--- title: "Twitter HQ Marinates in Stench After Elon Musk Fires Janitors, Forces Engineers Back to Office" description: "Twitter's offices in San Francisco are quickly turning into a smelly, body odor-infested rat's nest, The New York Times reported last week." date: "2023-01-03" modified: "2023-01-03" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/twitter-headquarters-stench" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # Twitter HQ Marinates in Stench After Elon Musk Fires Janitors, Forces Engineers Back to Office ![Twitter's offices in San Francisco are quickly turning into a smelly, body odor-infested rat's nest, The New York Times reported last week.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Rotting Food and Body Odor Twitter's operations are still in shambles over two months after Elon Musk [acquired the company](). The billionaire has made some severe cuts to both budgets and [headcounts]() in an attempt to turn his $44 billion social network into a viable business, a considerable challenge given ailing company's [steep new ]()[debt ]()[obligations]() under the deal. Things have gotten so dire that Musk has refused to [pay rent]() for the company's offices — and even [dismissed the janitors]() as he forced all workers back to the office. Add that all up, and it means Twitter's offices in San Francisco are quickly turning into a smelly rat's nest, [*The New York Times* reported last week](), succumbing to food and body odor, with some employees even being forced to bring in their own toilet paper. "You know it smell crazy in there," one source [told *NYT* reporter Mike Isaac]() of the stench. ## Outages and Lawsuits Beyond the smell of rotting takeout, Twitter's services are also starting to sputter. Last week, users [reported widespread service interruptions](), mere days after Musk [gloated]() about the service working smoothly despite him disconnecting "one of the more sensitive server racks." Engineers were reportedly forced to keep data centers alive on Christmas Eve after internal systems went down. Meanwhile, according to the *NYT*, Musk has resorted to interrupting meetings at random to share wild new ideas. Some insiders also told the paper that Musk is desperately trying to keep information from leaking to the press. Twitter's finances are unsurprisingly in a freefall right now, with advertising, once the majority of the company's revenue, falling far short from expectations [over the last month](). The fact that Twitter is now being sued for failing to pay over $100,000 in rent likely isn't helping, either. **READ MORE:** [What’s Gone at Twitter? A Data Center, Janitors, Some Toilet Paper.]() \[*The New York Times*\] **More on Twitter:** *[An Overwhelming Number of Porn Bot Accounts "Drowned Out" Chinese Protest Content on Twitter]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()