HR Contacts Ex-Employee A Month After Laying Them Off, Asks For “Passwords And Where Things Are,” Others Share Similar Stories
Work is a necessary evil. Nobody said it’d be pleasant, let alone that it ought to be so, but it’s a necessity because we need money to buy things we kinda need and kinda don’t need, so it’s what it’s.
And sure, work can be pleasant, but in most cases it isn’t, and there are a million-billion reasons for it. One very common reason, though, is the people you work with.
What could make it even worse is the fact that once you do leave work for good, it might not mean that you’ll never hear from them again, as they might be looking for a password nobody bothered to save or even communicate.
More Info: Reddit
Turns out, even if you get laid off from work, you might still get contacted with requests to share passwords and explain how things work
Image credits: (not the actual photo)
So, a Redditor by the nickname of u/thefarmerdan recently vented their frustration with an ex-employer who got in touch with them to ask about what the passwords are and where things are stored.
In context, Dan explained that they felt used, disposable, and disrespected in the company, so you can imagine how they must have felt—especially after what was a good day with their kid—when the HR of the company started messaging them.
But besides expressing their frustrations, they also asked the r/AntiWork community if not replying and blocking the number would come back to bite them on the butt later on.
This is exactly what happened to this one Redditor, who didn’t know what to do, so he turned to r/AntiWork for answers
Image credits: thefarmerdan
And the subreddit immediately came up with devious ways how they can actually respond. For the most part, it was them suggesting that the OP look at it as consulting: name a fee that would satisfy you, and then pitch it to them. If they don’t accept, their loss! And if they do, hey, you just got paid a fortune.
It didn’t take long for the post to take off with nearly 32K upvotes as of this article
Others did support Dan’s idea to do nothing about it—no longer working there, so not your problem. Since they have already invested more than they should have of themselves, and were treated like dirt, then it’s the only sensible response.
Among the many suggestions on how to “properly react” there were also those who shared their own experiences and solutions
There were also those who went with a dash of malicious compliance, saying it wasn’t their job to store passwords, let alone keep them somewhere around at home or something. Or it was no longer their job and hence none of their business to know passwords.
A lot of people joined in on the conversation, commiserating and venting over 2,700 comments for the now-viral post
Image credits: mk_is_here (not the actual photo)
Yet others started commiserating by sharing experiences, and the solutions they resorted to after being contacted by an ex employer. Whatever the case may be, the post received quite a lot of attention—nearly 32,000 upvotes with a handful of Reddit awards.
You can check the post in context here, or take a look at other AntiWork articles we’ve covered here. But before you run off, tell us your stories, or thoughts, or both in the comment section below!
I was on holiday in Cornwall (about 200 miles from home) when my rather dim manager rang and asked if I could open up the offices as a key holder was ill, (there were four of us). I reminded her I was in Cornwall to which there was a silence, before she said, would it take me long to get there! I said yes, it would be after the second week of my holiday.
This comment has been deleted.
You resigned and they went " no, you need to come to work or get fired "??? That's must have been a really scary ultimatum....
I assume you applied for unemployment once they fired you?
I bet you ran to work that day. /s
That is hilarious! Such ignorant people!
My company installed modern door handles (in top managers offices), which were to open only with magnetic card. I was the only one who knew how to use application and magnetic card coder. Since then a lot of time passed, I moved positions twice, trained my replacements, and left company eventually. So all in all about 3 years after installation I'm getting a call "we do not know how to handle these doors". I just simply smiled and said "uuughhh... that's really been a while, I don't remember, just call company that installed those" (doh!) what they expected to explain them entire re-programming system? (which they would not understand by phone) Or come in and show them 😂 lol
Anyone who doesn't understand building access software shouldn't be given that kind of job. It never ceases to surprise me how offices can talk so much about security and safety and simultaneously put such little effort into their security. Security guards are some of the lowest paid and highest turn around in personnel and yet are needed to perform some of the most vital actions in case of an emergency, or even for daily operations (such as making the doors work). It is so common that you go to the front desk and they have some idiot who knows how to surf the web but has zero comprehension of using any professional computer programs for an actual job.
I was on holiday in Cornwall (about 200 miles from home) when my rather dim manager rang and asked if I could open up the offices as a key holder was ill, (there were four of us). I reminded her I was in Cornwall to which there was a silence, before she said, would it take me long to get there! I said yes, it would be after the second week of my holiday.
This comment has been deleted.
You resigned and they went " no, you need to come to work or get fired "??? That's must have been a really scary ultimatum....
I assume you applied for unemployment once they fired you?
I bet you ran to work that day. /s
That is hilarious! Such ignorant people!
My company installed modern door handles (in top managers offices), which were to open only with magnetic card. I was the only one who knew how to use application and magnetic card coder. Since then a lot of time passed, I moved positions twice, trained my replacements, and left company eventually. So all in all about 3 years after installation I'm getting a call "we do not know how to handle these doors". I just simply smiled and said "uuughhh... that's really been a while, I don't remember, just call company that installed those" (doh!) what they expected to explain them entire re-programming system? (which they would not understand by phone) Or come in and show them 😂 lol
Anyone who doesn't understand building access software shouldn't be given that kind of job. It never ceases to surprise me how offices can talk so much about security and safety and simultaneously put such little effort into their security. Security guards are some of the lowest paid and highest turn around in personnel and yet are needed to perform some of the most vital actions in case of an emergency, or even for daily operations (such as making the doors work). It is so common that you go to the front desk and they have some idiot who knows how to surf the web but has zero comprehension of using any professional computer programs for an actual job.