Company Seeks Employee Out, Terminates Them In 30 Days But Asks For Laptop Password After 6 Months
Interview With Author
The world is full of various companies that collectively employ the majority of the modern world. But while some companies prosper and keep advancing forward, others keep putting spokes into their own wheels over and over again, stuck in one place, blaming others while refusing to improve or change their ways.
A great example is the company from the story one Redditor recently shared online. The person had their work computer locked the moment they got fired from their job for wanting to fix issues that the company didn’t want to have fixed. Yet, months later, that same company contacted the ex-worker and asked them for their password, as they couldn’t figure out how to reset it otherwise. Scroll down to read the full story!
More info: Reddit
Some companies want to improve without solving their issues, and it never ends well for them
Image credits: Towfiqu barbhuiya (not the actual photo)
A person was sought out by a company and got a job in one of their management positions
Image credits: spicyad
A month later, the person was fired because the company didn’t like that they refused to look away from their illegal marketing practices
Image credits: spicyad
The company instantly locked the person out of their computer, but six months later, they came back asking for the password, as they couldn’t figure out how to reset it
The OP began by giving context for the above screenshot from their ex-company, sharing how they got one of their management positions after the company sought them out for an interview.
Unfortunately, this employer-employee relationship only lasted 30 short days since the poster was terminated for doing their job. The company didn’t like that they started pointing out the illegal marketing practices that it was using and offering solutions for fixing them, deciding that the real problem was the person and not their tactics.
Now, cue the company’s mess up. When they fired them, they made sure to lock them out of their work computer, on which, naturally, they used a personal password. The OP returned the PC and forgot all about it, but roughly half a year later, the company reached out to them and asked for the password.
Turns out, the ex-worker wasn’t the only one the company didn’t want fixing issues, as their tech team couldn’t figure out how to reset the laptop without having the password, even though, according to the poster’s comment replies, there were absolutely no other security systems on it.
The commenters couldn’t stop bashing the company. Some were simply amused that its IT department couldn’t do a simple factory reset without the password, while others were looking a little deeper and saying that the company might have had ulterior motives that they’re not sharing, but pretty much everyone advised the person to ignore the email and forget about it.
Image credits: Mizuno K (not the actual photo)
Most people are bound to deal with some weird employers at some point in their lives. However, some cases, like the one in our story, are more peculiar than others, and thus, learning about them is more interesting. Looking to satisfy our curiosity, Bored Panda reached out to the OP, spicyad, who was happy to provide us with some additional commentary.
The author revealed that there hasn’t been any more development regarding the email since it came in. Even though it might be tempting to sting the company with some well-placed comments about their mess up, the OP decided to leave the matter as it was, saying, “I don’t plan on responding.”
The poster shared their story with the AntiWork community, knowing that the people in that subreddit would most likely enjoy this type of content. “I’m here for the roasting,” said the author, adding that while they never intended to reply to their ex-employer, some of the comments really did bring insightful info. “I genuinely appreciate the advice people offered.”
When the post blew up as it did, the OP was very surprised, as they had never had anything similar happen to them online before. “It was kind of a wild ride for 24-48 hours. I got to live my 15 minutes of fame anonymously, and that’s fine by me.”
For the ending, the poster left us with a piece of advice that could probably be useful to anyone in a similar situation: “Protect yourself. Corporate America isn’t going to. If you feel like you’re being taken advantage of, you probably are. Document everything.”
So, to sum it all up, not every company is fair and forward-thinking, just like not every adult is mature and responsible, even though they probably should be. There are regulations set in place to make sure that everyone plays by the rules, but we don’t live in a world where everything works perfectly. Therefore, it’s wise to look out for yourself so that when you get a questionable email from your incompetent ex-employer, you can laugh at it instead of worrying about the legal responsibilities that tie you to them.
What did you think about this story? Do you have any similar experiences with your ex-emoloyers that you would like to share? Tell us all about it in the comments below!
Most of the commenters were laughing at the company’s incompetence, but some warned the poster that there might actually be ulterior motives behind the request
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
Image credits: MART PRODUCTION (not the actual photo)
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This smells like a former employer of mine who got in hot water for using accounts of former employees to commit contract fraud. They'd not tell their clients that people had quit and use their accounts to bill them for more people assigned to their projects than they really had. This would work until the system asked for a password reset after 6 months and then they needed the original password to access the mail connected to those accounts, while the computers were set up to access the software automatically as long as they had the company log in. It was a really stupid and strange setup. After their big client found out, they fired them and changed the whole access system.
"Gee, I'm almost sure that I left that password at a luxury hotel in the Bahamas. If you flew me down there and paid for my stay, I bet I could find it in a couple of weeks."
My thoughts exactly. The IT department at my work can access any device no matter who locked it.
Load More Replies... This smells like a former employer of mine who got in hot water for using accounts of former employees to commit contract fraud. They'd not tell their clients that people had quit and use their accounts to bill them for more people assigned to their projects than they really had. This would work until the system asked for a password reset after 6 months and then they needed the original password to access the mail connected to those accounts, while the computers were set up to access the software automatically as long as they had the company log in. It was a really stupid and strange setup. After their big client found out, they fired them and changed the whole access system.
"Gee, I'm almost sure that I left that password at a luxury hotel in the Bahamas. If you flew me down there and paid for my stay, I bet I could find it in a couple of weeks."
My thoughts exactly. The IT department at my work can access any device no matter who locked it.
Load More Replies...
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