'Won't provide me a laptop for work? Fine, I won't work then': Low-paid intern stops overworking after company refuses to send them a laptop

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Feb 16, 2024 3:00 PM EST

This intern was being overworked, and got tired of it pretty quickly. 

There's a period of uncertainty between the time you leave college and get your first "real job." Some people spend weeks or months in this period, while others take years to break into their field. It can leave you feeling like you're too experienced for unpaid or entry-level wage internships, but you're also not getting hired as a professional in your field. It leaves you wondering how you'll ever get to that point… and so many college grads end up taking on more internships to build up their resume. 

This student, u/dalai_lara, writes that as a new grad with a degree in computer science, they took on an internship that was supposed to convert to a full-time job. Almost every internship I've ever heard of offers this, and it seems like 99.9% of them are lying about it. Nearly every company that hires interns promises them that if they work hard and impress the team, they could have a spot at the company. And of course, at the end of the internship, these higher-ups just shrug their shoulders and tell the interns that they didn't make the cut. It makes the interns want to work very hard during their tenure at the company, as well as keeping them quiet about any complaints they might have about their salary or working conditions. 

You can check out this intern's tale below. After that, check out some very funny and rare insults. 

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  • 01
    W 'Here I was working 10 hours a day...and I was being unreasonable?'
    via Surface on Unsplash
  • 02
    Won't provide me a laptop for work? Fine, I won't work then.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 03
    After having a conversation with a former colleague, I decided to post this. Background: I completed my B Tech in Computer Science in 2020, and this was my first job fresh out of college. This was a B2B start-up in the telecommunications space, and was well on its way to being part of the famed Indian unicorn space. I was hired as an intern, with a pre-placement offer (basically confirmed conversion to full time after internship) for
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 04
    an above average salary. I started my internship in-office from January 2020, and generally liked all of my colleagues and the work. I was learning so much about telecommunications and the IT sector that I used to work 8 AM - 7 PM daily, taking on as many responsibilities as possible, when the official work timings were 9 AM - 6 PM, and I was being paid a meagre stipend of Rs. 15000 (~$200) per month. It was going well, at least for the first 3 months. But then c d hit, and it all went downhill.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 05
    to remember, as this Something is going to be important afterwards. As per company policies, we didn't have to use a company laptop for work. We can use our personal laptop and claim a BYOD reimbursement of Rs. 1000 per month. We can also opt-out of BYOD anytime and get a work laptop. As an intern, it was compulsory to opt-in BYOD.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 06
    Now before the main malicious compliance, a lot of things happened. I would try to provide you with brief and accurate timeline on what all happened:
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 07
    March'20: Lockdown started in India so I started work-from- home. To track how much time an employee worked, they forced us to install time-tracking software, which used to track mouse movements, keypresses and used to take a screenshot every 5 mins. If total time tracked was less than 8 hours, it was marked as half-day leave. As someone using personal laptop, it was a huge privacy issue so I dual-booted my laptop and used Ubuntu for work.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 08
    April 20: Company decided to cut salary of all employees including interns, giving c d as reason. Now I was making Rs. 12000 (~$160) monthly.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 09
    July'20: I started full-time with significant less salary than initially promised, as apparently the company was struggling. I also opted for BYOD as my personal laptop was working fine and I appreciated the extra money.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 10
    August 20: Company decided to go completely remote, and shut down it's main (and only) office. While it was a welcome decision from middle and senior level employees, it was unacceptable for freshers. I believe a lot of personal and professional development happens in office, and us not being provided that opportunity was not acceptable. It was around this time I decided to prepare for a competitive exam (GATE) for going for masters in India.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 11
    January¹21: Due to HR Policies and a toxic work culture, a lot of people were resigning. Given the IT team comprised of only 40 members, it was a huge problem. More people were resigning than the company can hire in a week. So a lot of work was being added to my plate. I was working 10 hours a day and on weekends as well (unpaid) just to keep up with the amount of work. I was also studying 6 hours a day and surviving on barely 4 hours of sleep every day. It was when I under so much pressure, it
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 12
    My mom sat on my open laptop by mistake, and its lid broke. As it was costing a lot of money, and I couldn't afford a new laptop, I requested to withdraw from BYOD and requested for a work laptop. So I was very surprised that my request was denied. I was then informed that starting from 2021, the company has updated the BYOD policy, making it mandatory for employees to bring their own laptop. They will
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 13
    stop providing laptops to employees from 2021 onwards. After a lot of meetings with higher-ups, I had escalated the issue to head HR. As per my previous interaction with the head HR lady, I thought she was a very nice lady and thought she would help me. Boy was I so wrong...
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 14
    She told me that I was being unreasonable, that it was ME who wasn't "understanding" the company's situation, giving some reasons for this policy, and that I would have buy a new laptop according to their required specs, which would have cost me 2 months' salary (laptops are expensive in India).
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 15
    It was at that moment that something cracked in me. Here I was, working 10 hours a day, preparing for a competitive exam, surviving on less than 4 hours of sleep a day, being forced to buy an unnecessary laptop costing 2 months of salary, in the middle of a global pandemic due to which I have no savings, and I was being UNREASONABLE?!!
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 16
    So I told her, in no uncertain terms, to And I resigned on the spot and started my 2 months' notice period. I also started looking for other jobs. I was fortunate that a college friend referred me to his company, which was a telecommunications giant, for a job in similar capacity, and I was hired within 3 days with double the salary for essentially the same work.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 17
    Now I didn't have a laptop to work on, and the new company was willing to buy out my notice period, so I asked HR for early release, and they denied the request. Apparently, they were so shorthanded they couldn't afford any more leaving so quickly.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 18
    You wouldn't provide me with the tools I require for my job? Fine I won't work then.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 19
    That is when my malicious compliance begins. I followed some YouTube tutorials to connect the broken lid with laptop base. I managed to connect it barely. I would then send an email to my boss, HR and Tech lead that I won't be able to work due to my laptop not working properly. I would send this email daily from my broken laptop, making sure the time- tracking software was on and it took screenshots of me sending the email, and then I would leave for the rest of day. Meanwhile, I
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 20
    prepared for GATE full time, gave my GATE exam and then went on a 2-week vacation, for which I was paid as I was still sending those emails daily. I then followed this routine till the 2 months' notice period was completed, said to goodbye to my colleagues and finally left this company.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 21
    Recently I connected with a former colleague, and I got to know the current situation. Remember the pay cut we were given during cd? According to some leaked internal documents, it turned out that while our pay was being cut, the CEO and CTO (who were brothers) increased their already huge salaries by more than 50%. This caused a massive -storm on LinkedIn.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 22
    The company's Glassdoor reviews tanked. I hadn't known about it because I didn't use LinkedIn much. The bad press also caused them to lose a lot of their clients, tanking their revenues. They had to let go of a lot of newly joined employees, which further contributed to the controversy.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 23
    Finally, after all this, the company was recently bought by another player in the telecommunications sector which dissolved it after getting access to their technology, thus ending the tale of a once growing start-up.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 24
    TLDR: Company decided to not give me laptop on which my work depended, so I resigned and didn't work at all during my notice period.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 25
    GreenEggPage Sadly, the owners got what they wanted - a buyout. That's the goal of many startups - get big enough to get bought out.
    via u/GreenEggPage
  • 26
    dalai_lara OP. Yep, specially true in the Indian start-up scene. A lot of my friends who joined early/middle stage start-ups have experienced it as well. Most of us have decided to not join any start-up till we get enough corporate experience to not be exploited like this again.
    via u/dalai_lara
  • 27
    CoderJoe1 If your personal laptop was being used for work and got broken, they should use their insurance to pay for it so you can purchase a new personal laptop.
    via u/CoderJoe1

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