Swiss software engineer fired days after mistakenly using manager’s sauna towel

A software engineer in Switzerland, earning roughly CHF 100,000 per year, shared on Reddit that a simple mix-up in the corporate gym led to his termination. After mistakenly taking a senior manager’s sauna towel on May 8, the manager advised him to start searching for another job and requested a new towel from reception. On May 13, the engineer received a Teams call from HR stating he was being laid off for economic reasons, during a period of large-scale redundancies at the firm.

He questioned whether the towel incident influenced the decision and consulted his legal-protection insurance, which found no actionable link. The engineer also claimed he was added to an unofficial “antisocial” blacklist shared among employers and is now considering starting his own business, having saved 300 k in stocks.