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Tesla’s TSLA, +16.65% move to cut a reported 10% of its workforce in April came as a shock to many inside the company.

The electric-vehicle maker sent an email to staff on April 15, signed by chief executive Elon Musk, announcing layoffs that would affect more than 14,000 workers in locations including Kennesaw, Ga.; Austin, Texas; Buffalo; and elsewhere around the world. Many Tesla employees were stunned when they found out via the email that they were being laid off.

“It was just a normal email from Tesla, and as I was reading it, I realized I was let go, just like that. I found out only through email. My boss didn’t even know,” said Tabatha Lucas, who worked as a Tesla adviser in Kennesaw.

A Tesla adviser is the company’s version of a salesperson who guides customers through a showroom of vehicles.

Lucas said she had been told by company management just two days before being laid off that she had been doing great work of late and was in line for a promotion.

“I got the email on my off day, and they sent it in the middle of the night — no warning,” she said. “I expect the company I work for not to ruin people’s lives and cause so much disruption. There were no ethics involved in this. … It’s very shady.”

Even before she worked at Tesla, Lucas was a fan of the company and aligned herself with its goals of mass production of EVs.

“I own four Teslas, and I’m a stockholder. I have had my cars for several years and I love them,” she said. “I had been trying to get in with Tesla for years, and I finally got in. It was just my passion to be part of that mission, and it’s leaving a bad taste in my mouth.”

Being fired by email may seem harsh, but as David Lewis, CEO of Connecticut-based HR consulting company OperationsInc recently told MarketWatch, “there’s no such thing as a good layoff.”

Tesla and Musk, faced with cooling demand for EVs and concerns about profits, trimmed the company’s workforce after a first quarter in which it delivered 386,783 vehicles, well under the expected 457,000 deliveries.

Jordana Hernandez, who had worked at Tesla for over five years as a service manager before being laid off this week, also said the company’s job cuts caught her by surprise.

“At first I felt shock. It was not something I was expecting, especially knowing my work and how things had been trending for me and my location,” she told MarketWatch.

Hernandez, who had worked at the company’s location in Virginia Beach, Va., said she found out she was being let go right before leaving for work on Monday. Others, she said, found out during even less opportune times.

“I know some people found out on their lunch break, or as they are trying to get into work, their badges no longer worked,” Hernandez said. “There was somebody that was on maternity leave that had a baby about a week ago and randomly found out.”

Unlike Lucas, Hernandez was not a big fan of Tesla as a company.

“The company itself I had really not cared much for. I always knew I was just a number for them. You get worked to the bone. Your mental health is not a priority,” she said.

Dozens of other now-former Tesla employees took to LinkedIn, Facebook and TikTok to share their stories this week.

In the memo informing workers they had been let go, Musk outlined that Tesla is preparing for its next phase of growth: “It is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” he wrote.

See also: This pro athlete tried to buy a Tesla Cybertruck for $100,000 over asking — and was blocked by his financial adviser

Despite being let go by Tesla, Hernandez said the news hasn’t affected her relationship with her co-workers, who she said are the reason she had stayed at the company for so long.

“I actually just stopped by and dropped off some cookies,” she said about her old Tesla location just days after being let go. “It’s the people that you work with, day in and day out. The ones you see on the floor, the ones you see in the shop, they are the most brilliant, amazing people.”

She brought Crumbl Cookies, she said, because her former co-workers “go crazy for a cookie.”

Tesla did not respond to MarketWatch’s request for comment.