The internet loves a good relationship theory, especially one that feels uncannily accurate. This week’s entry comes from a man walking down a Manhattan sidewalk, calmly suggesting that your closest relationship might not be your partner, your best friend, or your sibling. It might be the coworker who survived your toxic workplace with you.
Jake Clay, a 29-year-old content creator based in New York City, posted a short Instagram video on December 6 that quickly took off, pulling in more than 1.7 million views. His premise was simple and delivered without much flourish. “The strongest relationship is a coworker that you’re trauma-bonded with,” Clay said. “Nobody’s seen evil like you’ve seen evil together. Nobody knows the war zone that you’ve walked.”
Clay went on to describe the kind of bond that forms after long hours, questionable leadership, and shared knowledge that probably should not be repeated out loud. “Secrets that could take down a company, an industry,” he said. “That’s a bond that tethers you for life.”
The video struck a nerve across industries, from healthcare to finance to retail, with comment sections filling up with stories that sounded suspiciously similar. One viewer wrote, “My bestie and I met in dire working conditions, and 35 years later we remain closer than family.” Another chimed in simply, “Healthcare unite.”
Clay told Newsweek that the reaction didn’t surprise him as much as the breadth of it. “I think everyone can relate to having a deranged boss, rude supervisors, and having their work bestie who gets it in a way even their best friends can’t,” he said. “I still speak to co-workers I went through crazy work dynamics with.”
He described the comment section as a beautiful moment of collective recognition. “It made me realize this is so widespread,” Clay said. “We all have to make a living, and this world is filled with crazy people, and somehow the craziest always end up in positions of authority.”
Clay’s path to content creation came after a stint in investment banking, where going viral once made him nervous enough to stop posting for a year. Eventually, he left the job and leaned into what he calls a stream-of-consciousness approach to posting. “Hot takes, random thoughts, basically anything I would normally journal in my notes app,” he said.
His theory might not come with footnotes or peer-reviewed backing, but that seems beside the point. Anyone who’s locked eyes with a coworker during an all-hands meeting and silently communicated, “get me out of here,” already understands exactly what he meant.
The post Your Closest Relationship Isn’t With Family or Friends, Viral Theory Says appeared first on VICE.
