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Man says he was fired for givi...

WTF?

Man says he was fired for giving out about his company Christmas gift

Jonathan Duane
Jonathan Duane

03:58 8 Jan 2020


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He was not impressed.

A Canadian man is claiming he was sacked from his job after he lashed out at his company on Twitter, over what he perceived as a 'cheap' staff Christmas gift.

Hussien Mehaidli was allegedly fired from his role US-based company Fastenal on December 30.

The stoush began when Mr Mehaidli and other Canadian Fastenal workers received a $US6 (€5.40) bottle of barbecue sauce and a wooden barbecue scraper with the Fastenal logo as a Christmas gift.

Speaking to CTVNews, the 27-year-old explained that in previous years, workers received a far more generous goodie box filled with treats ahead of the holidays, which he and his colleagues “always really appreciated”.

And after finding out that American workers of the company received a full gift box, he took a Twitter account to vent.

What kind of multi billion-dollar company gifts it’s (sic) Canadian employees barbecue sauce as a holiday gift? Yet the USA employees stuff their face with an actual holiday gift box!” he posted alongside Fastenal’s US and Canadian handles and a snap of the gift.

He also complained further after claiming the company’s CEO urged staff to “share something from the holiday gift box”.

“SHARE WHAT??!! MY BARBECUE SAUCE?? To every Canadian Fastenal employee I am sorry we all had to go through this,” Mr Mehaidli said.

Mr. Mehaidli's Twitter rant. Source: Twitter.

He told CTVNews the gift felt like an insult.

“I work really hard. We get pushed really hard to reach our sales goals,” he said.

“I felt I gave this company so much and I felt really disrespected when I was given barbecue sauce as a holiday gift.”

The day after Mr Mehaidli posted the tweet, he claims he was called by his manager – who referred to him by his Twitter handle – and ordered him to delete the tweet.

And just 10 days later, he received another call from his manager who he claims fired him.

“My district manager said, ‘I fought for you, the regional VP fought for you, but corporate in the US wants you out’,” Mr Mehaidli said, adding a follow-up letter explains he was let go for the “violation of standards of conduct policy – acceptable conduct section”.

Mr Mehaidli told the network it was tough to be sacked just after Christmas when there were “bills to be paid” and said he believed he “was done very, very dirty”.

The story has divided the public, with some agreeing the company was wrong to sack Mr Mehaidli while others argue he brought the situation on himself.

“Calling them out wasn’t the issue. He simply tweeted a picture of his disappointing gift. The issue is that he was fired for it. There were no grounds for that. It was a bully move, after US employees were clearly favoured,” one Twitter user wrote.

“That’s his fault. It was a dumb move to tag his employers. What company is going to keep an employee who publicly disparages them? Next time think twice before you hit send,” another argued.

While one person posted: “I saw this on the news, while posting it was an error in judgment, I do understand the confusion you most certainly had. I’m very sorry it led to losing your job that seems a bit severe.”


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