Tangential to this, in the middle of the dot-com boom, a downsizing. Company meeting: "Here's what's happening, layoffs, etc, etc. When you go back to your desk, if you find your login is disabled, take a moment to pack your desk and come back to the Conference Room."

That's how they "notified" people. You got to play a lucky jackpot game of logging into your desktop after the meeting to see if you still had a job. Straight out of Dilbert.

I might be dense, but I dont get it.

He got fired for the cardinal sin, proving the idiot boss an idiot.

In theory you are supposed to be able to tell your boss he is wrong (and a good boss will appreciate this) in practice it depends on the boss.

Don't call the boss out when he's wrong if it's not important.

I think the "screw up" was disagreeing with his boss, and thus losing his job.

He was fired.