A boss’s brutal exchange of text messages after sacking a staff member has left thousands of people stunned.
British running expert Ben Askins shared the exchange on TikTok and criticized the manager’s insensitive approach.
The shocking messages, supposedly sent between a boss and another employee, begin with the manager breaking the news of the firing: ‘Have you heard from Matt?’
‘No, what happened?’ the employee asked, to which the boss simply responded, ‘I fired him this morning.’
What followed surprised the other worker and many on social media.
‘That? Because?’ they asked, only for the boss to casually respond: “It was fucking useless lol (sic).”
When the stunned colleague asked if it was a joke, the boss doubled down.
‘It’s no joke. I’ve been thinking about it for a while and then it was late twice this week. I’m too busy to worry about whether people can be bothered to show up on time.
A boss’s brutal text message exchange over a staff member’s dismissal has left thousands stunned
The employee defended his coworker, explaining that Matt’s car had broken down, only for the boss to dismiss the excuse.
‘Just excuses, friend. I don’t have time for that nonsense.
The conversation took another turn when the remaining staff member raised a practical concern.
‘So what are we going to do without him? We’ll have to take extra shifts until we get someone to come in.
Without bothering, the boss replied: “I will post an advertisement today.” But yeah, we’ll have to keep going until we get someone. Don’t worry, we’ve got it.’
Clearly frustrated, the employee responded, “I can’t believe this.” “I’m not sure how the rest of the team will react.”
But the boss once again downplayed it: “Everything will be fine.”
Askins was scathing in his comment.
The conversation took another turn when the employee expressed concern about the workload.
“I love this kind of ‘Oh, we have this’ attitude.” Will (the boss) be doing everything possible? It seems a little unlikely to me to deviate from everything they have said so far.
He also criticized the manager’s refusal to consider the legitimate reason for the delay, saying it was “ridiculous” to fire someone without taking into account their circumstances.
‘If someone is constantly late, of course you can have an argument, but this idea that you don’t care why someone was late is just strange.
“There are many legitimate reasons, like your car breaking down.”
Askins saved his harshest criticism for the boss’s apparent boast about the firing.
‘Why are you messaging another teammate bragging and ‘wallowing’ about firing someone? Obviously that’s not right.’
The video sparked a flood of outraged comments from viewers, many of whom were horrified by the manager’s lack of empathy.
“I hate that the boss also bragged to another coworker,” one woman wrote. ‘I feel like this breaks all kinds of confidentiality. And how is anyone going to trust them now?
The employee defended his coworker, explaining that Matt’s car had broken down, only for the boss to dismiss the excuse.
Another echoed: “This is clearly a passive-aggressive threat to scare his team.”
“If he was late twice a week and had received warnings, then it was fair, but if it was an exception because the car broke down, then it is not appropriate to fire him.” I could file a lawsuit if it wasn’t justified,” said one man.
But others sided with the boss.
—Were you late twice in a five-day work week? It seems to me that he deserved to at least be demoted or talk to him. If it’s not the first time, then yes, he’s not a good employee,” one defended.
“It seems like Matt was always late and had a bad attitude,” another added.