‘I thought he was joking…’: Mediocre tech who's worked for the company for 3 years preaches about flat earth to the new manager of 2 months, gets fired

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Dec 8, 2025 9:00 AM EST

When it comes to management, difficult decisions need to be made constantly. Even when you have just started! Take this new manager of an IT team who started just a few months ago. He had an okay tech, pretty mediocre, but he's worked there several years, so whatever. However, he was already in change mode which tends to happen when companies are making moves and hire a new manager. So when this tech started ranting about flat earth and preaching "flat earther" stuff during the office lunch, he had a decision to make. He was already on the hunt to hire new techs, so he decided to let this one go. Was this a smart move? It's being debated in the comments. 

 

On one hand, he was ranting like a crazy person about a belief that has been disproven over and over again, even by people in its own society. This makes this employee a liability because what if he brings this kind of talk to the customer? You could not only lose a client, but also your reputation! On the other hand, employees are allowed to believe whatever they want and a lunch setting can be pretty laid back when it comes to conversation subjects. Maybe a warning would have sufficed, instead of being immediately fired. What would you do?

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  • 01

    "AITAH... I found out one of the guys working under me is a legit flat earther so I fired him."

    for young intercultural office workers having chinese wok for lunch by workplace
    via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    One of our service techs is a legit flat earther. He has been working with the company for a couple years but I have only been managing the department and him for a few months.
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 03
    He came in for a training and while we were all at lunch went into a while flat earth rant trying to convince us that the earth was flat, gravity wasn't real the moon and sun were the same size and a bunch of other wild shit.
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 04
    At first I thought he was joking and just putting on a show but he was dead serious, dude makes YouTube videos about it and everything.
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 05
    We are hiring for a new tech and got a bunch of qualified applicants. I decided to let this guy go and hire someone a little more mentally stable that I can trust not to make our company look like idiots to our customers.
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 06
    He was a decent Tech but nowhere near our best and I just feel when can get someone in that position that is a much better fit.
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 07
    man using a map in an office downtown
    via Unsplash+ (and Curated Lifestyle)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 08
    Unhappy-Music-5889 Was this guy bad at his job though? I mean even though his ideologies may be a bit wrong, I don't see how it matters if they don't affect his job performance. Has he gone on rants like this often? If not, he could just be told to keep these opinions to himself and go on with the job, right? Firing him may be a bit extreme
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 09
    OP itsallwayssunnyin Is believing the earth is flat an "ideology"?
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 10
    rabbithole-xyz If I was a customer, and a tech person was blathering on about a flat earth, I would never, ever contact that company again. I don't want any contact with crazies.
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 11
    aroundincircles This is a question for your HR department. I had a guy I fired because he was coming to work high/drunk/intoxicated in one way or another. He still sued us because he wanted unemployment, and I had to defend my firing with showing corrective actions, warnings, additional trainings. Now any firing I do I go to HR first to make sure I follow a procedure as to keep me from being sued. I would not have fired him for being a flat earther, I would have brought up his rant in the breakr
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 12
    National_Impress_346 Ah, yes, this is the Reddit drama I crave at 7 in the morning! I would usually say it's wrong to fire people based on their personal beliefs. That said, dude literally went on a rant about nonsense while on the clock. If he's willing to do this around coworkers, bet your ass he's willing to also make clients uncomfortable by going on the same rants to them and asking them to check out his YouTube or whatever. If you operate in an at-will state, you can fire them for any reas
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 13
    iDrunkenMaster If he ever spoke like that to customers.... You likely lose repeats. Techs deal with customers directly multiple times a day. Not hidden away in the back of some office.
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 14
    SinfulCupcake21 If he's doing this at work, he's one rant away from scaring a customer
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 15
    VisibleCoat995 If you had any reports he was sharing his beliefs with customers I would say yes. But as far as this post says he never did that. Was there any attempt to address his behaviour (of apparently one time) talking about his beliefs with coworkers or did you go straight to firing? If this was a one time instance and no customers complained then this was lazy and kinda bigoted management. I don't know you but I do wonder if he was talking about Jesus with the same fervent way if he woul
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 16
    Sea-Operation-6123 If he's an at will employee then you can fire him for any reason you want. You should ask your HR department this question. I'm sure they would have an answer. I'm guessing they also would have a reaction to you telling everyone why you fired him. YTA - guy can believe the moon is made out of cheese ... as long as it doesn't impact his job performance you know damn well your decision was wrong. How much time are the service techs hanging out & chatting with customers about the
    via itsallwayssunnyin
  • 17
    One Ambassador_6414 Yeah, sounds like your are a major AH if im being honest. Yeah, I'm not a flat earther but let people believe what they want over something as silly as that. If it bothers you, sit the dude down and talk to him. Its a pretty piss-poor decision to fire someone over something like that. If you dont know how to treat people then maybe you should find another position. Perferably one where you're not interracting with others. Glad i dont work for your company Imao.
    via itsallwayssunnyin

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