No pay, no empathy? Boss's chilly response to intern's emergency leave appeal goes viral

'Boss expects seriousness from his interns even though he doesn't treat them seriously…' A viral Reddit post last week stoked the discussion on unpaid internships, pathological work culture, and the increasing disconnect between professional expectations and personal crises. What happened was that an intern requested her boss for a day off to attend to her ailing parents-and was shamed and told she lacked "seriousness."

In this viral WhatsApp conversation, an intern was asking for short-notice leave sanction from her manager, saying that her parents were on bed rest and vowing that the same would "won't happen again." The manager responded: "When you are interning at some place, there is a responsibility too… Three days before a major event, you've gone missing… Anyways, your choice…. This shows seriousness towards your work."

The message left the web with three questions:

Is it possible that emergencies may have an advance schedule?

Where does compassion disappear in the guise of power relations?

Unpaid internship with full-time commitments?

Unpaid Internship and exploitation

As unpaid internship opportunities tend to come with the offer of "experience" and "exposure" issues have been raised time and again in recent days. In this instance, the internet raised even more questions about the fact that this intern worked for free — something that turned online sympathy into outright anger. Even though she was unpaid, she was expected to be treated like a full-time employee and was criticized for requesting time off mere days before a major event. One of the comments said: "If the facility is collapsing by an intern taking a day off, they really shouldn't be employing interns!

"Passive aggression in the workplace Something else fascinating about the boss's note wasn't so much the rejection as the passive aggression interpreted from the tone of the message. Others called it a textbook example of gaslighting, where the boss induced the intern to question her own choice, reality, and judgment with psychological manipulation. Having a superior position, he didn't explicitly say 'no' to the intern.

Instead, he put down: "Anyways, your choice… This shows seriousness towards your work,"-implying that attending to one's parents during an emergency with their health somehow reflects negatively on one's commitment.

Call for much-needed reset?

At its heart, the cause of the virality of this post isn't simply about a single unpaid intern or a single condescending boss. It's about the acceptance of overlooking emotional intelligence in the workplace, and the thinking that time is equal to loyalty.On LinkedIn, someone asked: "Why in India do people still feel ashamed to take their deserving leaves?"

Others saw the boss's reaction as a lesson in professionalism. One post stated:

"It's just a way of showing urgency and having a proper divided workload. Nothing else."-although it was panned for being unkind. The internet agreed on one thing: emergency circumstances must be handled sensitivity and courtesy- without making workers feel guilty for deciding to take care of their family