A Gen Z employee's brutally honest leave request has gone viral for its directness. The employee cited stress and the need to become her 'main character self' before 'The Devil Wears Prada 2,' and received an iconic, supportive response from her manager, sparking online conversations about changing corporate norms.
This post may spark those of us who are trapped on email templates like "Per my last email" and "Hope this finds you well." One Gen Z corporate worker made the decision to go direct—more precisely, in a style-forward manner. Essentially a digital manifesto for the "Main Character" era, a screenshot of a leave request has gone viral.
"Hope you're doing okay, because I'm not," is the email's refreshingly direct introduction, eschewing business language. "I've been experiencing bloating and severe skin irritation due to the stressful work atmosphere at the office lately." But it wasn’t just a health update. It was in fact a mission statement. The employee requested four days off (April 28 – May 1) to “recover, reset and become my main character self before the Devil Wears Prada 2 comes out."
The employee gave a detailed self-care schedule, saying, “I will use this break to pamper myself, get my nails done, and sort my outfit. I genuinely applied to NIFT because of this movie, thus it's more than just a movie to me. I hope you comprehend.”
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The internet held its breath for the corporate firing squad, but instead, the manager delivered an instantly iconic response: “Okay, approved bestie 💅."
Netizens React
While X (formerly Twitter) users were quick to joke that “Miranda Priestly won’t be happy after reading this," others pointed out that this is exactly how you retain talent in 2026. As one user aptly put it, “Gen Z in corporate are healing the toxic work environment."
Many were, as expected, also jealous of the GenZ employee. “Lowkey jealous of both the leave and the manager approving it 😭" wrote one user, while another added, “If my manager replied like this I’d never leave that job."
"Main character energy loss should be considered a valid reason for leave," wrote one user. "May we all get manager like her in our office," said another.
