If you’re not told you are fired, are you really fired? At Twitter, probably.
Key points:
- Twitter CEO Elon Musk became embroiled in an “exit interview”-style argument with a former employee seeking information
- He called into question the employee’s work output and disability, based on what he later called “untrue” information
- The employee, Icelandic tech worker Haraldur Thorleiffson, says it was a “surreal” experience
Haraldur Thorleifsson, who until recently was employed at Twitter, logged in to his computer last Sunday to do some work — only to find himself locked out, along with 200 others.
He might have figured, as others before him have in the chaotic months of lay-offs and firings since Elon Musk took over the company, that he was out of a job.
Instead, after nine days of no answer from Twitter as to whether or not he was still employed, Mr Thorleifsson decided to tweet at Mr Musk to see if he could catch the billionaire’s attention and get an answer to his “Schrödinger’s job” situation.
“Maybe if enough people retweet you’ll answer me here?” he wrote on Monday.
Eventually, he got his answer after a surreal Twitter exchange with Mr Musk, who proceeded to quiz him about his work, question his disability and wonder why he needed special accommodations.
“The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him from typing, yet was simultaneously tweeting up a storm,” Mr Musk wrote at one point.
“Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that.
“Was he fired? No, you can’t be fired if you weren’t working in the first place!” he later added.
Mr Thorleifsson, who goes by “Halli”, uses a wheelchair due to muscular dystrophy, which also affects his ability to type for more than an hour or two at a time.
His role under Twitter’s previous management was that of a senior director providing guidance to teams of workers, rather than a hands-on product designer.
While the exchange was going on, Mr Thorleifsson said he received an email that he was no longer employed.
Late Tuesday afternoon, however, Mr Musk had a change of heart.
“I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful,” he tweeted.
“He is considering remaining at Twitter.”
Mr Thorleifsson did not immediately respond to a request for comment following Mr Musk’s tweet.
In an earlier email, he called the experience “surreal”.
“You had every right to lay me off. But it would have been nice to let me know!” he tweeted to Mr Musk.
Mr Thorleifsson, who lives in Iceland, has about 151,000 Twitter followers (Mr Musk has over 130 million).
He joined Twitter in 2021, when the company, under the prior management, acquired his startup Ueno.
He was lauded in Icelandic media for choosing to receive the purchase price in wages, rather than a lump sum payout.
That’s because this way, he would pay higher taxes to Iceland in support of its social services and safety net.
And Mr Thorleifsson’s next move?
“I’m opening a restaurant in downtown Reykjavik very soon,” he tweeted. “It’s named after my mom. Like many moms she was the best mom in the world.”
Twitter did not immediately respond to a message for comment.
AP/ABC