The employee shared that the startup wanted him to attend a 2 am call after working all day. A young professional earning ₹23,000 a month has sparked an intense online debate about toxic corporate culture after revealing how his startup violated personal boundaries. After completing a standard 9 AM to 6 PM shift, the employee went to sleep due to eye strain and medication, missing an impromptu 2 AM deadline call. When the persistent ringing woke the employee's mother, she answered the phone only to be lectured by the startup team. The management aggressively questioned why her child was sleeping during a “full-time role” and explicitly labelled the behaviour as highly unprofessional.The employee asked Reddit if he should leave the startup and look for a new job. (Representative image). (Unsplash)“My startup questioned my professionalism because I slept after working all day. Need advice,” the employee wrote, adding, “Last night we had a deadline, and the team wanted everyone to keep working until around 2 AM. I had already spent the entire day in the office, and my eyes were hurting badly from staring at the screen. I had also taken medication, so I went to sleep.”Also Read: Earned ₹1,500/day as Zomato rider, wanted to be a doctor, now he runs an AI startup in BengaluruThe team later had a WhatsApp group call at night, but as the man was asleep, he didn’t attend. However, the persistent ringing woke up his mom, who picked up the call and was slammed by the startup.“Instead of simply asking where I was, they told my mother that this is a full-time role, asked how I could be sleeping, and said it was a sign of unprofessionalism.”The employee continued, “That really made me uncomfortable. I understand that deadlines happen and sometimes extra work is required, but expecting someone to stay awake until 2 AM after already working a full office day—and then making those comments to my mother when she happened to answer the group call—felt inappropriate.”He asked Reddit whether the startup had crossed a professional boundary and whether he should simply quit.A post by a Reddit user. (Screengrab (Reddit))What did social media say?An individual suggested, “No, they are the ones who have been unprofessional. First of all, a professional way of communication is through Teams or email. Better quit and start looking for better jobs.” Another advised, “Simple response - You pay me 23k a month for x hrs of work. Anything above that is unpaid overtime. Unless you are paying me overtime, I will utilise my personal time anyway that I want.”Also Read: Man says he resigned to avoid termination, asks what to tell HR during job hunt: 'If my reason isn't good enough...'A third commented, “My friend. My labourers get paid more than you, and they get lunch, tea, and a one-hour break during a 9-hour workday. You're being exploited.” The OP responded, “That's what my parents said, that even labour has a fixed time.”A fourth wrote, “Tell them I am ready to work beyond working hours if you compensate me with double the hourly salary or find someone else. The management is not professional, as they are not sure how to manage client demand within the specified time, but they buckle under pressure and accept the demand. Somewhere down the hierarchy, someone tried to score credits by buckling down.”(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Hindustantimes.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)Trisha Sengupta works as Chief Content Producer at Hindustan Times with over six years of experience in the digital newsroom. Known for her ability to decode the internet’s most talked-about moments, she specialises in high-engagement storytelling that bridges the gap between viral trends and traditional journalism.