A TikToker has gone viral after claiming they were fired via Slack for choosing to work from home, even though working remotely was allegedly part of their job description.
In a video with over 226,000 views, user Chad (@_missionaryimpossible) alleges he was fired over Slack after telling his boss that he planned to work from home, something he says was a common occurrence at the Austin, Texas-based company.
The first video shows the Slack conversation, with a follow-up showing the aftermath of his firing.
@_missionaryimpossible Replying to @mizzmusty the more i think about the more I realize how much these people lack self-awareness. #slack #fired #greenscreen ♬ original sound – Was it the Chad?
In the video, viewers can see Chad’s original message, in which he tells his manager that he’s going to work from home an hour before he’s set to start.
When the manager gets into the office, they send a message inquiring why Chad isn’t there. He calls her, which she ignores, then sends her a message saying that he’d rather work from home as he can “get through the list [of calls he has to make] if [he doesn’t] have distractions.”
“There are dogs in the office. There are people that love to talk. There’s…mailmen and deliveries all day long,” he explains in the video. “So it’s just like, if I can just…sit down, do 50 calls, kill it for the day, that’s what I wanted to do.”
Plus, Chad claims working remotely doesn’t actually affect day-to-day operations, as most of the work is online.
“Most of our staff is remote,” he shares. “Everything is in the cloud. We don’t have paperwork.”
In response to this message, the manager asks what distractions are present in the office. Instead of entertaining this question, Chad asks if there are any issues with him working from home that day.
The manager answers by saying the job was intended to be in-office and that in-office distractions are an insufficient reason for working from home. One of the stated valid reasons she offers is an illness.
“Girl, if I don’t feel good, I’m taking a sick day,” Chad notes.
To this message, Chad replies that it was his understanding that he had the option to work from home and would still be doing so that day, but that he would be happy to discuss the issue in the coming workday. Furthermore, he voiced his opinion that if his work is not suffering when working at home, he did not see the issue with him continuing to do so.
After this message, Chad was sent a message from another employee informing him that he was fired.
“This [message] was sent on Slack from someone working at home!” he exclaims at the video’s end.
Chad’s claim that he works better at home is an idea shared by many. In fact, a majority of people working from home claim that they are more productive than when they work in the office, per Vox.
In an Instagram DM exchange with Daily Dot, Chad said that it was not uncommon for employees—including himself—to spontaneously decide to work from home.
“I’ve worked from home before. I even used super lame excuses to stay home like, ‘I have a package being delivered’ and they were like ‘okay no problem!'” he wrote. “So that’s why I was so confused. No one ever complains about the schedule or availability of employees until this random day.”
In a follow-up video, Chad says he still hadn’t received his last paycheck, despite it being more than 6 calendar days since his termination. This goes against Texas law.
@_missionaryimpossible Replying to @rx0rcist theyre literally like “oopsie teehee i forgot”. I have bills to pay wtf. #fired #texas ♬ original sound – Was it the Chad?
Chad later confirmed with Daily Dot that there is no update regarding his payment. He also said his failure to be paid made him late on bills, requiring him to borrow money from family.
“Since I asked for the update on payment timeline and they told me Monday, I immediately took other TikTokers’ advice and filed a wage claim with the Department of Labor,” he detailed. “It’s one of those things where I wouldn’t even care if it was a symbolic dollar.”
Still, all things considered, he says he’s happy to be out of what he says was an unpleasant working environment.
“The office vibe in general was really toxic because the owner would be talking about her politics and despise for PC culture, political conspiracy, and about herself so much,” he explains. He is also now turning the Slack messages into positive products, making merchandise featuring some of the messages’ more incendiary lines.
Some commenters under Chad’s original TikTok said that it was his communication style that was the issue, not working from home. To these commenters, Chad said that communication was an issue in general at the office.
“…Instead of communicating effectively with me [they] just lashed out,” he recalls. “The entire time I was there I never received any training. It was just a ‘[trial] by fire’-type company. I would regularly email or call with questions and I rarely got responses from them. Or if I did, you could tell they didn’t actually read my email by their response.”
“It’s just all around a lack of self-awareness and respect for employee from the owner,” he concludes.
In the comments under the first video, many users supported Chad.
“When an employer interprets boundary setting as insubordination that’s how you know they’re used to abusing their employees,” one commenter wrote.
“Middle management loves being middle management,” another said.
“And employers wonder why they can’t retain staff…” shared a further user.
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