailing a series of pics of her and a white board around her office.

Great story, but for some reason I just don’t buy it.  I can’t help but feel that this is a contrived marketing campaign, although I’m not sure for what.  The pictures and set seem a little too polished, and the timing it just a little too close to the story of the flight attendant that quit by yelling at a customer, grabbing a beer then inflating the evacuation slide and heading off into the sunset (well…handcuffs, actually).

So what could this be shilling? My best guess is TheChive.com, but there’s a strong play for Farmville, the “little office snitch” (network monitoring tool?) or even a job site like Monster or CareerBuilder.

If it is a campaign for something, it’s already succeeded in getting press as it is being talked about on Twitter, and Mashable just wrote it up. In this case, we should see another installment come out in the next day or two, maybe an update to how “Jenny” is doing, and what a wonderful new job she landed.

If it isn’t, well, I’m sure at the very least Jenny will be getting a lot of attention for just long enough to get another job! We’ll also see a wave of photos, videos and blogs about people publicly quitting theirs…

**UPDATE #1**

Valleywag picked up the story and is calling it a “near-certain hoax” that “sucked the whole internet”.  I agree, as I called it earlier.  They say they will reveal the identity of “Jenny” tomorrow.  My money is on [name removed because it wasn't her], which savvy commenter Stacy called out earlier today.  What do you think?

Dry Erase Mystery GirlIs Rachel Bodinet the Dry Erase Girl?

**UPDATE #2**

I hate to tell you “I told you so”, but…I told you so.  Totally fake.  TechCrunch has the write-up here.

So what can we learn from this? People (and “news” outlets) really do believe everything they read on the internet…

About Matt Singley: I run this joint. Always looking for feedback, and if there is something you want me to write about, just let me know! Thanks for stopping by.


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  • http://www.dan-london.com Dan London

    I agree with you. Something does seem off…

    I’d bet that it is a hoax, especially with the way this went viral.

  • http://blog.tippingpointlabs.com Brad Schwarzenbach

    I agree. Fake, fake, fake.

    But, why isn’t anyone thinking this is marketing dry erase boards?

  • http://joshgroth.com Josh Groth

    The term “Dry Erase Board” is also the #5 trending topic on Twitter in the US at the time of this comment. Could also be a play by a dry erase board company trying to steal back market share taken my Idea Paint haha.

    Even if it is a marketing ploy, I like to pretend it isn’t, so I can continue to enjoy it as much as I am. Whatever it is, it’s still pretty funny – to which I must give props.

  • Dr. Pete

    I’ve been uncomfortable RT’ing it for that same reason – it just seems too perfect. The Chive isn’t exactly known for hard journalism, either.

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  • Anna

    My initial reaction to GQVDEB was fiction. I’ve worked on some low-end photo shoots, and this set and makeup are too perfect for DIY, and the storyboarding and acting involved aren’t skills I’d attribute to someone with two years’ experience as a broker’s assistant. And 32 emails with photos attached? That’s a lot of KB. Why not just type this into a single email and send to all users? Then when it makes it to the internet it won’t have your face attached for all eternity.

    I hadn’t heard about the Jet Blue Flight Attendant yesterday, but that cements this whole thing as fiction. This strikes me as a PR campaign for either an online reputation service or an employment candidate background checking service. Either “We can help you cover up the dumb, explosive, public way in which you quit your last job” or “Did this candidate embarrass his/her last employer in a dumb, explosive, public way?”

  • http://WhatDidEricSay.com Eric Miltsch

    @Dan – notice how she spelled it HOPA on two slides? lol.

  • http://www.AnEclecticMind.com/ Maria

    If it’s fake, it’s the act of a bright but desperate woman looking for a new job in a creative field. In other words: it’s pushing Jenny.

  • stacy

    hmmm she looks an awful lot like this girl I went to high school with

    http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1168503148

  • Dan G

    I’m with Anna: the production values and the acting are just too good. If it were real, one would expect Webcam quality, personal (not production) make-up, bad lighting, and at least one photo where her expression is not spot on because she chose not to take 20 shots to get the best one. Further, what’s with the wardrobe change? If she’s producing this herself “in the office,” such would be highly unexpected; if she’s producing it “at home,” there’s an awful lot of stuff in that bookcase (e.g., an antique camera… hint, hint) that one would not expect to see.

    Stacy — if it’s Rachel, she’s had collagen injections methinks.

    Big props to whoever the creator is, though. It’s creative, funny, well-cast, and well-produced. Either it’s to generate traffic for The Chive… or the brothers are about to open a new creative agency!

  • http://photos.rickscheibner.net Rick

    Good call bro. I’d fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.