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A Reddit user claimed a startup founder responded with a middle-finger emoji after they declined an internship interview. The viral post has sparked debate on workplace culture
A Reddit post describing a strange encounter with a startup founder has struck a chord online (Image-AI)
A candidate’s account of an unusual internship recruitment experience has gone viral on Reddit, sparking widespread debate about professionalism in hiring and workplace culture at startups.
Describing it as one of the “weirdest internship experiences” they had encountered, the candidate explained that the interaction began after they applied for an internship through a LinkedIn job post.
According to the post, the founder contacted them the following day, expressing interest in their profile and asking them to continue the conversation on WhatsApp.
However, the candidate said the recruitment process quickly began to raise concerns. They alleged that there was no formal email communication, calendar invitation, or structured scheduling process. Instead, they were reportedly sent only the office address and had to follow up independently to obtain details about the interview timing.
The candidate wrote that the lack of organisation prompted them to look more closely into the company. During their research, they claimed to have discovered multiple businesses operating from the same office and under the same family, while finding very little information about the organisation online.
“Maybe my instincts were wrong, but something felt off,” the candidate wrote.
As a result, they decided not to attend the interview. The individual clarified that they had never formally confirmed their participation and had only informed the founder that they would get back to him regarding the meeting.
According to the Reddit post, the founder messaged the candidate the next morning asking whether they would be attending the interview. The candidate said they responded politely, informing him that they would not be able to make it and apologising for any inconvenience caused.
Initially, the founder reportedly reacted to the message with a thumbs-up emoji, which the candidate assumed ended the conversation. However, a day later, they noticed that the reaction had allegedly been changed to a middle-finger emoji.
A screenshot attached to the post appeared to show a WhatsApp notification indicating that the reaction to the message had been modified.
Reflecting on the incident, the candidate argued that the response reinforced their concerns about the company. They wrote, “I’m sorry, but if you’re a founder representing your company and that’s how you react to a candidate declining an interview, you’ve just validated every concern that candidate had in the first place.”
The candidate further added, “Honestly, I think that emoji told me more about the company culture than the interview ever could.”
Notably, neither the company nor the founder was identified in the post.
The story quickly gained traction on Reddit, attracting hundreds of reactions and sparking a wider debate.
“I love companies like this, i don’t have to go to the trouble of second guessing the culture at the workplace. they’re automatically into my blacklist,” said one user.
“You dodged a bullet. Let this asshole go,” said another.
Some commenters, however, criticised the candidate for withholding the company’s identity, arguing that revealing the name could help future applicants make informed decisions.
“Everyone in this country lacks a spine and then bitch about organisations being cnts. Why be scared to share the name of the organisation FFS, you won’t get blacklisted or anything. This is the real world and your prospects will not get hampered in another good organization. Very disappointing what you faced but you get one 🖕 from me as well for not sharing the company name when so many comments are requesting for it,” said a third user.
Another commenter expressed concern about the founder’s alleged behaviour, writing, “I can only imagine the behaviour towards his slaves in the start-up, if he is mature enough to use such gestures on WhatsApp. Sadly, in India, these are dime a dozen.”
Echoing similar sentiments, another user commented, “People not sharing names despite this behavior is such a pick me behavior lol. Why even post? Share the company name and let them face consequences or at least you’re helping the community?”
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