According to a report in the Daily Mail, Elon Musk once hung up on a Tesla worker who called him from inside a burning factory. The incident was recounted by historian Niall Ferguson in an article about his experiences meeting with Musk. While having drinks with Ferguson in 2017, Musk received a video call from one of his Tesla factories, which appeared to be on fire. When the worker was unsure of the importance of the situation, Musk responded impatiently, saying, “Then don’t bother me,” and ended the call.
Musk did not deny the incident in response to Ferguson’s article but accused him of exaggerating the extent of their relationship. Musk claimed that they had only met up six times over the past ten years, despite Ferguson being described as a “friend and confidant” in the article’s headline.
This impatience displayed by Musk is not an isolated incident. In Walter Isaacson’s recent biography of the Tesla CEO, several episodes highlight Musk’s tendency to be impatient. One episode involved a SpaceX engineer being called back to work despite having consumed alcohol. This engineer was afraid of facing Musk’s anger if they didn’t show up, stating that the fear of a DUI was less concerning than ignoring Elon.
Another episode mentioned in the biography took place on Christmas Eve when Musk personally moved servers at an X data center after threatening to fire an employee who estimated the job would take six months instead of the 90 days Musk desired.
It should be noted that Tesla did not provide immediate comment regarding this incident.
Sources:
– Daily Mail
– Business Insider