Baldvin Oddson, CEO of a Wyoming-based musical-instrument online storefront, the Musicians Club, fired 90% of his staff—99 out of 110 employees and freelancers—via Slack message for missing just one morning meeting at 8:30 a.m. on Fri., Nov. 15.
One former employee detailed the shocking event in a now-deleted post on Reddit’s "mildlyinfuriating" forum. “I joined an internship, and an hour later, the entire team got fired,” the original user wrote.
“For those of you who did not show up to the meeting this morning, consider this your official notice: you’re all fired,” Oddson wrote in the all-team Slack. “You failed to do what you agreed to, you failed to complete your part of the contract, and you failed to show up for the meetings you were supposed to attend and work for.”
Oddson then instructed the group, who all work remotely, to sign out from all accounts, return any company property, and consider any contracts terminated.
“I gave you an opportunity to make your life better, to work hard, and to grow. Yet, you have shown me that you don’t take this seriously,” he went on. “Out of 110 people, only 11 were present this morning. Those 11 get to stay. The rest of you are terminated. Get the f–k out of my business right now.”
Many workers fired from the Musicians Club were unpaid remote part-timers (jobs are marketed toward classical music students looking for work experience). A job listing from earlier this year for an unpaid operations manager role with the company received 51 applicants.
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.”
The Musicians Club is essentially a lean startup, the former intern wrote on Reddit, adding that Oddson’s company “relies on remote interns” willing to work for free.
Evidently, Oddson got what he paid for—workers who are essentially volunteering likely don't hold themselves to the same standards as those with a salary and benefits.
“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.”
For his part, Oddson posted about the event on LinkedIn with neither shame nor apology last week. (His LinkedIn shows that he founded the Musicians Club in 2022, and also teaches trumpet at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York.)
“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 we’re 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 didn’t immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.)
Even so, Oddson’s LinkedIn profile picture is framed by the ubiquitous purple #HIRING banner.
