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Stories related to toxic working environments often grab the attention on social media, with people opening up about their experiences working in the corporate world. People have a natural curiosity about others’ misfortunes, and a toxic workplace story provides a glimpse into the drama and struggle without personal risk. Having said that, another incident that has caught the attention is of an Employee who almost got fired from his first job just because of ‘smiling.’ Yes! You read that right. Here’s What Happened? Taking to Reddit, an employee recalled working for a mid-range company as a fresher when the incident occurred. The post begins with, “So I used to work for a mid-range corporation, where I started as a fresher. I was hired alongside around ten other new employees, and it was the usual process of being introduced to the staff and going through onboarding training.” He continued that during one of the meetings, a senior management official joined the call to interact with new recruits. “It was an introduction meeting with him. He appeared like a cheerful guy and was cracking jokes with us. Everyone was on Zoom because it was peak COVID and work-from-home,” he explained. As per the employee, he was sitting straight on his sofa, using a gaming laptop with the camera at the bottom. “He made a joke about one of my friends. She laughed, and I smiled. I actually just smiled. Other individuals smiled and laughed, too. Then he asked, ‘Why are you smiling?’ I responded, “Nothing, sir. It’s all good. That was the end of it,” the employee recalled. Almost got fired for “smiling” byu/Guilty-Car-7183 inIndianWorkplace The Employee Almost Got Sacked Adding to this, the user shared that six months later he found out that the senior official had allegedly taken offence at that time. “My senior colleagues and manager, who had become close friends, informed me that this senior individual had been ‘insulted’ when I smiled. He had initiated a chain of emails urging that I be fired. He also claimed that I was lying on the bed during the call because of the camera angle,” the Reddit user explained. Fortunately, his team lead and other colleagues supported him and never let him know about this at all. “My manager and team leader didn’t let me know about this. They were really nice guys who backed me and didn’t let me know anything about this. They even told him that he was overreacting to this situation, that I do good work, and that he had misinterpreted the discussion, “the post concluded. How Did The Internet React? Several other users also shared their similar experiences. A Reddit user shared, “The number of managers/seniors who are outraged in the same way for a severity 1 incident and a trivial issue is too high. A mental health assessment is required for these individuals to see whether they are capable of working in a team atmosphere, let alone managing/leading/guiding others.” Another one shared, “When I worked in consulting, my partner got insulted when he offered me cake and I refused politely. It didn’t turn out well for me from then on. But long term, it was all for the best.” One of them commented, “It’s about wrong reaction at the wrong time.” Earlier, a user shared that she was fired from her job just for liking a LinkedIn post that criticised toxic workplaces.
