A text exchange between a boss and a former employee has gone viral because of a completely outrageous request.
Ben Askins, a UK work expert, has carved out a niche online, sharing anonymous text message exchanges between employers and their staff.
Mr Askins has racked up millions of views by giving people a peek into working relationships across the world, and this latest one is really something.
“Hey. I know this probably isn’t the best time to ask, but we’re really struggling with the new ticketing process,” the boss in question wrote.
“Is there any chance you could come in and run the new guy through it?”
It sounds polite and innocent enough – but there’s just one problem.
“Are you having a laugh? You fired me last week,” the ex-employee responded.
Rather than take the hint, the boss wrote back again, explaining that they wouldn’t have asked if the matter wasn’t important and arguing that it wouldn’t take long.
“I know this is awkward. I promise you will get a coffee for the favour,” they added.
“I will do it, but I want it to be a remote tutorial, and I will charge you for half the day,” the former employee said.
“Remote work is fine but half a day’s pay? This will only take a few minutes,” the boss argued.
“That is the deal,” the ex-employee said.
“Fine but I am disappointed this is the way you are playing this,” the boss wrote back.
Mr Askins was appalled by the boss, arguing that he was “really pushing his luck” and that situations like this could be avoided if there was a simple and decent training guide.
The workplace expert also leapt to the defence of the former employee, saying he was well within his rights to want to be paid.
“The fact he is charging is completely okay. He is giving up his time and he really doesn’t have to do it,” he said.
Mr Askins said that the former boss believing he shouldn’t have to pay his ex-staffer was “absolutely ridiculous”.
People online were stunned by the audacity of the former boss, and particularly bemused that he was trying to compensate his ex-worker with only a coffee.
“A coffee? After being fired? I would not have even answered the text,” one wrote.
“A coffee? No!” someone else remarked.
“Why would you get rid of the one person that knows how to do something?” another wondered.
“I wouldn’t have even responded,” someone else claimed.
Another social media user dubbed it a “ridiculous ask”, while one person said it was completely “wild” of the boss to even ask, and a third argued the ex-worker was being far too “generous” with his time and rate.