Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

'Not A Charity': Ex-IBM Exec. Has No Regrets Firing Employee Who Saved His Life On 9/11

Bill Ellmore
Billy Ellmore/Facebook

Bill Ellmore's story of narrowly avoiding being on United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, went viral—but took a turn after people called out his cold-hearted move to fire his employee.

Former IBM executive Bill Ellmore was criticized after he shared a story about an employee who saved his life ahead of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001—and revealed he later fired her.

Ellmore narrowly escaped boarding United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against terrorists who had initially planned to crash the plane into a federal government building in Washington, D.C.


But he stirred controversy by defending his decision to fire the employee weeks after the tragic terror attack. In an interview with the New York Post, he said IBM is "not a charity" and emphasized that the company's principles are grounded in "performance and results."

The backlash started shortly after Ellmore shared a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, in which he recalled having to "give up my 1st class seat and move to a flight that left 20 minutes later (from the same gate) with a stopover in Denver" after his former employee urged him to change flights and fly to San Jose instead of San Francisco.

He added:

"When I got to the airport, I watched people boarding flight 93 and I was upset that I was not leaving earlier, in my 1st class seat on a direct flight. I didn’t notice or care about the people as they were boarding, only myself."
"When I finally boarded my plane, we were 7 planes behind flight 93. When we were 3 plans [sic] away from we taking off, the pilot told us to look out the right side of the plane because it appeared the Twin Towers had been hit by a plane. I thought it might have been a small Cessna until I saw the second plane strike the other tower."

Ellmore said his actions "changed" after the terror attacks and that he now takes "every opportunity" to get to know his fellow passengers whenever he flies "to give up my seat for a later flight if requested."

You can see his post below.

Interestingly, the worker who advised Ellmore to change his flight didn't realize that he was flying to California to dismiss her from his team due to "poor performance." Ellmore ultimately fired her about a month after the attacks and said the decision was a "difficult" one.

You can see his post below.

Ellmore told the Post that the decision to fire the employee was justified because she "didn’t achieve the level of performance she needed to sustain."

He added:

“She wasn’t meeting contract obligations and there were problems with customer satisfaction. She was given very specific requirements on how to improve, and she wasn’t able to do that.”

He told the newspaper that while he knew his actions would anger social media users, he nonetheless shared his story because “my personal actions changed after that day.”

Ellmore's story did indeed anger people on X who called him out for his cold-hearted move after his employee had saved his life.

Ellmore late said that he would not "publicly humiliate" his former employee by naming her but he claimed he "was originally booked on Flight 93 because of her performancee issues."

He said the employee's firing served as a "wake up call that ultimately led to her excelling in her next job" and that he does not "regret the action."

You can see his post below.

Ellmore told the Post he and his former colleague have "no animosity" between them and that at this point "she’s retired happily living her retirement life."

He insisted his post "wasn’t about her being fired, it was about remembering 9/11" and how that day changed his "myopic" views on life.

His colleague has not been identified—but one wonders if she has a different opinion on the matter.

More from Trending

Jesse Watters
Fox News

Jesse Watters Dragged After Adding Another Mind-Boggling Rule For 'Real Men'

Fox News host Jesse Watters, who is apparently an authority of what it means to be a manly man, gave jazz hands to make a point about how "real men" should or shouldn't wave.

The target of his ridicule was Tim Walz, the enthusiastic Democratic Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate who often greets the public by raising both hands in the air to wave.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of crowd at town hall and Rep. Mike Flood
@MorePerfectUS/X; KETV NewsWatch 7

GOP Rep. Goes Viral For His Response To Crowd Chanting 'Tax The Rich' At Town Hall

Nebraska Republican Representative Mike Flood was criticized following his incredulous response to a crowd that chanted "Tax the rich!" during a town hall meeting.

The Columbus High School auditorium hosted the town hall on Tuesday evening, drawing "nearly 380" attendees, according to local network KETV Omaha. The event was lively, with Flood facing both sharp criticism over Trump administration policies and some appreciation for showing up in person.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Awkward Typo In Elon Musk's Bizarre 'Education Department' Trump Meme Is A Total Self-Own

Billionaire Elon Musk was widely mocked after he celebrated President Donald Trump's executive order to begin to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE) by posting a meme of Trump at the department's grave, only for an awkward misspelling to get all the attention.

Polling indicates that eliminating the Education Department is largely unpopular, with 60% of registered voters opposing the move, according to a Quinnipiac University survey conducted March 6-10. Support stands at 33%, with opposition particularly strong among Democrats—98% oppose it, while just 1% support it.

Keep ReadingShow less
JB Pritzker; Donald Trump
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Dem Governor Reveals Trump's Bonkers Demand In Exchange For Equipment During COVID

Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker revealed during a speech this week that he clashed with President Donald Trump during the first Trump administration after Trump promised necessary medical equipment during the COVID pandemic on the condition that Pritzker praise him publicly.

Five years ago, the United States was grappling with the initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country had entered shutdowns that had severe economic consequences, leaving businesses and industries on the brink of collapse.

Keep ReadingShow less
Scrabble tiles spelling the word scam
Scam spelled with scrabbles on a wooden table

People Break Down How They Realized An Entire Industry Was A Total Scam

We unfortunately live in a world where scams are on the rise.

Thankfully, some of them are pretty easy to detect, such as an automated call from the IRS telling you a warrant is out for your arrest, or an email claiming to be from Amazon or the USPS asking for your credit card information, only to look closer and see the email address is a yahoo account.

Keep ReadingShow less