E-Paper
Gurgaon man worked as Uber driver to pay rent and EMIs after being fired suddenly
The Gurgaon man shared that the aftermath of being fired from the company where he had worked diligently and loyally was brutal.
"Loyalty without respect slowly destroys a person from the inside." These are the words of a marketing manager who survived the second COVID wave only to be drowned by office politics years later. Despite handling the workload of three people and sticking by his firm through multiple leadership changes, he was terminated shortly after the birth of his daughter. With savings drying up and HRs ghosting his applications, he turned to the only option left to support his family: driving an Uber bike in Gurgaon.
“4 years in Gurgaon corporate… ended with me driving Uber on my bike to survive,” a former corporate employee wrote on Reddit.
Also Read: ‘I got fired from my job’: Bengaluru woman says her life revolved around stress, deadlines
Explaining his career in corporate, the individual wrote, “One day you are handling campaigns, websites, webinars, events, SEO, content, graphics, inside sales support and acting like the backbone of a company… and few months later you are driving Uber on your motorcycle at midnight hoping enough rides come so you can pay rent and EMI on time.”
The man said that when he joined the company in 2021, an IT staffer gave him a chilling warning: "Marketing people don't last here more than 6-8 months." Determined to prove him wrong, the employee stayed for nearly four years. He worked as a one-man army, reporting directly to the CEO, until a marketing head was hired who finally built a thriving, happy team of eight.
However, things changed when the founder’s son returned from the US to join the company. Power dynamics shifted overnight. The experienced marketing head, unwilling to report to a 23-year-old with "power only because of his surname," resigned.
The departure triggered a domino effect. The recognition vanished, appraisals stopped, and he was eventually told, "Management is not happy." It ultimately ended with him being fired.
Married around 1.5 years ago and with a newborn baby, the OP learned a brutal lesson about Gurgaon’s high cost of living after being fired.
What followed was his desperate attempt to land a new job. However, as HRs ghosted his applications and savings dwindled, the man with a decade of marketing expertise found himself driving an Uber bike to keep his family afloat.
What is he doing now?
Sharing his present status, the man posted, “Life goes on, of course. I survived somehow. Freelancing helped. I moved back closer to my hometown. I even joined my old company again later.”
He added, “But I will always remember that Gurgaon chapter of my life. Not because I got fired. But because it taught me that loyalty without respect slowly destroys a person from the inside.”
How did social media react?
An individual posted, “Hope things are going better for you now.” The OP responded, “Yes, now things are getting settled slowly.” Another commented, “Bhai, the moment you shared you're married and have a daughter, that scared shit out of me. Hope things are working fine and you're getting work.”
A third expressed, “I wish you the best for your career. I too faced the same issue. Now I started doing IT sales, as I have to feed my family.” A fourth wrote, “More power to you. Hope everything works out well for you. Again, a good lesson for everyone. Thanks.”
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)
