A lawyer has sparked a major online debate after sharing a work chat message from a junior colleague that she claims left her “speechless.”
Ayushi Doshi works as an advocate at a firm in Mumbai, India, and recently took to X, formerly Twitter, to share a message she received from her young colleague informing her and another senior worker that he would be coming into work late the following day.
“Hi sir and ma’am. I will be coming (sic) tomorrow at 11:30am because I am currently leaving the office at 8:30pm,” the note read.
In sharing the screenshot, Ms. Doshi said she couldn’t “believe my junior sent me this”.
“Today’s kids are something else. He stayed late, so now he’s going to show up late to the office to ‘make up’ for it. What a move! I am speechless,” she wrote.
The post quickly went viral and has now been viewed more than 7.3 million times, with many social media users quick to share their own thoughts on the situation.
Unfortunately for Ms. Doshi, the post didn’t receive the support she likely expected, with only a few commenters agreeing with her stance, while the rest slammed her over her response to the situation.
The majority of commenters were quick to defend the junior worker, claiming he was merely setting boundaries and ensuring he maintains a healthy work-life balance.
“Our profession has made this toxic exploitation the norm and widely accepted. However, there is nothing wrong in what your junior is expecting. You pay him for the hours he puts in, not for the draft. If his hours don’t qualify as good enough, then YOU hired the wrong junior,” one person wrote.
One commenter questioned why she let him work so late in the first place, while another praised the youngster for standing up for himself.
“The audacity to not sleep in the office,” another said sarcastically.
One added: “It’s 2024 don’t be a boomer. People have personal life unlike you. After work hours no one should be staying, simple.”
After seeing all the backlash, Ms. Doshi sought to further clarify the situation, revealing the worker had been given a deadline to complete a task that typically requires at least one full day of work.
She claimed his working hours were from 10am to 7pm but he wasn’t able to finish it in that time frame, claiming he lost “valuable time by being on his phone instead of staying focused on the work”.
“When there’s a deadline to meet, sometimes a bit of extra time is necessary to get everything done,” she said.
In another follow up post, Ms. Doshi accused commenters of “venting their frustrations” on her post when the majority of the people posting would not have the courage to “bring this up in an official office” setting.
“When you’re assigned tasks at work, you’re expected to complete them, no matter what. You wouldn’t be preaching self-care in that situation,” she said.
“So for those commenting, please offer a more practical perspective, one where you would have handled things the same way. And please stop giving advice here.”
“The person has only worked extra today, out of all the days. For working just one day beyond regular hours, they’re asking for compensation for that time.”
However, extra clarification did little to change people’s opinions, with many pointing out that she could have raised any concerns with the worker in person, rather than posting it online for everyone to see and “humiliating” him.
Other commenters were quick to point out that the worker has a right to be compensated for his time.
“Yeah asking for compensation is good and healthy practice. You can’t expect people to work overtime without extra pay or some compensatory leave. They are actual human beings not slaves,” one person said.
However, Ms. Doshi refused to backdown, with the ongoing backlash only serving to make her double down on her stance.
She claimed the amount of people “hating” on her over the post was “hilarious”.
She added that the worker in question was “clearly not serious” about his job, reiterating the claim that he wastes time on their phone.
Ms. Doshi also claimed he comes to work late “all the time” and often leaves work unfinished to be completed the following day.
“Even then, it doesn’t get done. If you’re agreeing with the text, please understand the full backstory before attacking me and calling me a bad senior,” she said.
“I’m not making them stay late and burn out their mental or physical health.”
She claimed it was “unreasonable” of the junior worker to ask for compensation in this situation, saying that is “not how corporate or any business works”.
“Let’s focus on practical solutions before labelling anyone as toxic. By the way, this person isn’t reporting to me; I just shared a screenshot that was sent to me in our official group,” she said.
Ms. Doshi’s final explanation did little to win over the commenters, with many now branding her “totally unprofessional” and claiming her follow up posts did not justify her decision to share the message in the first place.
