The as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a person who works on the social networking site. They have been verified by Insider. For clarity, the following has been edited. It's been a long time since the week leading up to Musk's acquisition and the week after that.
For the better part of a year, there's been a dark cloud over us, which has been very frustrating for everyone.
We have been in limbo for a long time. Unfortunately the outcome is what our worst nightmares were.
It's been weird since there hasn't been a lot of communication from our top executives. Some people were trying to be as transparent as possible, but no concrete details came out.
We knew something was going to happen but we didn't know what we were doing.
We thought it would be the last time we would go out together. The New York Times would alert us that layoffs were imminent. We were waiting for the news.
The email said we would find out the next day. If we were working or not. We realized that the account we used to use was no longer active.
Almost no one was able to sleep that night because the emails came in at 11 p.m. We would check our emails throughout the night to make sure we were still employed there.
A lot of my friends were let go even though I was kept on. We all met up in a large group and tried to comfort one another.
It was odd when the deal was completed. On the same day that the Halloween events were held, the office was decorated. Most of our C-suite executives were immediately terminated. There were decorations on the sign that made it feel weird.
We all looked up to the top-level leaders that have been fired or resigned. Parag was a quiet leader who was more active on the engineering side of things.
Ned Segal was a more charismatic person. He was the leader of the party and a natural one.
The former head of legal policy made the social networking site what it was before. Employees loved working there because of her. It was bigger for us than it was for other people.
The office has had a lot of feelings this week. Some people don't want to be a part of this and are just here for the platform. Some people are trying to get the most out of it.
It's the only way to go on the platform. We assume they were let go if it comes back to being active. People are still active in the system even though they are not.
There are lots of ghost invites in the calendar and no one knows what to do with them. As a result of the layoffs and resignations, the time to push out new products has been sped up.
There are constantly changing things. When someone quits or is fired, you need to figure out who is taking on someone else's work. A bleak picture for the future was painted by an email we woke up to. We need to come back to the office immediately.
A lot of people work from home. We were told the policy was for a long time. The worst part of this has been the communication style of the man. Lay offs are normal. There is a return-to-office policy. The way in which it has been done is ruthless.
It's hard to comprehend. The head of trust and safety resigned right after the all-hands meeting. He was crucial to the company.
Robin Wheeler, who was previously the advertising sales leader, decided to stay after quitting. In public facing roles, Robin and Yoel were high up. Yoel was there to make sure the world was reassured.
They wouldn't last long because people that get close to Elon seem to either change or be fired. They were being used to prop up the company.
Robin is well-liked by advertisers. Yoel's resignation is a telling point. I think it's a public statement that he doesn't believe in the company anymore.
We all like to follow each other on the social networking site. People who worked there will say there is something special about it. The platform was a good thing for us all.
Someone will be gone by the next day if they challenge him. He surrounds himself with people. The decision was made to hold off on blue check marks until after the elections. It didn't look good.
It's terrible for advertisers and terrible for the platform in the long run.
It was great before it was taken over by someone else. It was the place where advertisers created their brand identities.
I'm looking for a big player to interview with. It has been a difficult year for the culture I loved.
All of us have been through grief. We used to have a fun place to work, but it's no longer a fun place to work now. It reminds you that your work is not who you are.
Do you have a story to tell? Jyoti Mann can be reached at jmann@ Insider.com.
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