Elon Musk, a tech magnate, has openly ridiculed an employee on Twitter after they were let go without explanation.
Under the handle @iamharaldur, Haraldur Thorleifsson tweeted on Monday that he was unable to use his work laptop and wanted specific responses from the billionaire who had recently purchased Twitter.
He added that he tried emailing Musk himself and the company’s HR department without success before resorting to calling out the CEO on Twitter.
Replying to the tweet, Musk asked, “What work have you been doing?”
In response, Thorleifsson tweeted a list of his duties and accomplishments while employed by the company, including, among other things, hiring designers, managing the prioritization of design initiatives, and boosting appeal to younger customers.
Musk asked additional questions after some of the replies and reacted with laughing emojis.
He wrote, “Level up from what design to what? Pics or it didn’t happen, We haven’t hired design roles in four months. What changes did you make to help with the youths?”
Haraldur claimed he could not supply Musk with the proof he requested because he was unable to access his computer.
After that, the billionaire tweeted a link to a clip from the 1999 comedy “Office Space,” which had a funny moment in which one employee tries to defend his role to his superiors. In addition, he inquired as to Haraldur’s “people person.”
Musk did not respond further, despite the employee’s response that he was a people-person and that he did not mind getting fired as long as he got straight answers.
A few hours later, Haraldur notified his followers that he had truly been let go from Twitter.
“Companies let people go, that’s within their rights. They usually tell people about it but that’s seemingly the optional part at Twitter now,” Thorleifsson wrote.
A physically challenged creative designer named Haraldur is the director of an Icelandic non-profit that constructs wheelchair ramps. He established Ueno, a full-service creative agency, which Twitter acquired in 2021.
Musk has faced criticism for making significant layoffs soon after buying the business in 2022. In November 2022, the billionaire sacked over half of Twitter’s global workers.
