That’s the predicament one angry Redditor recently found themselves in. User ScooterBobb was shocked when his former boss messaged him for advice despite “eliminating” his position.

ScooterBobb shared the text exchange with the r/antiwork forum on July 21, where it quickly received more than 112,000 upvotes and over 3,000 comments from disgusted readers.

The text conversation begins with a question from the former boss: “Good morning, did you create an order for this week, or an inventory?”

To which ScooterBobb replied: “I’m confused. Was my position eliminated for not?”

After confirming that yes, ScooterBobb had been fired, the former boss continued to send him work-related enquiries.

“Bless your heart. You don’t fire someone and then still contact them to ask questions about the job [because] you don’t know,” he replied.

In response, his ex-employer said: “25 years in the kitchen. Just thought you would of [sic] been professional.”

“In 25 years I’ve never had anyone fire me then expect me to still work,” wrote ScooterBobb, ending the conversation.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it’s harder than ever to get fired in 2022. Dismissals are at a 20-year low as businesses struggle to find and retain staff in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a trend dubbed the “Great Resignation,” employees across the country are leaving their jobs for positions with more flexibility, higher pay and a better work-life balance.

As May drew to a close, there were 11.3 million job openings across the country, with the lowest-paid industries, such as food service, raising salaries in order to tempt new workers.

Despite employees seemingly able to pick and choose their managers, forums such as r/antiwork are full of nightmare boss stories. One worker was praised by Redditors last month for quitting their post on the spot, after discovering the company had underpaid them for the second month in a row. Meanwhile, an English teacher in Japan was applauded for walking away from their job of six years after their bonus was cut in half.

ScooterBobb told Newsweek that the manager had contacted him after struggling with the restaurant’s inventory.

“It was Wednesday morning and she just realized she had no idea what she has on hand prepped, not prepped, in the freezer, two walk in coolers or dry storage,” he explained.

“She was hoping I had a list for Friday’s order, the one she was about to start preparing, started. I did not because I know that place like the back of my hand and we aren’t busy that weekend.

“I still had tons on hand to get me through for a couple of days so I was worried about writing it down. I used that time on other admin and finished recipes, wrote Wednesday’s prep list, and posted procedures on how to cook the dishes for sauté.”

On his story going viral, he said: “Still surprised about all of this but in the end I’m glad it happened. The support from 99.9% of the comments were really helpful.”

Reddit users were up in arms about the exchange posted by ScooterBobb.

“Some people expect too much of their employees, but this is just taking it to a whole new level,” said That-OtherGuy.

“Hard to be professional with the guy who made sure you didn’t have a profession,” wrote Quaysan.

“This is standard of people who have been fired or quit and then someone realizes, oh s***, apparently they did more than I realized!” added judyvi.

However, they were impressed by ScooterBobb’s response.

“You handled that perfectly. I’m amazed at the audacity of this person,” wrote Kewege.

“Great to see a reply that I wish I had given one of my last bosses,” said horillagormone.

RepostsIuetbot, meanwhile, suggested ScooterBobb charge his former manager for the information requested. Writing a suggested response for him, they said: “As I am no longer under a contract, I’m happy to assist under my standard consultant fee schedule.

“$130/hour, 4 hour minimum.”

Update 07/25/22, 05:18 p.m. ET: This article was updated to include a quote from ScooterBobb.