(Sorry if this isn’t the right place to post this)
I was laid off back when COVID hit from a company without notice. In the office, I was one of the only tech savvy people so I naturally accumulated all of the company’s credentials for social media and the like. The owner of the company locked me out of all of my work accounts after I had left for the day and 2 hours later officially fired me. When I finally get the official termination communication from the owner, I was told to I email all of the “tech” credentials to my direct supervisor before they release my final paycheque and allow me back into the building to collect my stuff.
The problem is… unlike the Boomers, I don’t write down passwords and usernames anywhere and to make the passwords secure, they were also long and complicated. I used a password manager to keep track of them but, since being terminated, I can’t access it.
I emailed this explanation back to my supervisor as well as any passwords I could remember. My supervisor said he would try to speak to the owner and get my access reinstated for a supervised amount of time to retrieve the information. In a gesture of good faith, he told me to come to the office the next day after business hours when everyone left and he would be there with my final paycheque and give me some time to pack up my things and hopefully retrieve the credentials on my former computer.
I show up the next day, and (surprise!) the owner hadn’t given me back any access to the computers or even my old email account. So I start to gather my things and my supervisor is trying to get a hold of the owner while I’m there. Obviously that didn’t happen. So my supervisor and I chat for a bit and, since I actually like the guy and know he’s not to blame for the owner’s incompetence, we agree that if they try to reset any of the passwords and the recovery email or phone number is linked to my personals, then I would send the recovery info to him. We left amicably and didn’t talk in person ever again.
I was contacted a few times by other co-workers about not being able to get into accounts or they needed help with software that only I knew how to fix because I had setup pretty much all of the new tech and software they had adopted in the 2 years I worked there. Each time I told them to speak to my former supervisor since I had sent him everything I had and I’m also not an employee of the company anymore so I’m not available to support them anymore.
I did end up getting a couple notifications to reset some passwords for some accounts in the next couple of weeks which I immediately forwarded on to him via text but after that, nothing.
Fast forward to the present, I got a couple notifications on my cellphone that someone is trying to reset the password for one of the company accounts. Then I get a text message from an unknown number telling me that they’re trying to get into an account but the recovery info appears to be my cell phone. They’ve asked for the verification code to be sent to them. I didn’t respond and an hour later I get a phone call from an unknown number. Straight to voicemail with you! The (fake nice) voicemail is from my former coworker who I guess has moved up the ranks and now needs access to an account. I follow my former supervisor on LinkedIn so I know he’s no longer with the company.
Do I have to help them with the recovery code? Like by law?
I’m a petty asshole, so if I don’t have to, I’m not going to. It’s been 2 years, if they haven’t realized/tried to get access to this account since then I feel like I’m not under any obligation to help them out now, especially since my handshake deal was specifically with my former supervisor and not the owner.