The man's boss was not tickled by the meme. Photo / Supplied
A US man has lost his job after sharing a meme to his personal Facebook page, during his own time, that referred to using the toilet at work.
Cody Hidalgo, from Michigan, shared the meme which features popular Sesame Street character Elmo sitting on a potty with text that reads: "Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime. That's why I poop on company time."
Turns out Hidalgo's boss was less than impressed with his comic stylings and texted him to tell him he was fired.
"We don't make dollar when you're s***ting all the time. Why don't you stay home and do your s***ting.
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"I don't like to play your bulls*** games. Maybe there's a company out there that would put up with your games cause I won't. Good luck!"
Hidalgo replied, confused about what his boss was referring to, before he was told: "Look on your Facebook page, do you think things don't get around?"
Cody hit back, asking: "Because I shared a funny meme...? On a Sunday? When I'm not at work?"
His employer replied: "You brought work into it on a Sunday."
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Hidalgo was flooded with comments after he shared the story, with some users saying his privacy had been breached.
"You have it set on friends status...so it's an invasion of privacy," one person wrote.
"Plus He/she/ it sent you a very vulgar message. I believe I [would] turn it into corporate, your lawyer. Sue the boss."
Others thought the boss was probably looking for an opportunity to fire Hidalgo, with one person suggesting: "Sounds like he just needed a reason to fire you and this was it. PS. I would fire someone with this mentality also if I didn't already like them."
Overwhelming support for Hidalgo saw his former employer's company Facebook page hit by so many memes and bad reviews that it was forced to shut down.
But in a twist to the story, a lawyer for the company told a Detroit news station that Hildago's claims are false.
Jan Jeffrey Rubinstein said in a statement to 7 Action News: "This individual was not terminated because of a meme posted on Facebook on Sunday, October 20. After the posting of that meme, he worked the following Monday, Tuesday and part of Wednesday. Mr Hidalgo actually walked off the job on Wednesday, October 23 of his own volition, and over his manager's objection.... Unfortunately this individual, who was employed for less than 2 months, is now seeking to exploit the publicity that this false claim has created."
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