Part-time job terrorism

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Part-time job terrorism (バイトテロ, baito tero) is a Japanese social phenomenon where part-time employees perform pranks and stunts, usually to share on social media. Stunts include climbing into ice cream freezers, or "planking" on counter-tops at fast-food restaurants. Although such pranks would not be seen as shocking in many cultures, they are considered disgraceful in Japanese culture.

Such incidents emerged as a social phenomenon around the summer of 2013, but has been around in the early 2000s ^{[citation needed]} when internet-based Japanese news agencies such as Yukan-news recorded such an incident,^[1] with more traditional news agencies later following suit.^[2] It was termed baito tero in Japanese,^[3] as a portmanteau of the Japanese word baito (meaning "part-time job" and a loan-word from the German arbeit, meaning "work") and English word "terrorism" or "terrorist".^[4]

Japanese employers generally feel disturbed and bothered by such behavior^{[citation needed]}, and penalties and punishment ranged from termination of employment to civil suits. Employees, in some circumstances, can be held financially accountable for loss of business due to the negative publicity ^{[citation needed]}.^[5]

While there is no single reason for the phenomenon, some news reports speculate that the prevalence of social media—particularly video-based mediums such as TikTok and Instagram—have led to an increase in baito tero.^[6]

• Sushi terrorism

• "「バイトテロ、一生許せない」 あのそば店社長からの手紙：日経ビジネスオンライン". business.nikkeibp.co.jp. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
• "【バイトテロ】犯人、店、親、ネット民…犯罪自慢で「法的責任」どこまで!? 弁護士に聞いた（1/4） - ウレぴあ総研". ure.pia.co.jp. 2013-09-04. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
• "Part-Timers' Prank Videos: Ongoing Business Risk", a March 2, 2019 televised discussion of the topic, an episode of NHK World's Today's Close-Up programme dubbed in English