‘Bas ghoom lo, kaam toh yahi karna hai na': Indian employee faces passive-aggressive remarks after Europe trip

An employee shared a post on Reddit claiming that she faced passive-aggressive behaviour from her colleagues after returning from her Europe trip. She claimed that their remarks left her "drained and depressed".

“I land back in India. I go to the office, feeling refreshed, smiling and instantly, the HR gives me that look. ‘Aaj toh madam Europe se time mil gaya?’ Another colleague chimes in: ‘Bas ghoom lo, kaam toh yahi karna hai na.’ All in that taunting, passive-aggressive tone we’ve mastered here,” the woman wrote.

Also Read: ‘Europe opened my eyes’: Indian man on desi ‘toxicity’ and benefits of living abroad

In the following lines, she claimed that she returned to 248 emails, numerous Teams pings, and client meetings scheduled with her knowledge. “And the worst part? We glorify this. We wear burnout like a badge of honour. We think rest = laziness. If you take time off, you’re ‘not serious about your career’,” she continued.

The employee further claimed that the whole situation left her feeling “drained, disconnected, and low-key depressed”.

Take a look at the post here:

How did social media react?

“I am also on one of those teams wherein they chant 'work is prayer' slogans. I can totally relate to you. There are a lot of people I know working in the EU, and they mention the relaxed attitude and respect towards employees' culture. I feel sad, but can't do anything, cause for 90% of roles, if you resent/rebel against such a toxic environment and work culture, there are thousands who will replace you tomorrow, especially in the current market,” posted an individual.

Also Read: Employee happy with European team criticises Indian HR over work from home row: ‘Pushed me to…'

Another remarked, “The West has good work-life balance because all the grunt work which requires you to be in office and pull longer hours is outsourced to other developing countries. They work 9 hours because someone else is working for 12 hours in some other country. Almost every medium and large-scale organisation in Europe and the US outsources its work to countries like India. They have all the strategic and top tier roles which allow good work-life balance.”

A third shared, “This is because Europe is a rich place, and if a country is rich, it takes good care of its citizens. India is a poor country, and all we have to offer to the world is our cheap labour, which is, believe me, heavily exploited here.”

A fourth wrote, “The problem is that the same European people take us for granted and make us work extra hours while travelling daily in worse conditions.”