Ali Condon
A woman had her co-workers, and the internet, in stitches after gifting them with 'sorry for your loss' candles so they could 'mourn' her after she quit her job.
After Branka Oliaca, 24, handed in her notice as a dental assistant to go all-in with her candle business, she decided to give her colleagues something to remember her by.
Branka, from Adelaide, Australia, knew that her co-workers would miss her terribly when she left them to start her new career venture, so it was only right that she gave them a gift to express her sympathy. Check out the video here:
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Branka's colleagues, who are all for her new candle-making venture, took the joke particularly well.
Speaking about the bold parting gift, Branka said: "I wanted to do something to give to everyone when I left.
"And I just suddenly had this idea to make these 'sorry for your loss' candles as a joke.
"I'm extra so I wanted to make a big deal as I left. Thankfully everyone found them hilarious.
"My friend sent me a video the next day of her lighting the candle and fake crying to mourn me."
After working with her colleagues for three years, Branka decided to finally throw in the towel in June 2021 when her candle making business took off during lockdown.
Complete with a photo of herself on the label, Branka's 'sorry for your loss' candles were offered to her co-workers in a variety of scents including Lemon Biscotti, Orange & Chilli, and Fig & Melon.
"I knew I had to do something," she said.
"I made them candles at Christmas so I was thinking along those lines and then I thought I could make it funny."
While creating and handing out the candles, Branka filmed the process and shared it to TikTok, where it quickly racked up a whopping 2.7 million views and over 400k likes.
"My mum thought it was a terrible idea," Branka said. "Then she saw how many views my video had and changed her mind."
While Branka's gifts had her co-workers in hysterics, she had a rather different reaction when she finally said goodbye to the company.
"I was really sad to leave because they are such a great team," she said.
"Ironically on my last day I burst into tears when they got me leaving gifts. They all joked then that it was my loss not theirs."