As hard as it might be to admit to ourselves, there are still workplaces out there in 2025 who fire someone without any hint of warning or backup plan.
Unfortunately, there’s really no telling if you might work for one of these places until you see them do something like this from the team, cringed the members of the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITAH) subReddit.
Redditor RecommendationOk7537 had been putting in extra hours at his workplace to complete a range of projects, including staying late one night to complete a project that had been put on pause for quite some time.
But when he arrived at work the next day, the Original Poster (OP) discovered that he had only been asked to stay late so he could finish his project before being terminated without notice or pay.
He asked the sub:
“AITAH for withholding passwords after being laid off?”
The OP’s supervisor asked him to stay late to finish a project.
“I was at work on a Thursday, and the CTO came in and told me that a software feature I’d been working on needed to be finished before tomorrow morning.”
“Okay, fine, I don’t have an issue working late, but it was a strange request given that they’d postponed the project for several months to have me working on other stuff.”
“Still, I stayed up until about 2:00 AM and finished the project.”
Then the OP found out why they wanted the project completed so suddenly.
“The next morning when I arrived at work, the CEO and CTO called me into a meeting to let me know that I was being laid off and that it would be my last day.”
“No two weeks, no severance pay.”
“They said, ‘We’ll need you to finish out today, working with the new guy to log all your logins and passwords and show him the rest of your code.'”
“To say I was angry was an understatement. I pointed out, ‘So you knew you were going to can me today, that’s why you made me work late yesterday? Does that seem wrong to you?'”
“They just stared at me, no apology, no acknowledgment.”
The OP gave the team an ultimatum.
“So I played my final card, ‘Alright. If you’re gonna play it this way, then it’s both a personal AND business issue. I need a job, so it’s to my benefit to quit right now and walk away, and start looking for work, rather than helping a company that clearly doesn’t care about me.'”
“‘If you want me to sit here and generate a list of passwords and train my replacement, then I want a two-week severance package, or I walk right now.'”
“They declined, and I walked out the door.”
“I called one of their vendors and let them know I was open to work, and had a new job within a week.”
“They were still emailing me to beg for ‘help’ weeks later.”
“Was I in the wrong?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
- NTA: Not the A**hole
- YTA: You’re the A**hole
- ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
- NAH: No A**holes Here
Some reassured the OP that he should have been treated as a consultant on that last day.
“NTA. They knew and decided to use you. So what you do, is email them back, as a consultant, and you have the right to set your rate of pay for your time. Make sure to get it in writing.”
“Also, a good contract with a nonrefundable deposit would also be a good thing to include.” – Careful-Natural-5217
“NTA. To get their passwords ought to be 500 dollars an hour. How bad do they want them? Did I say 500? I meant a thousand.” – zxvasd
“NTA. You gave them the same respect they gave you. If they want more information, they can pay you for your time.” – Park_Simple
“NTA. What they did was beyond dirty. If they still need help, tell them to hire you as a consultant on your terms, at at least four times your hourly rate and with far fewer available hours.” – RichardKopf
“The CTO of all people should know that no one should give away passwords. And the CTO should know the passwords, or know how to access them.” – Square-Ebb1846
“I have left more than one job and then been paid contract labor for more than I was making because they thought they could save money. Not my fault they got a lesson on trying to find cheaper labor.”
“I made sure my contract labor rate was over twice the rate they paid me originally and because of that, I had no hard feelings and didn’t mind doing it. One lasted over a year and I turned down multiple ‘rehire’ offers from them.” – AnnonAutist
“You had the presence of mind to negotiate with them; good for you! And you absolutely did the right thing.”
“Also, being fired like that isn’t necessarily a bad thing; if you spin it the right way, it can be a funny moment in your job interviews.”
“Interviewer: ‘So what happened at the last job?'”
“You: ‘The CTO asked me to work late to finish a feature that they needed, and then the next day, the CEO and CTO fired me. I asked for two weeks severance to stay and help with a transition, and they declined. So here I am, looking for a new job.'”
“Interviewer (shakes head at the previous workplace’s lack of logic).”
“Nope, you’re not in the wrong at all.” – talexbatreddit
Others felt the OP was better off than to work with a company with no integrity.
“Companies willing to lose out on thousands of dollars in order to avoid paying an employee hundreds will never stop boggling my mind.” – Dan-D-Lyon
“NTA. They are supreme a**holes. If you stayed the last day and helped them, you would be the king of a**holes… not just to yourself but to all the coworkers you’d be setting a working standard for.” – Santeeoldman
“My employment at my long-time employer (almost 20 years) ended in a similar manner to OP’s this summer. They didn’t even ask me to stay the day for logins or vendor contacts (I managed a department of the company that was a decent profit center and did a lot of vendor contacts to keep things moving) but the IT guy who was there to collect my work phone made sure to remind me to delete any personal stuff before I gave it to him.”
“Six months later they hired a replacement and called me to ask for the password to the phone. Not only did I not remember the password but I handed it to IT completely unlocked. They could have easily reset everything right then and there but no, the administration didn’t think that far ahead and was upset when I couldn’t remember it and that it was going to take their IT a week or two to get back into the phone.” – Sataypufft
“In response to all the Redditors suggesting that you become a contractor for them because you could charge them a bl**dy fortune… I wouldn’t advise returning there at any price.”
“They have revealed their character and most likely are looking for revenge too. Don’t expose yourself to these people ever again.”
“I had something similar happen to me. I was laid off by the MD just before the Christmas party announcement. I also walked with the ‘root’ password. I had another job before the end of the day.”
“They must be made to understand f**kwit behavior has consequences.” – bobbypet
“NTA. I am surprised they are still in business given how stupid they clearly are. Why would you p**s off the person with all the passwords to your systems?”
“NTA. They are lucky you didn’t log in pretending to set up all the passwords for them just to delete all the work you had done and really screw them.” – fiestafan73
“No, NTA. It is expected for employees to pay their workers for their work They chose to NOT accept your offer of work. You did your best. I’m glad you are in a better spot.” – Fun_Cap3666
“NTA! At all. I work in an industry that sounds similar from the little you were able to share, I own a business as a matter of fact and could not imagine treating any employee that way. Also, what state to do you work in where they can without notice just let you go on that day?! I know state laws change, and companies try and do strange s**t within those states based off of their policies.”
“Getting back to you, not the a**hole at all. It’s crazy that you were treated way, and good for you for protecting and standing up for yourself. Absolutely do not give them any help or passwords for any of your work. They don’t deserve you.” – Intrepid-Sherbet-861
“NTA. Stupid People do Stupid Things without thinking things through… the CEO and CTO being those stupid people. You NEVER mess with your IT folks. It will BLOW UP in their faces.”
“Just like in situations like this I always had an encryption key set, in case this happened to me. Short notice ? ‘Run F**kYou’ (Yes the OLD Days with RUN Commands!).”
“Once I knew we were being bought out, and everyone was waiting to hear, who would and would not be brought over to the new company. My boss let an email slip where he was discussing different personnel with the new bosses, and how he begged for his brother-in-law to keep his job. But not anyone of us who actually DID the work.”
“The day the decision came down, they promised us 6 months severance if we stayed on for the last 30 days. Needless to say, if you f**ked up or sabotaged anything, you wouldn’t get that six-month pay.”
“It was a good package, so the only thing I did was slacked off, and spent most of my time looking for a new job. Which I got, and I explained to the new place the situation about the severance. They had NO Idea waiting that few extra weeks for me to start. But my code was ready ‘just in case.'” – T9Para
“OP got another job. I’d likely just block the first company and ignore them. Too much trouble. When asked, say it’s been a month, and I don’t remember. Any company that has critical passwords and no shared password system deserves what they get.” – bethzur
The subReddit couldn’t help but judge the OP’s previous workplace for how they used his knowledge only to leave him without work, pay, or time to plan. It was refreshing to them to hear of someone standing up for themselves in the workplace; the former employers would have to take care of themselves on their own.