Meta’s year so far hasn’t exactly been a picnic. A squirrel apparently got loose inside a building in Bangkok, Thailand where some of the tech giant’s regional teams are based.
Meta’s year so far hasn’t exactly been a picnic. But that didn’t stop one nut-loving creature from seeking some joy inside one of the company’s offices this week.A squirrel apparently got loose inside a building in Bangkok, Thailand where some of the tech giant’s regional teams are based. The critter spent at least 20 minutes darting past staff, according to an internal memo seen by WIRED. It noted that the squirrel minorly injured a janitor before finally being caught.The rodent’s adventure in the office—while potentially terrifying to some—brought a moment of levity to Meta staff around the world who have been dispirited by recent restructurings, mass layoffs, and the launch of an initiative to train AI using employee data without their initial consent. Meta executives have acknowledged the current morale crisis and begun trying to lift the mood internally by funding boozy social outings and promising to improve office food, according to current employees and an internal memo.In recent years, some Meta workers have complained about losing access to healthy office snacks, like nuts, which they said had been replaced with less nutritious options such as chips. Whether the animal marauder in Bangkok found anything to its liking couldn’t be learned.The squirrel was delivered to the office inside a package, but it ended up escaping, according to the internal memo. A janitor from a cleaning company accepted the delivery. The reasoning behind the squirrel’s delivery and where it now resides weren’t mentioned in the memo, but some people in keep the animals as pets or eat their meat.Meta declined to comment on the incident.The worker who was scratched on the finger received first aid and was later taken to the hospital for a medical examination, according to the memo. The janitor “responsible for bringing the animal onto the premises” formally acknowledged their misconduct and committed to adhering to office regulations to ensure “such an incident does not recur,” the memo added.New York Times journalist Mike Isaac first reported the incident in a social media post on Tuesday, without specifying the location or the janitor’s role. “Employees are predictably having a field day with it internally,” he wrote. “One person created an AI-generated video mimicking an HR training course on squirrel-related office best practices.”Squirrels looking for a suitable home in Meta’s empire might find better luck invading Hawaii, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal cattle dine on homebrewed beer and macadamia nuts.Additional reporting by Lauren Goode.
How will work setups change if we spend more and more time talking to our computers? A recent feature in the Wall Street Journal looks at the rising popularity of dictation apps like Wispr, especially now that they can be connected to vibe coding tools, and what that might mean for office etiquette. One VC said that visiting startup offices now feels like stepping into a high-end call center. And Gusto co-founder Edward Kim is apparently telling his team that in the future, offices will sound “more like a sales floor.” (As someone still scarred from the time his desk was briefly relocated to a sales floor, let me say: Oh no.) Kim claimed that he only types now when he absolutely has to. But he admitted that constantly dictating in the office can be “just a little awkward.” Similarly, AI entrepreneur Mollie Amkraut Mueller said her husband became annoyed with her new habit of whispering to her computer, so their late-night work sessions now involve sitting apart, or “one of us will stay in our office.” But Wispr founder Tanay Kothari insisted that this will all seem “normal” one day, just as it’s become normal to spend hours staring at your phone.
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