If you含羞草研究社檙e not told you are fired, are you really fired? At Twitter, probably. And then, sometimes, you get your job back 含羞草研究社� if you want it.

Haraldur Thorleifsson, who until recently was employed at Twitter, logged in to his computer last Sunday to do some work 含羞草研究社� only to find himself locked out, along with 200 others.

He might have figured, as others before him have in the chaotic months of layoffs and firings since Elon Musk took over the company, that he was out of a job.

Instead, after nine days of no answer from Twitter as to whether or not he was still employed, Thorleifsson decided to tweet at Musk to see if he could catch the billionaire含羞草研究社檚 attention and get an answer to his Schr枚dinger含羞草研究社檚 job situation.

含羞草研究社淢aybe if enough people retweet you含羞草研究社檒l answer me here?含羞草研究社� he wrote on Monday.

Eventually, he got his answer after a surreal Twitter exchange with Musk, who proceeded to quiz him about his work, question his disability and need for accommodations (Thorleifsson, who goes by 含羞草研究社淗alli,含羞草研究社� has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair) and tweet that Thorleifsson has a 含羞草研究社減rominent, active Twitter account and is wealthy含羞草研究社� and the 含羞草研究社渞eason he confronted me in public was to get a big payout.含羞草研究社� While the exchange was going on, Thorleifsson said he received an email that he was no longer employed.

Late Tuesday afternoon, however, Musk had a change of heart.

含羞草研究社淚 would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful,含羞草研究社� he tweeted. 含羞草研究社淗e is considering remaining at Twitter.含羞草研究社�

Thorleifsson did not immediately respond to a message for comment following Musk含羞草研究社檚 tweet. In an earlier email, he called the experience 含羞草研究社渟urreal.含羞草研究社�

含羞草研究社淵ou had every right to lay me off. But it would have been nice to let me know!含羞草研究社� he tweeted to Musk.

Thorleifsson, who lives in Iceland, has about 151,000 Twitter followers (Musk has over 130 million). He joined Twitter in 2021, when the company, under the prior management, acquired his startup Ueno.

He was lauded in Icelandic media for choosing to receive the purchase price in wages rather than a lump sum payout. That含羞草研究社檚 because this way, he would pay higher taxes to Iceland in support of its social services and safety net.

Thorleifsson含羞草研究社檚 next move: 含羞草研究社淚含羞草研究社檓 opening a restaurant in downtown Reykjavik very soon,含羞草研究社� he tweeted. 含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 named after my mom.含羞草研究社�

Twitter did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

By Barbara Ortutay

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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