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‘This is actually sad’: Indian founder in US faces backlash after praising intern for working past midnight
An Indian founder in the US was criticised after praising an intern who worked past midnight.
An Indian origin founder in the United States sparked online criticism after she praised an intern for working late into the night. The remarks, shared on X by Aiswarya Sankar, quickly drew reactions from users who felt the post glorified an unhealthy work culture.
The post and the reaction
Sankar posted a photograph of the intern along with the caption, “Be like our new intern refusing to leave past midnight to finish testing a customer ask that got dumped on him at 9 pm today. 9 9 6 is actually 9 12 6 for this guy.”
Check out the post here:
The post appeared to applaud the intern for staying far beyond regular hours. However, many users interpreted it as an example of an exploitative work environment.
Comments poured in, describing the situation as troubling. One user commented, “This is actually sad,” while another remarked, “Please give him some rewards.” A third response read, “Free my guy,” followed soon after by someone saying, “Such a miserable life. Sorry dude.”
Another user criticised the tone, stating, “That’s not something to flex,” and a further remark added, “Getting no life outside work is kinda sad.”
Founder responds to backlash
Responding to the criticism, Sankar attempted to clarify the situation and insisted that she was not enforcing long hours. She wrote, “To everyone complaining, I asked him to go home but he was operating on his own work ethic.”
Take a look here at the post:
About the company
Aiswarya Sankar leads Entelligence.AI, a San Francisco based firm that builds artificial engineering intelligence tools designed to enhance engineering workflows and productivity.
HT.com has reached out to Sankar for her comments. This copy will be updated once a response is received.
(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.)
