New Delhi: A Reddit post by an employee who recently returned from a trip to Europe is becoming viral on social media. In the post, the employee claims that her coworkers behaved in a passive-aggressive manner when she got back to work. According to the woman, she felt “drained and depressed” after having to deal with taunts like “Aaj toh madam Europe se time mil gaya?” from her coworkers. 

Sharing a post on Reddit, the woman employee wrote, “I land back in India. I go to the office, feeling refreshed, smiling and instantly, the HR gives me that look. ‘Aaj toh madam Europe se time mil gaya?’ Another colleague chimes in: ‘Bas ghoom lo, kaam toh yahi karna hai na.’ All in that taunting, passive-aggressive tone we’ve mastered here.” 

Further sharing her ordeal, the woman said that even late-night meetings were scheduled without asking. She wrote, “Open my laptop: 248 emails. Teams notifications like ping ping ping. Late-night meetings scheduled without asking. A client waiting with a ‘small change’ that derailed my day. And everyone here? Hustling, grinding, exhausted… and pretending that’s normal.”

The employee claimed that glorifying a particular type of work culture was the worst part. “And the worst part? We glorify this. We wear burnout like a badge of honour. We think rest = laziness. If you take time off, you’re ‘not serious about your career’,” she continued.

The employee said that the entire experience left her feeling drained, disconnected, and low-key depressed. She further wrote, “I came back full of energy…and within two days, I feel drained, disconnected, and low-key depressed. It’s like Europe reminded me what being human feels like and coming back here reminded me what being a corporate robot feels like. Just done.” 

Netizens reaction

The Reddit post shared by the employee has gone viral and sparked serious reactions, with several users questioning the workplace culture.

One user wrote, “I do love European culture, they take us for granted here.” 

“The main problem is that India doesn’t have proper labour law,” another expressed concern.

“Been there… Seen that… Problem is we have too many people. The capitalist overlords know if we don’t do gadha majdoori, someone else will do it and probably for lesser compensation,” said another user.

“This is because Europe is a rich place and if the country is rich they take good care of their citizens. India is a poor country and all we have to offer to the world is our cheap labour which is , believe me, heavily exploited here,” said another user.