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Indian employee quits new job on Day 1 after boss demands overtime without pay

A product designer claims he resigned on the first day of his new job over his manager’s toxic behaviour and unacceptable demands. The product designer shared a screenshot of his resignation email on Reddit, where it has gone viral.
In his Reddit post, the employee, named Shreyas, revealed that he accepted a job paying below industry standards as it allowed him to work remotely. On the very first day of his job, however, he realised that his boss expected him to work overtime without extra pay. Shreyas claimed that not only did his boss expect employees to put in extra hours, he dismissed the notion of work-life balance as a “fancy term” and “western developed nation behaviour.”
The employee said he wanted to share his “experience of quitting my job on the very first day and standing up to a toxic boss.”
Shreyas joined his new job as a product designer on October 7. However, he was soon dismayed to learn that his boss expected him to work well beyond his stipulated time of 9 hours per day.
“When I tried to establish boundaries, he mocked me for talking about ‘work-life balance,’ calling it a ‘fancy term’ and “western developed nation behaviour.” He also ridiculed my desire for time to read and exercise, dismissing it as an excuse,” he revealed in his Reddit post.
Instead, the new employee was expected to put in 12 to 14 hour workdays without extra pay. Shreyas explained that he did not mind working overtime occasionally, but was more concerned about his boss’s “personal attacks” when he mentioned having a life outside of work. He claims that his manager “belittled” and “ridiculed” him, calling it an exploitative and toxic environment.

Enraged by the unfair demands, the employee put in his papers on Day 1 of his new job. In his lengthy resignation letter – a screenshot of which he shared online – he detailed point-by-point the issues he had with his manager’s behaviour.
“I find your approach toward work expectations and personal boundaries seriously concerning,” the employee said.
“You have repeatedly made remarks about my activities outside of work hours, which I believe is highly inappropriate and unprofessional. What I choose to do in my personal time-whether it is exercising, spending time with family, sleeping, or READING BOOKS is my prerogative and should not be subject to criticism,” he told his boss.
Shreyas called out his boss for his remarks on work-life balance as well as the “threatening” tone he used when demanding overtime without pay. He pointed out that such demands were specially problematic at a time when the entire nation is talking about toxic workplaces.
“Your insistence on submitting work within 48 hours, outside of normal working hours, without compensation for overtime, coupled with demands to ‘burn the midnight oil’ in a threatening manner is unreasonable, inhumane, and inconsiderate,” Shreyas wrote.
He concluded his resignation by challenging his boss to refute any of the claims made in the email.
“If you believe that your conduct in these situations is defensible and humane, I welcome and challenge you to make any slack recordings of our conversations public. Let others judge the professionalism and appropriateness of both your expectations and behaviour,” he wrote.
Reddit users were full of praise for the employee, applauding him for taking a stance against toxic work culture.
“Glad that this person at least responded maturely,” wrote one person in the comments section.
“Name and shame the companies. Calling them out is the only way to make sure it doesn’t happen to someone else,” another suggested.
“I love this generation so much, we aren’t gonna tolerate bulls**t in the name of working hard. So proud of you!” a user said.

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