Twitter's stock is currently plummeting down almost 17 percent, but it could have been even worse. The lockup period expired yesterday, prompting fears of a crash should employees and investors decide to sell their stock. But former Twitter employees complained earlier today that they were blocked from cashing out.

Former Twitter engineer Sara Haider, Chad Woodford, Twitter's former product and business counsel, Mischa Nachtigal, who used to work on media and content partnerships, former engineering manager Mark McBride, and others appear to have chimed in on a private Facebook thread about the mismanaged lockup period. I've reached out to Haider and others on the thread to confirm that their statements haven't been doctored.

I also asked Twitter to verify the details and whether the issues have been resolved. An anonymous reader in Kinja, who directed us to the Facebook thread said "basically no employees have been able to sell," except executives. According to the thread, a Schwab representative said Twitter placed a hold on exercising options and Schwab did not expect the hold to be lifted until this afternoon.

Twitter's former head of communications Sean Garrett wrote that Twitter sent out an email after the market opened saying:

"There was a glitch in the exercise functionality with Schwab, but it has been turned on."

Haider, who now works at Secret, did not take the news well:

"a glitch? a fucking glitch. wow, just wow."

Extreme frustration with the process and the company is evident throughout the conversation. Nachtigal posted the following comment:

"Meanwhile, VPs and the GC are selling shares, while we have to wait. Serenity now!"

McBride wrote:

"The company infamous for infrastructure headaches experiences the same with employee lockup."

Twitter's CEO, cofounders, and investors may be holding onto their shares, but it doesn't appear ex-employees have has much faith in the company.

Update: As of Thursday evening, I still haven't heard back from either Twitter or Schwab, but one former Twitter employee did reach out to say that they had no issue selling through Schwab. In that case, the order was placed before the markets opened and sold at exactly 9.30 AM Eastern. The ex-employee was not an executive and claimed that current Twitter employees, who were also not executives, were able to sell without a problem.

If you are a current or former employee of Twitter, please feel free to contact the author of this post: nitasha@gawker.com.