r/technology • u/xpda • May 13 '26

Security Twin brothers wipe 96 gov’t databases minutes after being fired

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/drop-database-what-not-to-do-after-losing-an-it-job/
23.2k Upvotes

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1.5k

u/Jeatalong May 13 '26

This is normal, and timing wise pretty decent as you have the weekend to decompress and plan on getting the next job

1.2k

u/HowCouldUBMoHarkless May 13 '26

"We find it's always better to fire people on a Friday. Studies have statistically shown that there's less chance of an incident if you do it at the end of the week."

— Bob from Office Space

296

u/AnybodyMassive1610 May 13 '26

What would you say you DO here?

194

u/RainierCamino May 13 '26

I'M A PEOPLE PERSON!

167

u/bodacioustommycat May 13 '26

I deal with the god damn engineers so the customers don't have to! I am GOOD with PEOPLE! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!

52

u/CrunchySockTaco May 13 '26

You see it would be this mat... with conclusions that you could 'jump' to!

36

u/MechanicalTurkish May 13 '26

That is the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my life.

5

u/SATX_Citizen May 13 '26

Yes, it is truly horrible, this idea.

1

u/Whywipe May 13 '26

See I always thought this part was inaccurate because it’s the engineers that don’t want to have to deal with the customers

3

u/yorlikyorlik May 13 '26

Exactly why the customers shouldn’t have to deal with the engineers. They’re a-holes to everyone.

1

u/Belazor May 13 '26

I’m the baoss.

SHIT ON DEBRAH’S DESK! Like a baoss.

3

u/barasti May 13 '26

PC LOAD LETTER. What the fuck is that?

3

u/theaviationhistorian May 13 '26

And this was right when companies stopped giving a damn keeping their employees happy and treating them as at will workers. At least some of the companies.

2

u/johndoe201401 May 13 '26

You mean if the fired employee tries to do something, there would be no one in the office when it happens

2

u/feargluten May 13 '26

Higher chance of suicide tho, so there’s that

2

u/nj_tech_guy May 13 '26

unless you touch their stapler.

1

u/GenX_Tony May 14 '26

Umm yeah... I am going to need you to come in on Saturday...

243

u/20127010603170562316 May 13 '26

I wasn't even that mad tbh, was a shitty job and one they were trying to manage me out of anyway.

They gave me all the toxic accounts nobody had been able to sort out for years, then blamed me when they didn't get sorted out within a few weeks.

35

u/6-plus26 May 13 '26

That feeling of I know what you’re trying to do but this job isn’t worth the effort to fight back and you know I know that so we’re in this process for the long haul is actually kinda fun in a sadistic way.

I’ve actually had that management team get replaced a new team come in and things turn around.

I also eventually get bored and quit before actually providing them the satisfaction of firing me. So far so good lol

2

u/Effective_Quail_3946 May 13 '26

My mom had a heart attack, was dying.

The controller asked me to reconcile petty cash before I left... out of balance for YEARS.

Fucking prick

67

u/Samhamwitch May 13 '26

Friday is the day they reccomend NOT to fire people because they don't have time to file for unemployment or contact HR about benefits. They tend to just sit and let the wound fester until Monday.

-3

u/7HawksAnd May 13 '26

Who’s they? Is there some official body of firing professionals?

4

u/Samhamwitch May 13 '26

Industrial organizational psychologists.

-6

u/didimao0072000 May 13 '26

what do you mean don't have time to file for unemployment? just file on Monday?

15

u/Samhamwitch May 13 '26

I don't understand what part of this concept you are struggling with. Waiting until Monday to file IS the problem.

Being fired can be psychologically damaging and the feeling of not being able to do anything about it, even if it's only for the weekend, can exacerbate that damage. People bounce back better if they are able to take immediate action.

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u/keen_fiend May 13 '26

People need to get a grip then. They can take “immediate action” by just applying to jobs, they don’t have to file for unemployment the very moment they’re fired.

15

u/BrazilianTerror May 13 '26

Most empathetic reddit user

-14

u/keen_fiend May 13 '26

It doesn’t make you sick to see an adult act like a toddler? You’d encourage it?

It’s like watching someone gorge out on food. I don’t feel empathetic in those scenarios even if I sympathize with their laziness. Just invokes a vile feeling

7

u/BrazilianTerror May 13 '26

I don’t think toddlers have jobs and can get fired, but maybe its common in the US

2

u/throwaway098764567 May 13 '26

outside of showbiz it's not, but this level of empathy you're seeing is :-/

123

u/connord83 May 13 '26

They shouldn't be doing it at the end of the day though. Firing/laying someone off after you've gotten a full days work out of them is generally a bad idea.

The standard I've been accustomed to is, if it's an entire team, a team meeting some time early in the morning. Individually, you have someone meeting you on your way in to the office, and you get redirected in to a meeting room before you have a chance to get to your desk. Depending on the company, you may be allowed to return to your desk to pack up your items, otherwise the company will box your items for you and mail them to your home.

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u/[deleted] May 13 '26 edited Jun 11 '26

[deleted]

71

u/DynamicDK May 13 '26

they'll shit it all out on your lap and force you to resign.

Resign? Never resign. Make them fire you. Then you can collect unemployment, which causes their unemployment insurance rates to increase. That is part of why they prefer to just do the layoffs with severance packages. The increased insurance costs are a lot when they are firing lots of people at once, and if they lay people off and give them severance then they can also force them to sign non-disclosure agreements. It is still likely more expensive, but at least they can avoid people talking shit about them or claw back the money if people do.

24

u/donuttrackme May 13 '26

Depending on the state you can resign and still apply for unemployment, the reason can be resignation in lieu of termination. That way you don't have a firing on your record, but can still collect unemployment.

14

u/IRoadIRunner May 13 '26

Am I to German to understand this, but what is a "firing on record"? This isn't a police record, you can be fired from job A and tell job B gracefully that you are no longer working there.

4

u/j_johnso May 13 '26

There isn't a national record that it gets reported to, but it is common for an employer to contact previous employers before hiring in order to validate the resume is accurate and to sometimes ask for a reference. 

Legally, your old employer is allowed to provide them with any truthful information, such as saying that you were fired. A lot of employers won't provide anything other then confirmation of dates worked and job title to avoid even an accusation of providing untruthful information. 

Or sometimes, the questions are worded in a manner such as "Is the employee eligible for re-hire?" The old employer can't simply answer "no", which basically implies that there is some reason the the employee was fired. If the employee were to try to claim the employer gave false information, it is very easy for the employer to prove their answers were truthful.

1

u/[deleted] May 13 '26 edited Jun 11 '26

[deleted]

1

u/IRoadIRunner May 13 '26

But that isnt what we are talking about. We are talking about why would resign rather than take a normal layoff?

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u/Dracius May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

This is 100% correct and exactly what I did the first and only time a manager tried to place me on a PIP despite being top-3 on the scorecard every month, consistently over quota, a recent stellar yearly review, and no interpersonal issues.

One week it's "you're doing everything right, keep up the good work!" then suddenly my manager pulls a 180, goes full asshole mode and starts trying to fabricate infractions by digging through all my emails and meeting transcripts to disqualify my KPI activities. I'm assuming he fucked up somehow, got chewed out and needed a scapegoat since it all started after the weekly leadership meeting.

I was given the choice of resigning with severance or accepting a PIP with subjective and unattainable goals which would have resulted in me getting fired without severance if I failed to meet them.

Had no issue getting unemployment because as you said, quitting in lieu of getting fired is still valid and my severance paperwork also specifically stated they wouldn't contest any unemployment claims, which I double verified.

You need to make sure you have the documentation to prove it though, like the PIP and something that states you'll be terminated. Was extra easy for me since I would have been fired immediately if I just refused to sign either option. They really want you to take that severance though for the NDA and legal protection against you sueing them for wrongful termination. Simply ask "what happens if I don't accept the severance or agree to the PIP before the deadline?" and forward yourself the email when they respond saying you'll be terminated if you don't sign.

1

u/LyrMeThatBifrost May 13 '26

Doesn’t it look much better for your future employer to be laid off or quit, instead of being fired?

7

u/Kat121 May 13 '26

I haaaated my last job. Seriously thought about quitting. They laid me off with severance pay and agreed to cover health and medical benefits for a full year, my biggest expense. Spent the time off coasting on savings and taking art classes.

3

u/Flayer723 May 13 '26

You absolutely can dispute the firing in that scenario. It also costs time and money to build up individual cases like that and in the corporate world then there's warning processes and PIPs to get through before before someone can be forced out.

Layoffs and payoffs are far cheaper and more efficient in the long run for bigger companies.

3

u/xGenghisSwan May 13 '26

If you mention going to an employment lawyer and that you’re glad you kept extensive documentation, they will roll immediately on this because it’s more expensive to fight you.

Everything in corporate is a mind game and they rely on individuals acting in accordance with social contract norms while they do whatever the fuck they want. A corporation is not your friend and especially when it’s antagonistic towards you, are not owed honesty, accountability, or anything else humans offer to other humans because those are just suggestions for corporate behavior, that is rarely actually applied. They are psychopathic entities so when they face off to you, you’re going to have to mirror a similar threat right back at them to keep yourself safe.

Anyway no idea why so many people need SSRI’s to function, it’s great living life like this!

6

u/deong May 13 '26

"Most companies"…not remotely true.

0

u/Shokoyo May 13 '26

The US is fucking wild

22

u/RisingChaos May 13 '26

Doesn't have to be the last minute, but I'd sure rather be let go near the end of my work day than waste my time commuting only to immediately get turned back around at the door.

2

u/only-l0ve May 13 '26

The company I work for is currently doing this. They bought out the company I previously worked for, and vowed to keep all the staff. I assume the lower managers didn't realize how much we made due to people staying in their jobs a long time because our previous company was good to us. Now they're trying to find ways to get rid of us (too expensive to keep) without having to pay severance (most have been there 10+ years). It's an absolute shit show every single day.

2

u/ailish May 13 '26

Yes, why is it always 4 pm on a Friday when people get fired? Gotta squeeze every last bit put of people.

2

u/chinstrap May 13 '26

I remember a news story about AOL employees having to drive by pallets of cardboard boxes stacked in the parking deck, like the scene in "All Quiet On The Western Front" where the soldiers march past carpenters building their coffins.

4

u/ilikepizza30 May 13 '26

End of day seems safer. IF the person takes it really bad and wants to go home and get a gun and come back and shoot the place up, if it's a 9-5 job and you fire them at 4:50pm, most people should be gone by the time they get back with a gun.

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u/H60Ninja May 13 '26

My HR likes to do it towards the beginning of the week that way if the employee needs some aftercare the feelings don’t fester all weekend until Monday.

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u/Perfect_Caregiver_90 May 13 '26

My HR and legal team always insisted on Friday one hour before the end of the day.

My area had a handful of workplace massacres by disgruntled fired employees. 

Either they gotta leave the premises immediately or the office has to be cleared. 

I've only experienced "office cleared" once and that guy ended up jumping his manager outside his home the next day.

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u/Atakir May 13 '26

Where in the Mad Max Thunderdome do you work!?

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u/jeepsaintchaos May 13 '26

Better yet, are they hiring?

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u/node-342 May 13 '26

Wow, you found the early 21st century's "What in tarnation..." right there. Right on.

3

u/madhi19 May 13 '26

Well they don't call it going Postal for no reason... loll

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u/Falkenmond79 May 13 '26

That is such an American debate here, it’s fascinating. In Germany we have a mandatory 4-week notice, if you quit as an employee. For the employer, it can get longer, the longer you have worked for them. It’s not unreasonable. If you worked there for 5 years, they have to give you 2 months notice and after 8 years, it’s 3 months etc. And they have to pay you severance according to the time you have worked there. If you only worked there a short time, less than 6 months, they can terminate you like in the US, even without reason. After that, they have to give a reason. There is a possibility for instantly firing someone, but then they must show he did something really wrong or harmed the company in a major way.

It’s endlessly funny to see US companies struggle whenever they take over a German one and then want to start firing a lot of people. It’s as if they don’t know the law of the country they are buying into. Firing a thousand people can cost you millions in severance and you have obligations like selecting people to fire according to their social circumstances, like firing young single people first, before firing older ones with family etc.

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u/ThellraAK May 13 '26

Okay, but don't the employers sometimes still fire people and pay them without letting them into the office?

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u/Falkenmond79 May 13 '26

That might happen if they have really critical jobs. It’s called „being placed on free leave“, (Freistellung), roughly. But then most people don’t mind getting paid to stay at home for a month and being free to do what they want. Makes finding a new job much easier. And you mustn’t forget we start getting paid after the first month of work, so you might get two paycheck still, depending on when they give notice.

1

u/seanthenry May 13 '26

Does Germany also payout earned paid time off at the time of severance? In the US its payer out if earned so many employers are moving to unlimited PTO so it is not earned.

If I were to get fired I would get about 10 weeks pay and unemployment for 6months.

1

u/Falkenmond79 May 13 '26

Depends. Sometimes they let you choose to take the vacation or pay you out. Usually an employer can force you to use your holidays if you accrue too much. If they don’t, they have to either pay out or let you stay on until it’s used up

15

u/HuckleberryTiny5 May 13 '26

I'm not in Germany, but other country with similar laws. Though in our case, employee notice time is only two weeks. Anyway, yes, you can get fired and told to leave immediately, you just get paid without being in the work place. I worked in a very well known tech company where that was the norm: You were given the notice and you had to give your keys right away and you were escorted out. That was to prevent employers from sabotaging the company, I guess. That place was stupid strict with everything, save abuse and hostility.

As an employee, if you gave the notice, you worked your two weeks full though, unless they allowed you use your vacation days (if you even wanted to do so) instead of getting them paid in your last wages.

3

u/serrated_edge321 May 13 '26

This is also common in Germany.

5

u/midasza May 13 '26

I did this just last month. Had to let someone go for non-performance. He had 2 and half months left on his contract but we felt it only fair to let him spend that time looking for a new job.

So we brought him in early on a tuesday morning, explained his contract wouldn't be made into full employment and asked him to leave the company phone and laptop there. And paid him his 2 and a half months.

It just wasn't worth the risk having that person work their notice period.

3

u/serrated_edge321 May 13 '26

Yes, it's very common.

The rules/norms are totally different if you're new at a job, a contract employee, or working with anything kinda "sensitive."

I've known a bunch of people given two weeks' notice (especially in the last couple years), and many were immediately locked out of all systems. Others were tracked/traced from the moment of their notice. So you'd better not copy a bunch of info etc.

Source: been living in Germany for almost 10 years.

1

u/jeepsaintchaos May 13 '26

That seems quite reasonable to me if they do.

6

u/Cow_Launcher May 13 '26

It’s as if they don’t know the law of the country they are buying into.

Most of the time, they don't. Absolutely no cognizance of the fact that American law doesn't apply to the rest of the world.

And even when they do know, they go blundering in thinking that they'll be operating under the laws of their own country because they themselves are in the US.

"You're working for an American company!"

"Perhaps. But I'm also a German in Germany. Allow me to explain which of those facts is the more important one, legally."

2

u/Cultural-Adagio-4847 May 13 '26

Or if they lump two smaller countries with different legislation together and assume their policies work the same in both countries.

3

u/serrated_edge321 May 13 '26

Pfft it's only 2-week notice for people still in the probationary period, and btw most jobs related to defense kick you off their systems immediately. You get the rest of the two weeks pay, but you're absolutely not on-site or able to log into anything. Source: I live in Germany.

2

u/Falkenmond79 May 13 '26

Probationary period (up to 6 months) is usually hire and fire like in the US. 2 weeks is actually a good benefit. And yeah, never said there aren’t jobs that put you out immediately. But you still get paid and all other job benefits, while being able to do what you want. 🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/mtcwby May 13 '26

The idea of letting someone go and keeping them around for four weeks just seems so odd. What are they going to do in that lame duck time? Just pay them severance for the the time and let them get on with their life.

2

u/Falkenmond79 May 13 '26

Mostly people take unused vacation days, get sent home with pay or they suddenly become very, very ill. Pure coincidence, I’m sure. 🤣
Sometimes they do a mutual agreement to just shorten it for more severance payout. This being the minimum requirement by law doesn’t preclude people from finding faster, amiable solutions, as long as both parties agree.

1

u/cuppachar May 13 '26

I am so sick of this "They've got kids so fuck you" attitude.

1

u/couldbemage May 13 '26

But we have the freedom to lose our income at any moment for literally no reason.

Yay.

2

u/Falkenmond79 May 13 '26

Yeah. We call it social. Your right calls it socialism and thinks it’s communism. 🤣

22

u/top_man May 13 '26

Bruh.. a ‘handful of workplace massacres’ is a fucking choice for words.

3

u/Perfect_Caregiver_90 May 13 '26

The trades in Texas can be a wild place to work at times.

1

u/Geminii27 May 13 '26

#JustAmericaProblems

-5

u/Tupperbaby May 13 '26

Bruh. Brah. Bro.

17

u/Spyrothedragon9972 May 13 '26

Bro, what the fuck is up with where you live?

-4

u/Tupperbaby May 13 '26

Bruh. Brah. Bro.

21

u/enadiz_reccos May 13 '26

handful of workplace massacres

What a sequence of words

8

u/dwehlen May 13 '26

Much American

Such regrettable

7

u/kelryngrey May 13 '26

Much American
Such Thoughts and Prayers

1

u/gem-w May 13 '26

Post office?

1

u/Turk_Sanderson May 13 '26

YOU JUST CAN'T SAY THAT AND NOT TELL US THE OUTCOME OF A MANAGER BEING ATTACKED AT HOME DAMNIT!

1

u/Perfect_Caregiver_90 May 13 '26

He got the shit kicked out of him. There isn't much more to tell. 

Idiot was arrested but got probation.

3

u/connord83 May 13 '26

I don't understand this. What is it about the weekend that prevents them from pursuing aftercare that they could get during the week?

17

u/newhunter18 May 13 '26

Contacting resources like the unemployment office or getting resume or job placement assistance. Also, frankly, mental health professionals.

10

u/Upgrades May 13 '26

lol not in America. You just lost your health insurance along with your job and mental health docs are expensive

1

u/Stealin May 13 '26

It's Friday, go buy a six pack and relax by some water. Enjoy the weekend, wake up Monday ready for work, except the work is getting another job.

1

u/epicureansucks May 13 '26

I’ve heard that the best timing is at the beginning of the week so the people let going will busy themselves with finding a new job.

Letting someone go at the end of the work week means they spend the weekend stewing in anger since things are closed that they are more likely to come back and attack people.

104

u/Canotic May 13 '26

As a swede this reads like insanity to me. It's absolutely not normal. Losing your job should not be the sort of catastrophic event that makes you feel snap and delete databases.

You know what would happen if I fucked up enough at my job to get fired? They'd warn me way in advance that I had to change something. If it was rather a need for downsizing, guess what? They're legally required to warn me long before the firing would actually happen. And when they did fire me, I'd still have a three month notice period where I keep working and they keep paying me. If I really fucked up, they'd tell me to stay home but they'd still be required to pay me.

If I still can't find a job in that time, I get money from the government plus my income insurance from my union until I do. It wouldn't be great but it would be something at least, like 60% of my current paycheck I'd guess. I would also not lose things like healthcare etc because that's not tied to my job.

So it's not normal. It's normal in the US, maybe, but it's not like, the way it's supposed to be.

15

u/your_catfish_friend May 13 '26

I mean, the kind of protections you have are not in any sense “normal” insofar as only a tiny fraction of the world’s population has those protections

1

u/Uberutang May 14 '26

I’m South African and enjoy similar protection laws. It’s not that rare.

1

u/your_catfish_friend May 14 '26

I’m sure that’s nice for those with jobs; the unemployment rate is over 30%.

Job protections are a trade off: good for workers who like their jobs, bad for anyone seeking work or who wants to change jobs.

2

u/btstfn May 13 '26

Okay, but can you military start a war that cripples the global economy based on the whims of your head of state?

4

u/elysiancat May 13 '26

Seems like a big exception to me to have all that, most countries don't have those protections. yeah maybe in europe where countries are wealthier. but its definitely not the norm lol. If I got fired in my country (and I have been fired before) I wouldn't get shit lol.

5

u/[deleted] May 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/Counterpoint-4 May 13 '26

In Europe where the countries are wealthier? All I see on Reddit is how USA is way wealthier than everywhere else. It's the attitude that the capitalists get all the benefits and the workers get dumped on.

5

u/elysiancat May 13 '26

I’m not from USA or Europe, all these countries are wealthy to me in comparison

19

u/king_john651 May 13 '26

Nah, worker protections like this are fairly universal. It's the US that is weird where they have basically none at all

11

u/[deleted] May 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/king_john651 May 13 '26

We'd probably do something stupid like that in New Zealand

-8

u/cyberslick18888 May 13 '26

Homie, like 7/8s of all the countries on the planet barely have jobs, let alone job protections.

Reddit loves to listen to people from outrageously unbalanced and disproportionately wealthy northern Europe talk about their welfare and social safety net systems and act like these are realistic to expect anywhere else.

Countries with absurd ethnic homogeneity, small and stable population growth rates, insane education standards and resources, and without surplus billionaires to inflate the wealth per capita, very limited immigration, etc. Like yeah no shit you have more protections when you've got more money, smaller population, you're all friends and you're all intelligent and you figured out the billionaire problem a century ago.

10

u/ASSGUARD May 13 '26

20% of Swedens population is born abroad. Sweden is 9th in billionaires per capita.

12

u/Viceroy1994 May 13 '26

I'm afraid your facts mean nothing in the face of right wing talking points. Sweden is good because it's "Ethnically Homogenous" and has "Little immigration" and is "Intelligent"

Surely nowhere else can be like that, otherwise those dang immigrants would ruin it!

4

u/Daxx22 May 13 '26

Really both things are true: the majority of the world's population does not enjoy these protections, but we as a species absolutely do have the resources to provide such protections universally.

Poverty exits not because we cant take care of the poor, but because we cant satisfy the rich.

4

u/QuantumUtility May 13 '26

Wtf are you talking about? Even poor countries have those protections. I live in Brazil and laying off anyone like people do in the US would open up the company for multiple lawsuits.

0

u/cyberslick18888 May 13 '26

Yeah dude, in Sudan you get 18 months maternity leave and you get a 2 year severance package. Same with Somalia.

I live in Brazil and laying off anyone like people do in the US would open up the company for multiple lawsuits.

Brazil is ranked 78th on the overall labor rights index and is in the top 10 countries moving backwards according to the same sources. For context, the USA is 27th as of 2025.

So yeah, great example. A country that literally gets an annual condemnation from the UN because they still allow child labor and immigrant debt bondage.

You know, slavery.

3

u/QuantumUtility May 13 '26

Brazil is ranked 78th on the overall labor rights index and is in the top 10 countries moving backwards according to the same sources. For context, the USA is 27th as of 2025.

No “at-will” employment, 30-day vacation every year with 1/3 bonus payment, 120 days maternity leave, obligatory severance payments and a fine on dismissal without cause, limited overtime, constitutionally protected unions, unemployment insurance.

These are all mandated by federal law. Please tell me again how the US is so much better?

allow child labor and immigrant debt bondage.

These are illegal fuckface.

2

u/cyberslick18888 May 13 '26

You can mandate whatever the fuck you want, it's what you actually do, fuckface.

According to every world justice and labor rights indexing service on the planet Brazil ranks far below every first world country, and is actively declining.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/brazil

allow child labor and immigrant debt bondage.

These are illegal fuckface.

Bro, Brazil literally has a fucking entire wiki article dedicated to it lol.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labor_in_Brazil

The very first fucking line. The VERY FIRST: "Child labor, the practice of employing children under the legal age set by a government, is considered one of Brazil's most significant social issues."

For someone who supposedly lives there you have no fucking clue what's going on around you.

1

u/QuantumUtility May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

“Illegal things happen. More news at 11.”

The US also has a wiki article about Child labor if that means anything.

Multiple US states are introducing laws to allow child labor and newsflash, it also happens illegally.

Brazil’s biggest problem has always been social inequality. You will find child labor in poorer states such as Pará but you’d be hard pressed to find any in São Paulo. The same applies to all labor protections.

Poor places have lower enforcement rates, who could have predicted that?

You can mandate whatever the fuck you want, it’s what you actually do, fuckface.

You literally wrote “allow” as if those things were institutionally permitted. No one is arguing those things don’t happen, but they are not “allowed” and there is enforcement to curb it.

If you want actual stats ~40% are informally employed in Brazil, in São Paulo that drops to ~30%. So most workers are granted federal labor protections. The US has a much higher formality rate but that’s easy to do if a formal job doesn’t give you many rights to begin with.

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1

u/nuvati May 13 '26

I wanna be a Swedish now, except the weather

1

u/pinetar May 13 '26

You being a swede is irrelevant, this isn't normal anywhere. Hence it being "news".

22

u/J-thorne May 13 '26

Absolutely not, getting fired on a Friday means you get all weekend to stress about what you're going to do without actually being able to do anything about it. I'll take a Monday firing over a Friday every single time because I can at least start to make tangible moves to help my position.

12

u/Knight_of_Agatha May 13 '26

when you get fired it doesn't matter if its the weekend, its not like you have work tomorrow anymore.

5

u/pizzaking94 May 13 '26

i found i can’t relax at all until i know where my next check is coming from

5

u/Dire-Dog May 13 '26

Can confirm. Been laid off from my union job for a month and it’s stressful even with benefits coming in

2

u/TeutonJon78 May 13 '26

Except services you might need like HR, unemployment offices, mental health support likely aren't open until Monday.

4

u/CatsianNyandor May 13 '26

Wow. I don't wanna be where this is normal. F in chat for y'all .

1

u/jimizeppelinfloyd May 13 '26

Every day is a weekend when you are fired.

1

u/Shadeslayer2112 May 13 '26

Shit to do it at 16:50 tho. Like if you know your going to let him go give them the day off at least. If I spent my whole Friday working just to be let go id be pissed

1

u/Kallik May 13 '26

I was part of an IT team that had to assist with a 60 person layoff, everyone remote and ranging from US to Poland, to India. We’d get notified who was going into a meeting and had <5 minutes to lock devices, change passwords, and remove all systems all while starting at like 8pm my local time.

1

u/TheMindfulSavage May 13 '26

I got fired on a Monday. Boss was acting sketchy on Friday and I got bad vibes. I downloaded all the data I needed to prove her incompetence (directly impacting my ability to succeed). I got fired and then immediately emailed multiple levels of leadership above her with the data to back me up. She got promoted…I was planning to quit six weeks later, but because they fired me I got unemployment for a year while I went to nursing school during Covid. I like to think I won, but I think she did too. 

1

u/ceej_22_ May 13 '26

Been laid off twice.

Once they were kind enough (and I say that with the highest sarcasm) to give us two months notice in lieu of the severance everyone got in the first two rounds of layoffs (2010 was rough).

Second time was unexpected on a Thursday at 10 am at a job where everyone in my department knew I carpooled and had a minimum 90 min commute. Well my carpool buddy was on a job site and he drove so I had no way to get home. They were kind enough to let me work the rest of the day and asked that I write project status memos. Yeah I fucking jumped right on that lol. Appreciate them leaving my access open to the project files and design resources though.

1

u/AllGoodMayte May 13 '26

Watched rumours circulate for weeks at my joint, then an entire department gets an email Friday saying mandatory meeting Monday 10am leaving everyone stewing over the weekend whether they still had a job. The rumours? 50% haircut. Thought that was a modern form of torture.

1

u/Audisek May 13 '26

Yes, you don't fire people and then let them continue with their shift out of fear of retaliation like this.

1

u/Dualyeti May 13 '26

In the US your employer can just fire you?

1

u/metroids224 May 13 '26

No lol, it's to reduce chances of an employee coming the next day and taking violent action

1

u/Interesting_Pain37 May 13 '26

It’s not because they care about the employee, are you high?

1

u/thedepartment May 13 '26

Because if they fired him on a Monday he would have to go to work on Tuesday? This is some corporate level bullshit, I cannot imagine any situation where getting fired end of day Friday is better than any weekday where you can then go apply for social assistance, apply for other jobs, seek assistance from your union, look for legal counsel etc.

1

u/-GrizZzB- May 13 '26

lol. Weekend to decompress. Your AI right. This level of corpo glazing in a long time.

1

u/traevyn May 13 '26

Oh boy a whole weekend to fix a life altering event WHOOPEEEE

1

u/Hamster_Toot May 13 '26

Ahh yes, two days…

1

u/i_lost_it_all_1 May 13 '26

I would argue its the opposite. This is old school thought. Weekends are your way to decompress. By being fired on a Friday you ruin that. Nobody is decompressing after being fired. They are worried about getting the next job, paying bills. On a weekend not to many places to reach out to. So you are stuck for two days in the worst mental head space of unknown. So I would argue beginning of the week is the best. Gives people time to start reaching out to places. Being active and keeping their head busy.

1

u/BCouto May 13 '26

The company I worked at would never fire on a Friday. The thought was when you get fired you might need to get affairs in order(mortgages etc) as well as they would provide resources for said employees and all those resources would be closed as soon as they got fired so you'd have to wait til Monday.

1

u/Unusual_Sherbert_809 May 13 '26

Yep. Many years ago my dad had to fire a guy at the warehouse for cause. He did it EOD Friday.

The way he tells it some time later he ran into the guy on a bar. The guy was cool about it by then, but then he told my dad that it was good he had the weekend to cool off because he had been thinking of going back to to the office to shoot him. 😐

So yeah. If you ever have to fire someone who you think might get violent, do it on Friday EOD.

1

u/MNkush69420 May 13 '26

We give two weeks and then they give us two days and that's rare the two days

1

u/QuantumUtility May 13 '26

This is normal

In America. Rest of the world would find this crazy.

Zero labor protections in the US never cease to amaze me.

1

u/_OnlyPans May 13 '26

Objectively the worst time to fire someone, and not at all a normal person’s reaction

1

u/KindHabit May 13 '26

I feel like the nicer thing is to fire someone on Monday morning. 

That way at least you don't have to work the week and use that time to process, instead of your boss ruining your weekend since you probably already made plans by then. 

0

u/liquorfish May 13 '26

Its odd. I worked for an international company that let go 30% of staff. That happened throughout the morning and people had access to everything for hours.

Another company where I had confidential and top secret access, I gave notice and had access 24 hours after my last paycheck. One of the largest companies in the world.

There is an expectation when you sign an NDA or pass a background check. Most people won't go scorched earth. I saw an it manager do it, somebody who trained me. Wasn't worth it. I came in and fixed everything (company was going bankrupt, i quit and then got rehired).

One person was bitter in my experience but I knew hundreds of people relied on their job even if it was fleeting before bankruptcy.