It may be one of the most curious employee stories of recent years: A company has to contact a fired employee after months because they cannot access a laptop.
The opening image is a stock photo and does not show the affected laptop.
What happened? The user spicyad explained in his post on Reddit from 2024 that he had been contacted by his former employer. In the message attached as a screenshot to the post, it says:
We are reaching out to clarify a logistical matter regarding the company laptop that you returned to us upon your departure. We are currently unable to reset it to factory settings for the new user because the welcome screen requires a password.
The unnamed employer is now politely requesting the corresponding password to gain access to the laptop. It follows the usual promise to treat the password confidentially and use it only for the reset.
The affected former employee comments on the contact attempt as follows:
That just makes me chuckle.
As background:
This company had invited me for an interview for a management position. I ultimately got the job. However, it only took 30 days for them to eliminate the position due to a “putting the cart before the horse” situation. Essentially, I uncovered all the illegal marketing practices and proposed solutions to fix them. They eliminated the problem – and that was “me.” Now they want my password.
With further comments from spicya, the case gains additional context: The affected laptop is said to be a MacBook, for which the company reportedly had neither IT support nor any security measures in place.
Don’t fall for phishing
How did the community react at the time? The post received 24,272 upvotes and 3,676 comments at the time. Many interested parties discuss the credibility of the story or the alleged incompetence of the company with the post creator. However, the story cannot be verified.
Some admit they have experienced similar situations in other companies. Additionally, some suspect a targeted phishing attempt to get the password – hoping it has also been used elsewhere.
spicya explains, however, that he still knows the sender of the email from his employment and that due to the short employment and bad experience, hardly anyone knows he has worked for this company.
Nevertheless, in this case too: One does not give out one’s password – no matter what reason someone asks for it. And from the company’s perspective, one should definitely think about how hardware is issued to employees, how it is protected, and how it is made available to the company again when the employment relationship ends. Thankfully, some other laptop problems can be solved more easily: The player wonders why her laptop overheats while gaming, the problem is solved with a simple adjustment
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