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A career counsellor has shared an unusual workplace mishap after his wife received a termination email from a company that had never employed her, triggering momentary panic before the error became clear.
Simon Ingari informed on X that the incident took place in December 2025, when his wife opened an email informing her that her employment had been terminated. He stated that she froze for a moment after reading the message and began questioning whether she had missed a deadline or made a serious mistake at her actual workplace, before realising that the email had been sent by an organisation she had never worked for.
My wife received a termination email in 2025 December.
— Simons (@Simon_Ingari) December 25, 2025
Her heart dropped after seeing it. She froze for a second.
Did she miss a deadline? Did she say something wrong?
Turns out, she just got terminated from a company she didn't even work for.
Dear HR, please check the email…
Ingari said the episode underscored a careless lapse on the part of the sender and urged human resources professionals to verify email recipient details more carefully, adding that such mistakes could cause significant emotional distress and potentially serious consequences for recipients.
The post prompted widespread discussion on social media, with several users pointing out that wrongly addressed termination emails could have far-reaching emotional and psychological impacts. While some users treated the incident with humour, others stated that it reflected growing carelessness within corporate processes and heightened anxiety around job security.
One user suggested that the woman could have responded with a stern reply as a supposed former employee to highlight the error before the company realised its mistake, while another stated that such errors were not trivial and could ruin a person’s day, week or even affect their health, noting that organisations often speak about empathy while handling sensitive matters in an impersonal manner.
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