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‘Are you watching porn?’: Employee alleges harassment by Bengaluru CEO; claims boss asked ‘if she came to enjoy with boyfriend’

‘Are you watching porn?’: Employee alleges harassment by Bengaluru CEO; claims boss asked ‘if she came to enjoy with boyfriend’

When a woman received an offer from a startup based in Bengaluru, she was more than happy to take it up and excited to work directly with the CEO. However, in her words, it turned out to be the “biggest mistake of her career”. The woman who started as an intern said she had to endure sexist slurs directed at her in front of others. 

The woman, who goes by “akclone” on Reddit, shared her experience online on the platform’s “IndianWorkplace” community. She divided her post into several parts – “The first red flag”, “Dehumanising behaviour continued”, “At the end”,  and “I finally quit”.

‘Came to Bengaluru to enjoy with boyfriend’

She joined the startup during the final year of her Master’s degree as a UX Designer. “It felt like a dream, I’d be the only designer, working directly with the CEO, handling everything independently,” she wrote. 

The startup promised that if she met expectations after two months of internship, she’d be considered for a full-time role. However, things took a sharp turn when the CEO publicly insulted her.

“The CEO walked up to me in front of everyone and said, ‘I don’t know whether you came to Bengaluru to work or to enjoy with your boyfriend. I don’t think you work’,” she recalled, adding that that was the first time she experienced what she described as “humiliation in a workplace”. 

Despite this, she pleaded for another month to prove herself, and she did it. She landed a full-time position. 

‘Cried and begged to…’

Since she was still pursuing her Master’s, she needed time to prepare for her final jury presentation. But according to her, the CEO told her it wasn’t his problem that she joined the company before completing her degree. After a meeting with an investor didn’t go well, he insulted her again in front of the team.

She claimed that the CEO was misogynistic and only “misbehaved with women”. 

“After a bad investor meeting, he barged into the office and checked my work on my laptop. Then came another outburst: ‘She’s dragging the whole company down. Why should I talk in private? The humiliation should happen in front of everyone when you’re dragging everyone down with you,” she further shared, before adding, “He screamed at me in front of the team and threatened to fire me. I cried and begged him not to. Again.”

‘Are you watching porn?’

The woman said that her boss’s “dehumanising” behaviour continued with each passing day. She shared that she once requested a half-day to shift to a new home, while another employee took leave after losing two family members.

The CEO allegedly responded by saying that each employee would get only 10 days of leave per year: “All that’s left for me to do now is keep track of who’s dying and who’s moving. From now on, I’ll only get 10 days of leave for the entire year—so you can decide when to attend someone’s funeral, when to fall sick, and when to go home for Diwali.”

She began sitting away from the team to avoid the sexist jokes, but one comment deeply unsettled her.

“One day, he came up to me and said: ‘Why are you sitting away? Porn dekh rahi ho kya [Are you watching porn?’ I was stunned,” she recalled.

‘We don’t need a designer’

The final nail in the coffin was when she asked for a raise and was told to quit. “The CEO’s reaction to this was: ‘We don’t need a UX designer anymore. You can either leave or join as a Project Manager and bring leads.’ Then he added, ‘I know you won’t be a good project manager. Some people are just not built to grow.’”

Although he said the company didn’t need a designer, moments later he offered her freelance work, apparently to play “mind games” and make his offer appear as a favour.

“I cried that day. I felt betrayed. But deep down, I was relieved. He did for me what I couldn’t do for myself, and I was finally free,” the Redditor went on to say. 

She concluded with the words: “Over time, I lost all confidence. I would overthink even a single line of text. After I left, it took me over a month to even feel like I deserved another job.”

I stayed in a toxic startup for 1.5 years because I thought I wasn’t capable of better. I was wrong.

Redditors rally under her post

Many found the behaviour “inhumane” and suggested that she name and shame her boss. 

“Horrible! What you went through was inhumane, and no one deserves that. It takes courage to walk away, and even more to speak up…,” said one Reddit user.

Another said, “This gets scarier as I read it!”
“I mean, no one deserves such humiliation, whether you are a top performer or the worst performer. Name and shame, I would say,” suggested a third.

Source – https://www.financialexpress.com/trending/are-you-watching-porn-employee-alleges-harassment-by-bengaluru-ceo-claims-boss-asked-if-she-came-to-enjoy-with-boyfriend/3888941/

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