Current Events > Man fires 90% of his company for missing a meeting

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/this-ceo-fired-90-of-his-staff-for-missing-a-morning-meeting-he-stands-by-the-choice/ar-AA1uJnGs

They were unpaid interns.

If his business can sustain the loss of workforce, I kinda see where he's going with that.

But for some reason I'm not sure he has the clear direction I think was possible with that.

90% of his company were unpaid positions? A literal operations manager was an unpaid position?

What in the fuck kind of company is this

While some attempted to cancel me, it has completely backfired, Oddson wrote. Our traffic has surged to over 20,000 views, sales are at an all-time high, and were receiving hundreds of applications daily.
I stand by my decisions and the values we uphold, he went on. Firing those individuals was the right move for our organization, and we are stronger than ever. (Oddson didnt immediately respond to Fortunes request for comment.)
Even so, Oddsons LinkedIn profile picture is framed by the ubiquitous purple #HIRING banner.

Hundreds of applications daily, yet still hiring. Huh. Think somebody's not being as truthful as they could be.

I'm so confused as to why 99 people didn't show up for the meeting.

GeminiDeus posted...

I'm so confused as to why 99 people didn't show up for the meeting.

Sounds like there may have been scheduling confusion, since even people who had worked there awhile got fired:

Internally, everyone was put into a frenzy, the intern wrote. There were some workers that had worked with the CEO for literal years and had no warning about something like this. A big problem was that because all of the workers are unpaid and remote, they all had different schedules, so apparently it was difficult to set a specific time for attendance, which was what the CEO was so mad about.

Admittedly I didn't read the entire article, but it sounds like they were unpaid interns and some of them had other obligations since they were unpaid.

Unpaid work doesn't pay the bills. I say this CEO did these interns an unintentional favor. That 10% who didn't quit should leave too. "Unpaid intern" is a scam.

If that many people missed a meeting, that's on the person who set up the meeting imo. That's not just a couple people being confused. That's no one understanding what the expectation was

Unpaid internships are a scam

Also it's one for an online site that sells instruments lmao

HashtagSEP posted...

Hundreds of applications daily, yet still hiring. Huh. Think somebody's not being as truthful as they could be.

People like this seek validation for how shitty they are.

CEOs refuse to admit that remote work and loosening their grip works.

Corporate values mean jack shit.

HashtagSEP posted...

Sounds like there may have been scheduling confusion, since even people who had worked there awhile got fired:

Yeah, I read that part and I guess I didn't understand the context that long-time employees also got fired. The whole thing just doesn't make sense.

A few people missing a meeting is on them if 90% of the staff misses a meeting there was an error up the chain.

Irony posted...

Also it's one for an online site that sells instruments lmao

And accessories....

...at about 10% higher than other online storefronts.

Imagine if Fandom fired all of their unpaid intern mods on here for missing the mod meeting.

aarrgus posted...

And accessories....

...at about 10% higher than other online storefronts.

targeting classical musicians, all of which who would rather buy their instruments in person or at least from a provider with actual credentials.

Well then he didn't really "fire" them, did he? He just told them not to come back.

Unpaid internships should be illegal

I don't think it's possible for someone to be more stereotypically Boomer than that CEO

CEOs never think to fire themselves for these kinds of dumb decisions. It's always everyone else who's wrong.

Euripides posted...

Unpaid internships should be illegal

I dunno, I kind of disagree because if you had to pay EVERYONE who wanted work experience while trying to work their way into a field you'd probably see a lot fewer opportunities in general, which to me is a net negative.

Paid internships should exist more for people who are trying to eventually secure a position at the company they're interning at. Unpaid internships are better for people who want to gain experience in a field but don't necessarily have any ambitions to seek employment at the place they're interning at. There should be a way for people to check out the workflow and general demands of working in that industry without having to commit to it and it's easier to convince companies to offer such openings by letting them bring people on in an informal relationship.

Get an entry level position, not an internship that never ends or matures into that same entry level position.

Solid_Sonic posted...

I dunno, I kind of disagree because if you had to pay EVERYONE who wanted work experience while trying to work their way into a field you'd probably see a lot fewer opportunities in general, which to me is a net negative.

Paid internships should exist more for people who are trying to eventually secure a position at the company they're interning at. Unpaid internships are better for people who want to gain experience in a field but don't necessarily have any ambitions to seek employment at the place they're interning at. There should be a way for people to check out the workflow and general demands of working in that industry without having to commit to it and it's easier to convince companies to offer such openings by letting them bring people on in an informal relationship.

Disagree.

If you can't run your business without using unpaid labor, you shouldn't own a business.

Full stop.

Only thing unpaid interns should be doing is observing. The moment you have them do something others are paid to do, you should pay them

Solid_Sonic posted...

I dunno, I kind of disagree because if you had to pay EVERYONE who wanted work experience while trying to work their way into a field you'd probably see a lot fewer opportunities in general, which to me is a net negative.

Paid internships should exist more for people who are trying to eventually secure a position at the company they're interning at. Unpaid internships are better for people who want to gain experience in a field but don't necessarily have any ambitions to seek employment at the place they're interning at. There should be a way for people to check out the workflow and general demands of working in that industry without having to commit to it and it's easier to convince companies to offer such openings by letting them bring people on in an informal relationship.

What you are explaining is still a scam.

Unpaid work doesn't pay the bills. So essentially you are defending a company seeking workers who are privileged enough to not need compensation for their time. A privilege that most Americans can't happily enjoy given most Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Even many of the ones not living paycheck to paycheck aren't privileged enough to go months without income.

So like this CEO, it's asking for unpaid workers to give dedication, time and care to an employer.... for free.

Nevermind your proposal of intent to work at an establishment that oh btw, might not even hire you. So on top of working somewhere for months or even years for free... the company can still turn around and not hire you.

Scam. It's a scam if they hire you or not if they have you working at all during your tenure.

Solid_Sonic posted...

I dunno, I kind of disagree because if you had to pay EVERYONE who wanted work experience while trying to work their way into a field you'd probably see a lot fewer opportunities in general, which to me is a net negative.

Paid internships should exist more for people who are trying to eventually secure a position at the company they're interning at. Unpaid internships are better for people who want to gain experience in a field but don't necessarily have any ambitions to seek employment at the place they're interning at. There should be a way for people to check out the workflow and general demands of working in that industry without having to commit to it and it's easier to convince companies to offer such openings by letting them bring people on in an informal relationship.

From the article

The listing said the job would provide in-depth understanding of e-commerce operations within a competitive market, practical experience in managing and optimizing online sales platforms, and a high potential for full-time paid conversion in 2025.

LeTigre posted...

targeting classical musicians, all of which who would rather buy their instruments in person or at least from a provider with actual credentials.

If you are dropping 12-18k on a bassoon something tells me this guy isn't who you are buying it from... sounds to me like you'll go to the actual company for your in person shopping.

This guy is a glorified drop shipper.

Honestly it just sounds like this guy is a horrible boss and CEO and that he's relies entirely on unpaid work and that he's been stringing along his unpaid interns with the promise of a full job that will materialize in the future only when now that future nears there's a manufactured mass firing.

The company is called Musican Club. It deserves to be named and shame.

We should not be enabling pychopathic CEOs that think this stuff is normal.

RIP Man fires

He hired a bunch of college students as unpaid interns. Of course a ton of them missed an 8:30 meeting. Sounds like a terrible boss

Oh no, I don't get to work for a cheapskate for free anymore!

If they were unpaid while working for the company, does that mean the company now has to pay them...

...now that they *DON'T* work for the company?

Tom_Joad posted...

If they were unpaid while working for the company, does that mean the company now has to pay them...

...now that they *DON'T* work for the company?

No

HashtagSEP posted...

Hundreds of applications daily, yet still hiring. Huh. Think somebody's not being as truthful as they could be.

Places like this have insanely high turnover even when things are working properly.

But yeah hes clearly a clown. Communicating like that isnt even remotely professional.

The 90% unpaid thing is definitely weird.

Actually, now that I think of it, couldn't this guy get in trouble for this? The whole reason unpaid internships are allowed is because the students are "buying" experience with their time. But it's not supposed to conflict with their school commitments.

I feel like an 8:30 meeting conflicts with what most full time students would be doing. They could argue that he was exploiting them for free labor rather than working around their class schedules

NoxObscuras posted...

Actually, now that I think of it, couldn't this guy get in trouble for this? The whole reason unpaid internships are allowed is because the students are "buying" experience with their time. But it's not supposed to conflict with their school commitments.

I feel like an 8:30 meeting conflicts with what most full time students would be doing. They could argue that he was exploiting them for free labor rather than working around their class schedules

I'm sure something will develop with this story, even if it isn't right away.

Yeah, the fact he immediately started ranting about people trying to "cancel" him before the story even actually came out seems like there's more to this.

HashtagSEP posted...

Hundreds of applications daily, yet still hiring. Huh. Think somebody's not being as truthful as they could be.

I don't really see the disconnect here? there's plenty of reasons you could get a lot of applications and not actually want to hire them (or alternatively if you fire people that easily mad you need to do regular replacements)

kirbymuncher posted...

I don't really see the disconnect here? there's plenty of reasons you could get a lot of applications and not actually want to hire them (or alternatively if you fire people that easily mad you need to do regular replacements)

He didn't just claim he was getting hundreds of applications a day, though. He claimed they were "stronger than ever."

Well the guy seems pretty unhinged but I'd probably think that too if I'd just fired a bunch of people who I perceived were not doing anything of value

honestly how did the company even have that many employees in the first place? what are they all doing? a site like this doesn't need 100 devs???