In recent years, professionals have turned to social media to call out toxic workplaces. Several employees have shared personal stories about toxic leadership and burnout on platforms like LinkedIn, X, and more. This often sparks broader conversations about mental health, work-life balance, and employee rights.
A Reddit user recently shared a disturbing workplace experience where a casual smile during a Zoom onboarding session almost had him fired. In a post titled “Almost got fired for smiling,” he recounted how a seemingly minor moment during the work-from-home period escalated into a chain of emails from a senior official calling for his dismissal.
According to the viral post, the employee had joined a mid-range company as a fresher, along with about ten other new hires. During one of the introductory calls, a senior management official joined to welcome the recruits. The session was casual and full of jokes. While others laughed, the Redditor said he simply smiled. His laptop camera, positioned at the bottom of his gaming device, created an awkward angle, which reportedly led the senior manager to assume he was lying down.
The senior asked, “xyz why are you smiling?” to which the employee replied, “everything is fine.” The call continued without any further comments, and he assumed the incident had passed.
However, six months later, some colleagues who were leaving the company revealed that the senior leader had felt “insulted” by that smile. According to them, the official initiated a long chain of emails demanding feedback on the employee and even recommended that he be fired. Team members working onsite in another country were also copied in the thread.
The Redditor discovered that his manager and team lead had defended him throughout, shielding him from the stress. They also tried to convince the senior that the situation had been misinterpreted and emphasised that the employee was performing well.
Reflecting on the incident, the Redditor wrote that it revealed “how small of a person this guy is” and eventually decided to leave the company, calling it “the best decision.”
The post quickly drew attention, prompting several users to share their stance. “The number of managers/seniors who get offended the same way for a severity 1 incident and a trivial issue is to high. There needs to be a mental health check done for these guys to see if they are fit working in a team environment, let alone manage/lead/guide others,” a user wrote. “When I worked in consulting, my partner got insulted when he offered me cake and I refused politely. It didn’t turn out well for me from the on,” another user commented.
“Indian workplaces have the most egocentric management and gatekeeping groups. Glad my current org is one of the best that actually encourages ideas and free flow,” a third user reacted.