The challenges of working in a startup can sometimes bring out both the best and the worst in a company’s culture. A recent Reddit post by an Indian techie has brought attention to the toxic environment he faced in his startup. The individual, who works remotely as a front-end developer, shared how he was verbally abused and left in tears during a Google Meet call with one of the company’s co-founders.

Describing the experience, the techie wrote, “I cried on Google Meet in front of the tech lead. I do not know how to face it now."

The employee, a fresher who joined the company just two months ago, detailed his struggle with unclear instructions, long hours and a lack of proper training.

“There are only two employees and three founders. One of them handles the backend and plays the role of tech lead. I was not given clear instructions neither got any training from day one," he explained.
 

Despite working 12-15 hours a day, he said he and his colleague have “dropped the expectation of appreciation" and now simply hope to avoid humiliation from the tech lead.

The techie, in an online meeting, pointed out the unclear instructions. Instead of getting the support he needed, he met with verbal abuse from the founder.

“He told me so many nasty things I could not hold my tears and started crying and I was not in a mental zone to work. So, I told him I am taking leave after a few hours of Google Meet," the user mentioned.

“I do not know how will I face him," he added.

At the end of the post, the techie shared how much the situation affected him. He felt humiliated after working hard without proper training and being given a tech stack with which he wasn’t familiar. He then asked for advice from others, saying, “How should I handle this?"
 

Take a look at the post here:

The post sparked a variety of reactions from social media users, with many offering support and others criticising the founder’s behaviour.

One user commented, “There’s a saying. You don’t cry because you are weak but because you tried to be strong for too long. It is fine, hopefully, that a*** understands that his behaviour is hurting others."

Another suggested, “Try to get out of that place, you are just a resource for them. They will exploit you as much as you let them."

Meanwhile, someone shared, “Man, I despise people who make juniors cry and make them sad over their BS software. At the end of the day, our lives are not dependent on it. Op send resume, my DMs are always open."