Ex-Tweep mocked by Musk for asking if he'd actually been fired
- Reference: 1678219389
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/03/07/twitter_staffer_musk/
- Source link:
Haraldur Thorleifsson (a.k.a., Halli), said in a tweet yesterday that his work computer was locked nine days ago with the group of [1]roughly 200 Twitter employees laid off at the end of February. He said he received no confirmation of his lay-off, and reckoned even HR didn't know the answer.
"Maybe if enough people retweet you'll answer me here," Thorleifsson [2]asked his boss; And answer he did, by asking what work Thorleifsson had been doing at Twitter.
[3]
"I would need to break confidentiality to answer this question here," Thorleifsson tweeted in response, to which Musk said speaking openly on Twitter about workplace issues was "approved, you go ahead."
[4]
[5]
Thorleifsson was vague, responding that he had led the effort to save $500k on a SaaS contract while helping to close others, and helped prioritize design projects across the company "to make sure we were able to deliver with a small team."
When Musk asked for particulars, Thorleiffson said the SaaS contract in question was with [6]Figma , and that he had been working with "all active design projects." Musk's response was concise, if not petulant: A pair of laugh-crying emoji.
[7]
The brief conversation between Musk and Thorleifsson ended with Twitter HR contacting Halli shortly after the exchange to confirm he had been chopped, the ex-Tweep [8]said .
Can't leave well enough alone
Along with the aforementioned work, Thorleifsson said he was also responsible for leading design critiques across the company, was the hiring manager for all design roles and was helping on efforts to attract younger users to the platform, all from [9]his role as a senior director in Twitter's product design team.
[10]
Thorleifsson is no stranger to product design, having started a design firm called Ueno in 2014 that has worked on projects for companies like ESPN, Apple, Walmart, Google and Twitter - so extensively, in fact, that Twitter [11]bought the company in 2021 to fold it into its in-house design team.
The sale of Ueno to Twitter made Thorleifsson one of the highest tax payers in Iceland because he chose to take his cut of the earnings from the sale [12]as wages instead of in stock options and other less tax-intense forms of earning, Icelandic media reported. Thorleifsson's philanthropic efforts after the sale were also what earned him [13]Person of the Year awards from a quartet of Icelandic news networks and publications.
Thorleifsson became an employee of Twitter after the sale, and his Tweets indicate he's still owed money per his employment contract.
Musk, however, couldn't leave well enough alone, and said in a tweet that Thorleifsson, who he [14]described as "independently wealthy" due to the sale of his company, "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. Can't say I have a lot of respect for that."
"But was he fired? No, you can't be fired if you weren't working in the first place!"
As Thorleifsson pointed out in a Twitter thread in response to Musk, he [15]has muscular dystrophy that has been steadily getting worse over the years.
[16]'Brittle' Twitter suffers bad case of the Mondays: Links, pics, vids fail
[17]Elon Musk yearns for AI devs to build 'anti-woke' rival ChatGPT bot
[18]Twitter rewards remaining loyal staff by decimating them
[19]Twitter algorithm to be open sourced 'next week,' says Musk
[20]Marketing company chases Twitter for $7,000 over 'swag gift box for Elon'
While his health problems began in his legs, Thorleifsson said his hands have begun getting weaker, too. "I'm not able to do manual work for extended periods of time without my hands starting to cramp." That wasn't a problem under the old Twitter regime, Thorleifsson said, as his job mostly had to do with guiding teams and helping with planning.
Of the Musk [21]demand that even Twitter managers should be coding like engineers, Thorleifsson said he told HR that he was unable to work as a hands-on designer because of his muscular dystrophy. Due to the uncertainty, Thorleifsson said he asked for and got guidance from his manager weekly on what projects he should be working on, "and then I proceeded to do those things. Every one of them."
Twitter still owes Thorleifsson money he's under contract for - at least according to Thorleifsson's own tweets. Just add it to the [22]pile [23]of [24]unpaid [25]bills Twitter is racking up and we'll see if this one actually gets paid.
The Register reached out to Thorleifsson to see if he plans to take action against Musk or Twitter, or Musk for sharing what Thorleifsson said is "confidential health information" on a public forum, but we haven't heard back. ®
Get our [26]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/27/twitter_latest_layoffs/
[2] https://twitter.com/iamharaldur/status/1632843191773716481
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZAfCFlUHml2c4XFEFnYFZgAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZAfCFlUHml2c4XFEFnYFZgAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZAfCFlUHml2c4XFEFnYFZgAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/24/doj_to_block_adobe_purchase/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZAfCFlUHml2c4XFEFnYFZgAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://twitter.com/iamharaldur/status/1632914808205987842
[9] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64871183
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZAfCFlUHml2c4XFEFnYFZgAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.crunchbase.com/acquisition/twitter-acquires-ueno--6d356e36
[12] https://www.frettabladid.is/markadurinn/haraldur-einn-af-skattakongum-islands/
[13] https://www.icelandreview.com/news/haraldur-thorleifsson-sweeps-person-of-the-year-awards/
[14] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1633011448459964417
[15] https://twitter.com/iamharaldur/status/1633082707835080705
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/06/twitter_features_outage/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/06/ai_roundup/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/27/twitter_latest_layoffs/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/22/twitter_algorithm_to_be_open/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/21/twitter_swag_elon_lawsuit/
[21] https://www.inc.com/nick-hobson/elon-musk-tells-twitter-managers-they-must-be-able-to-do-this-one-thing-or-risk-getting-fired.html#:~:text=In%20an%20email%20sent%20to,having%20managers%20do%20technical%20work%3F
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/23/twitter_consultant_lawsuit/
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/24/monarchy_chasing_twitter_rent/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/31/twitter_market_square_lawsuit/
[25] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/21/twitter_swag_elon_lawsuit/
[26] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I read a very insightful critique elsewhere about what motivates his defenders. Musk is an ignorant, narcissistic asshole. These supporters are also ignorant, narcissistic assholes, so they have a psychological need to support him because he validates and justifies their own terrible behaviour.
Basically the exact same dynamic as Trump and his own brainless supporters.
Musk isn't even an asshole, assholes have limits. He's PURE unadulterated EVIL and needs to be taken down with lawsuits. I drink a midweek beer to the hope that this occurs, all are welcome to join
Oh, this is going to be so much fun ..
.. if any of his businesses needs more staff, because only the truly masochistic/deluded will fall for that now that he has removed any doubt as to just how vile his character really is. I'm hoping some of the responses he will get will be public, just for entertainment's sake. That said, provided he pays a lot more he may be able to get some people back - but only if he pays upfront. I suspect Tesla is facing the same problem by now, and AFAIK they're using JIT supply chains so any of those not being paid means an immediate stop..
That said, it won't be Twitter of Tesla. The first T is doing its last twitches, and the latter has pretty much lost its shine (thanks to the former) and is facing mounting competition.
Being a first mover brings along the shark problem (no, no lasers, focus): you have to keep moving or you die. Tesla stopped moving.
A good thing Space X is doing well, but that merely suggests someone has found a way to keep him away from the controls..
Re: Oh, this is going to be so much fun ..
that merely suggests someone has found a way to keep him away from the controls
Gwynne Shotwell is smart enough to keep him at arm's length from anything related to SpaceX's actual operations
Re: Oh, this is going to be so much fun ..
Or they've given him this set of controls
https://dilbert.com/search_results?terms=Etch+A+Sketch
Does Musk's pettiness know no limits? I can only presume a deep insecurity drives him to show he's superior to a successful entrepreneur and generous philanthropist with a progressive (and probably) terminal disease.
A bit like the "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.", just because you're insecure doesn't mean that at heart you aren't a worthless piece of trash.
I'm amazed at all he has achieved with Space X. But then I look at everything else, and he really is a nasty piece of work. I guess being one of the richest men on the planet buys a lot of friends, because I certainly can't see how he can attract them with that toxic personality.
Space X
I guess being one of the richest men on the planet buys a lot of arse lickers
FIFY
What a Cretin.
Elon, you're an idiot. Firing someone with Muscular Dystrophy, then making fun of them because YOUR managers didn't communicate things correctly.
No, you're not an idiot. You're a C***, with a capital C.
Congrats. Your the first person to get that word out of me in 30+ years. I hope they sue you into oblivion.
Re: What a Cretin.
He is the classic spoilt kid unaware of his privileges, makes me roll my eyes.
Re: What a Cretin.
Call him a pedo-guy. Court said that’s totally fine.
Imagine working in Twitters IT
…. disabling all of the accounts, trying to work out how to unravel something when the inevitable occurs sometime in the future. No one will know anything about who did what. But, I guess this is what happens when you shake it up, after all Twitter is losing money, so it ain’t working now.
Can’t believe tens of billions was paid for it!
did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability
Ah yes, the good old "disabled people are just lazy / faking it" trope, trolled out in the inevitable thoughtless rant.
As someone with some moderate mobility limitations, let me just first knock down the laziness accusation : everything physical now takes me twice as much effort as it did before my accident, but I produce no less work, so stop spreading ignorance whilst thinking it makes you sound clever, because it doesn't.
Secondly, if you're such an idiot that you think amount of typing = productivity, I'm glad that your company will be the disaster that will inevitably follow from that.
This breaking news just in
Emerald mine heir Elon Musk is [1]still a twat.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalissimo_Francisco_Franco_is_still_dead
Re: This breaking news just in
Twatler? Maybe an even better name.
Just wondering... how many of the remaining corporate advertisers (if any) would want to be associated with this kind of treatment of Twitter's employees?
I'll leave it at that - too many thoughts, and I'd probably start digging a hole for myself.
"Thorleifsson ... chose to take his cut of the earnings from the sale as wages instead of in stock options and other less tax-intense forms of earning"
A prescient move, as it turns out.
We would be happy if Elon was only 'lazy' - what does the CEO of Twitter do besides tweeting? - but Elon is also utterly destructive.
Douchbag acts like a douchebag.... water is also wet.
Is anyone surprised by this... it's just another attempt by a narcissistic manbaby to create drama and try to get people talking about him to boost his fragile ego.
Attention is attention... he doesn't care that he's become a laughing stock to the entire world because he's got his own little echo chamber that he paid/borrowed billions for...
Meanwhile, reports coming out that hate, trolling, child abuse and political manipulation has increased dramatically since the fuckwit took over... insiders describe it as a building that looks fine from the outside, but is a raging inferno inside with no teams left to deal with and reduce the hate speech.
For some reason I've had the theme tune to Mr Ed running through my head as I type this....
A cunt is a cunt of course of course. unless of course that cunt of course is the cuntish Elon Musk.
Twitler is a special kind of asshole. And for all of his knee-jerk defenders on here - think about what that makes you…