When Evil Encounters Good, Expect Mockery

Halli is an award winning designer whose company was acquired by Twitter.

Halli was born with muscular dystrophy in a working class family. He chose a higher tax rate for the sale to pay back into the Icelandic social system.

Today, Elon Musk publicly mocked and fired him. https://t.co/tUSaxZ4oYL pic.twitter.com/GREC8cgLtx

— Max Berger (@maxberger) March 7, 2023

So I wasn't paying attention to this. It showed up as a long thread/colloguy between Musk and "Halli," somebody who seems to have been employed by Twitter and laid off? I didn't have the context (most of which is in the tweet above, which I just saw this morning), and didn't follow it closely. Mostly because at one point Halli asked Elmo if Halli could talk about certain matters without legal consequences, something I thought he needed a signed, notarized agreement to be protected for (at least). Elmo's reply was a curt "you're covered," or some such, which would never hold up in court (and Elmo knew it), and I thought this "Halli" doesn't know what he's doing.

How wrong I was.

Haraldur Porleifsson, known as Halli, has garnered multiple Person of the Year Awards from various Icelanidc media outlets, including from national broadcaster RUV, Morgunbladid, and Visir.

Halli, a 45 year-old designer, gained nation-wide recognition this year when, after the sale of his tech company Ueno to Twitter, he chose to be paid the sale price as wages. Normally in such large sales, the payment comes in the form of stock or other financial instruments, which categorize the sale as capital gains, meaning it is taxed at a much lower rate. Halli, however, gladly paid the higher tax rate, having spoken publicly on many occasions about the benefits he has received from the Icelandic social system. 

Halli was born with muscular dystrophy and came from a working class background. In statements about his decision to pay back into the Icelandic social system, he cited both healthcare and education in Iceland as keys to his success. Notably, he was one of the highest tax payers in the nation after the sale of Ueno. 

That's from the image in the tweet, in case you can't enlarge it/read it.  Basically, Halli is a very good person, at least on this score.  And Elmo is a shit (but you knew that). 

plaintiff side employment lawyers looking at elon like he’s a juicy christmas ham pic.twitter.com/gXoAiTe4xm

— in the pocket of Big Tenant (@AllezLesBoulez) March 7, 2023

Here's how Halli handled that:

Hi again @elonmusk 👋

I hope you are well.

I’m fine too. I’m thankful for your interest in my health.

But since you mentioned it, I wanted to give you more info.

I have muscular dystrophy. It has many effects on my body.

Let me tell you what they are: https://t.co/2vb16kP6Yv

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

For a long time I thought my arms would remain strong. A doctor told me they would.

But they ended up losing strength. Which, I don’t mind telling you, was hard to accept.

But you okay the cards you are dealt and I’ve managed to create a wonderful life.

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

About nine years ago I started a company called @uenodotco

I worked a lot, it didn't do my body any favors but it's what I felt I needed to do.

The hard work paid off and the company became very successful.

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

But after seven years I was tired. Covid was running for longer than the two weeks you said it would.

And my body was also continuing to get weaker.

After looking at many options I decided to sell my company to Twitter.

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

I joined at a time when the company was growing fast. You kind of did the opposite.

There was a lot going on. The company had a fair amount of issues, but then again, most bigger companies do.

Or even small companies, like Twitter today.

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

I wasn't in the first batch. Or the second or third or fourth. I'm not sure which layoff round I was in there were so many of them.

Each one came after you promised the last one was the final one.

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

I also contacted HR regularly and asked if my job description was correct or needed updating. I wanted to make sure I was doing what I was supposed to.

They always said they were looking into it but I never got a reply.

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

I can however write for an hour or two at a time.

This wasn't a problem in Twitter 1.0 since I was a senior director and my job was mostly to help teams move forward, give them strategic and tactical guidance.

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

I hope that helps! Let me know if you are going to pay what you owe me?

I think you can afford it?

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

Yeah; Elmo is this guy:

You can't shame a fool. You can easily discern evil in how it responds to good.  Halli made a good faith effort to contact Elmo, stating in the twitter thread he started that he'd exhausted all avenues and getting Elmo to respond in tweets was his only recourse left.  Which tells you all you need to know about Elmo to begin with.

I understand Silicon Valley moguls are still looking to Elmo as a model for management of their companies and their employees.  Silicon Valley must be hell on earth.  Although if I was a young employment lawyer, I suspect I could get as rich as Elmo in a very short time.