Department of Government Efficiency head says he wants to test whether federal employees are ‘capable of replying to an email’

Summary

Elon Musk admitted that his mass email to federal employees demanding weekly accomplishment reports sent to him or risk termination was a test to gauge responsiveness.

Musk tried to frame the move as a “pulse check” on bureaucrats.

The email caused confusion, with some agency leaders advising staff to ignore it, while others initially instructed compliance before reversing course.

A rift emerged as top officials at the FBI, Pentagon, State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Energy openly defied Musk’s directive, highlighting tensions within the administration.

  • Zeppo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    259·
    4 days ago

    Sounds like bullshit. I’d say he was totally serious and then is now, after it mostly fizzles, is giving the suitty excuse because he’s a childish and weasely coward.

    • adarza@lemmy.caEnglish
      37·
      4 days ago

      they were getting pushback from their own ‘people’ heading some of the agencies and departments. they had to walk the email back or risk actually losing one or more of them to sanity.

    • Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world
      14·
      3 days ago

      It didn’t play out how he wanted it to, and people were pushing back and talking about it being very illegal, people that matter. So, of course, it was a joke all along. “Man, you guys thought I was serious? Could you imagine? You guys really need to lighten up and take a joke better. So serious…”

      We’ve all been on the other end of that from the various douchebags in our lives.

      Also “ha, you flinched!” They like when people react like that.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        3 days ago

        The asshole should be in prison for life for breaking into our government systems and our institutions.

        Given that he’s filthy rich, I just know it won’t happen, but it really should. And ALL of his companies and assets seized. Maybe some set aside for baby mamas and children, but the rest should be handed over to the government, since all of it is built on the back of the government anyway.

    • JakenVeina@lemm.eeEnglish
      71·
      3 days ago

      Nah, I definitely think it was a ruse, just not this one. What the fuck were they ever gonna DO with 3 million e-mails coming in within a week? Actually analyze them all to idendify each employee’s value? Nonsense.

      A) It was a cheap way to bank an excuse to fire anyone who didn’t respond “for cause” at some later point when they identify people they want to fire, and are looking for cause.

      B) They were planning to feed all the responses into an LLM or something similar. Maybe as a way to look for certain “woke” buzzwords and make a hitlist of people to target for firing.

  • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.caEnglish
    55·
    3 days ago

    No it wasn’t. It’s typical bully tactics when they’re pushed back. “I was just kidding bro, settle down”.

  • doctortofu@reddthat.com
    119·
    4 days ago

    Haha, it was a prank bro! A social experiment bro! Totally for real bro, I was just testing you bro! Bro!

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16·
      3 days ago

      “It’s just an A/B test, bro”.

      P.S. I fucking HATE that I have to hear this kind of bullshit corporate-speak all the time at work, by the way…the terminology is almost always used incorrectly as an added bonus.

      I don’t know if fElon’s style of speaking grates on me so much because he’s picked up just so much of this same HiveMind bullshit pseudo-techno jargon, or because so many others hear people like him and think, “oh, he has money, he must be smart and important, so I should parrot that like a brainless dumbass and hope others think I’m a sooper dooper genius, too”, and therefore, I hear so many other idiots spouting this same kind of shit like they are the stupidest parody of a corporate drone from a show like Silicon Valley…

      Anyway, I’m quite sick of it, regardless of the cause, and when I see fElon going off and saying the same vapid shit passed off as Great Pearls Of Techbro Wisdom that I hear at work, I think part of my brain breaks.

  • Placebonickname@lemmy.world
    43·
    3 days ago

    As a federal contractor I will no longer accept new work under our current presidental admin. I will instead go back to work on temp private sector contracts. This is my protest.

    No shame in everybody who has to keep working for the federal government - everyone’s gotta feed their family first .

    • Critical_Thinker@lemm.eeEnglish
      61·
      3 days ago

      I don’t think this is the way. Take their money and do the bare minimum. Malicious compliance that causes issues is a good way to get the public outraged enough that something changes.

      • frezik@midwest.social
        10·
        3 days ago

        I dunno, it almost seems like good business sense to be wary of taking federal contracts right now. They are canceling them arbitrarily, so why take that chance?

  • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
    37·
    3 days ago

    Nobody replies back to his power move, his reaction: “LoL joke”. Literally a man with the mental age of a ten year old is running the show.

  • DogPeePoo@lemm.ee
    552·
    4 days ago

    Wow. How efficient.

    Send this illegal idiot immigrant back to South Africa. His brain is rotten.

    Wasting everyone’s time and money.

  • Xanza@lemm.eeEnglish
    33·
    3 days ago
    1. Massively overreach
    2. Play it off as a super sick big-brain move
    3. Rinse
    4. Repeat
  • Red_October@lemmy.world
    27·
    3 days ago

    If anyone else acted to disrupt federal functionality like that they’d be in prison for treason.

    Nobody elected this chucklefuck, he is actively harmful to the country and doing irreparable damage. Of all the people getting deported this fucker is the one that really deserves it.

  • leadore@lemmy.world
    41·
    4 days ago

    “admits” it was a ruse? No, it wasn’t. He tried the same shit he pulled at Twitter and when it backfired, he made up a story about it just being a ruse. God, I hate it when the media enables the rewriting of history the new oligarch overlords feed them with.

  • socialmedia@lemmy.world
    38·
    4 days ago

    Anyone who works directly for a Musk company should quietly start looking for another job.

    People in unions should strike right now. People who aren’t in unions should also strike, but I don’t expect miracles.

    This is the biggest asshole boss indicator. There should never be a situation where someone in power “jokes” about firing.

    He needs a very quick financial lesson in not fucking with his employees. One week of work stoppage across every company he owns should do it.