Haraldur Thorleifsson, a resident of Iceland, was until recently been a Twitter employee, logged on to his computer last Sunday to do some work – only to find himself locked out, along with 200 others.
Considering the previous muddled layoffs that took place within Twitter, he figured that he was out of a job.
So, he made inquiries but they remained unanswered. After nine days of no answer as to whether or not he was still employed, the Twitter employee Thorleifsson decided to tweet to Musk and see if he could catch the billionaire’s attention and get an answer to his confusing job situation.
Twitter Employee Feud
Dear @elonmusk ?
9 days ago the access to my work computer was cut, along with about 200 other Twitter employees.
However y, our head of HR is not able to confirm if I am an employee or not. You’ve not answered my emails.
Maybe if enough people retweet you’ll answer me here?
— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 6, 2023
Eventually, he got the billionaire’s attention and what ensued was a strange Twitter exchange with Musk. The CEO proceeded to quiz him about his work and question his disability and need for accommodations. Thorleifsson has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair.
Musk’s response:
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.
Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023
While the exchange was going on, Thorleifsson received an email that he was no longer employed.
On Tuesday evening, Musk tweeted an apology to Thorleifsson, saying his misunderstanding was “based on things I was told that were untrue.”
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 is considering remaining at Twitter.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023
Thorleifsson responded to Musk with “The reason I asked you in public is because you (or anyone else at Twitter) didn’t reply to my private messages.”
“You had every right to lay me off. But it would have been nice to let me know!” he added.
Who is this Twitter employee?
Thorleifsson lives in Iceland and has approximately 160,000 Twitter followers. He joined Twitter in 2021, when the company, under the prior management, acquired his startup, Ueno.
He was acclaimed 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.
After the “stormy” tweets with Twitter’s CEO, Thorleifsson plans to open a restaurant in downtown Reykjavik very soon, he’ll name it after his mom, he tweeted.
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Photo of Elon Musk is a screengrab from YouTube