Employee gets the better of company that fired him for calling out 'illegal marketing practices'

At times, employers don't realize the value of an employee until after they fire them. A similar situation happened to an employee, u/spicyad, who worked for very few days with an employer until they fired him for calling out the company's "illegal marketing practices." The employee shared his story on Reddit and laughed at how months later, the company realized they needed his assistance.

The employee's post was titled, "Former employer wants my password to the computer I used 6 months after terminating me." He shared the backstory and the screenshot of an email received from the employer seeking assistance. "This just makes me giggle," he wrote, expressing his feelings about the situation. Apparently, the employee was working in a management position for the company but lasted only 30 days in their role because of a "cart before the horse" situation. "Basically, what happened was I called out all the illegal marketing practices happening and offered solutions to fix them. They got rid of the problem, which was me," the employee wrote.

Six months later, the company sent a mail to the employee, requesting him to share his laptop's password. They wanted to "discuss a logistical matter" related to the company laptop the employee had returned before they fired him. It turned out the employer could not perform a "factory reset to prepare the laptop for the next user." So, they had no other choice but to get back in touch with the employee they fired for calling out their malpractices. They even tried to reason with the employee and said, "Any information provided will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and will only be used to reset the laptop." 

Guess who had the last laugh? The employee was so glad the incompetent management got a taste of their own medicine. However, many people wondered if resetting the password would be a cakewalk for the IT department and the company could have easily accomplished it. So, the employee responded in the comments, saying, "They didn't use any security measures when they issued me the laptop." He also mentioned, "While I was there, I don't ever remember there being a dedicated IT team. I dealt with HR directly for almost everything. Really incompetent company that thrives on the word 'scrappy' and they promote that mentality."

Thousands of comments poured in, rallying around in support of the employee. "Six months? There is no way I'm remembering a password I haven't been using frequently after 6 months, especially for a job I'd only held for 30 days. I wouldn't be able to help them even if I wanted to," commented u/dinosore. "You keep giving them new passwords each day. 'Uh... try this: ur4J9#aXJ.' Next day, 'Oh, that didn't work? Hmm. Try this: w52MaKa2h.' Repeat until they stop asking. Always wait a day between each response," joked u/Charleston2Seattle. "This is strange. In the best-case scenario, they are lying and need a file on your computer. In the worst case, they themselves have been compromised and if you give this person your password, they will try to use it to get into your personal accounts. Ignore this message and never give anyone your password for any reason," suggested u/crythene.