Business and employment oriented website LinkedIn is the place to go for job opportunities, internships and professional networking. However, for a man, the social media network is the perfect place for impromptu conversations.
On Monday, September 5th, Alexander Cohen, a product manager at a large healthcare startup in Austin, Texas, posted a really special money-saving hack that he claimed to have tried during a company trip.
“I’m traveling for work and instead of having a nice dinner out, I’ve decided to cook a cheaper meal in my hotel room,” reads the LinkedIn post, which has been liked more than 1,400 times. “Even though the hotel room didn’t have a kitchen, I was able to use the coffee maker to cook the butter and garlic chicken.”
Cohen went on to say in the post that although his company allows him to splurge on dinner while traveling, he wanted to save money because he knows that “every dollar counts in the P&L” (meaning the profit and loss account for those who don’t they know the language of accounting. .)
“It’s the little things that get you promoted,” he said.
Cohen concluded his unique take on cost-cutting measures by embellishing the post with the hashtags work, money, hotel, coffee, promotion and career advice. If you’ve ever used a coffee maker in your hotel room (to make a cup of coffee, that is) you might personally want to add #Horrifying or #CallTheFBI to its set of hashtags.
This turn of events caused some people on LinkedIn’s post and the internet to roll their eyes and question whether or not his post was serious, taking note of the comments to make their concern known.
“I take it they’re not counting the sick time it would take you to give yourself salmonella on a business trip?” said one commenter on LinkedIn.
“I assume you pre-cleaned the chicken in the toilet bowl,” said another LinkedIn user.
“This is satire, isn’t it? It should be satire,” said one LinkedIn user, to which another user replied that you could also make “chicken satay”. People are so smart.
Cohen’s post actually went viral on three separate social media platforms: first on LinkedIn, then again I tweetwhere the post received 82,500 likes and more than 5,440 retweets and finally Reddit, where the post garnered 6,200 upvotes and hundreds of comments.
“I feel like I’m allowed to sue you for this,” said one user on I tweet.
Another pair of users shared their hacks for cutting costs in a blink of an eye.
“True story – Happened to me: I was on a business trip once and got hungry at midnight after working 6 hours,” said the user on I tweet. “I wanted to save some money for the company I worked for. So I made fried eggs in my hotel room using my company laptop.”
“I’ve been through this too. I traveled for work and decided to make an iron barbecue to save money for the company I work for,” said another. I tweet the user along with an insecure iron grid configuration.
Cohen later commented on his post asking if anyone knew “how to get the chicken taste out of the pot” because someone reported him to hotel management and was “threatening to charge the company card” he had on file.
At this point many of the commenters realized that his post could have been a joke and helped to calm the growing terror of the comments section by responding to some people’s serious concerns.
“I’m sure you’re joking because otherwise, what about the guests who will be using that coffee machine behind you?” said one concerned commenter on LinkedIn. “They should drink a chicken flavored coffee. I think you’re being selfish to do that, assuming you’re saving. Also, not hygienic at all. It also damages the hotel’s assets.”
Another LinkedIn user responded to that comment by reciting the definition of the word satire to indicate the possibility that the post was a joke, prompting the original commenter to reply, “Thanks, Eminem.”
If you’re wondering if Cohen was really serious or not, we went straight to the source to find out.
“I wasn’t even traveling at the time,” Alexander Cohen told TODAY Food in a direct message on Twitter. “I was actually at the Austin FC game at the time and we got delayed because of the rain, so I thought I’d have some fun.”
Seeing Cohen’s social media presence, his humor takes over personal finance, restaurant business, labor market and other professional subjects allow for a good deal of LinkedIn crossover, which he said he takes advantage of.
“I enjoy posting satirical stories on LinkedIn (almost as a hobby now) because no one expects jokes on a ‘professional’ social network,” he said.
“When you lied on your resume and got a remote job that required 10 years of experience, but you have none,” reads one of his other posts on. I tweet.
In another tweet saying he doesn’t understand how Chili’s, Applebees, Olive Garden and Red Lobster “are still in business,” his words are sparking another heated conversation and jokes. There’s a thread in his social media outing that’s driving conversation, for sure.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying how far this thing has spread,” Cohen said, adding that he was surprised at how viral the post actually went. “I didn’t expect it to blow up across other platforms like it did,” he said.
When asked what he would say to people who think LinkedIn is not just for jokes, but only for serious, job-seeking professionals, his answer to bros, networking divas and link collectors is simple .
“Work is work,” Cohen said. “Go out and enjoy life.”
