‘Started a new job today and the red flags are flying’: New hire spends day one with no equipment, a delayed iPad, and broken IT logins, then gets brushed off when she raises concerns

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Jul 16, 2026 2:30 PM EDT

Seven hours of memorizing a talk track alone in an empty office says a lot about how this company handles new hires. Before this person even signed on, they asked a completely reasonable sales question: what resources come with the job. 

Getting laughed at for wanting a company phone instead of handing personal numbers to strangers revealed the company's actual priorities. "Would you really draw a line in the sand over that much money" sounds like a sales pitch but functions as pressure, implying that boundaries are optional the moment cash is dangled.

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  • Started a new job today and the red flags are flying.

    Man sitting at a laptop with his hands pressed to his face, looking tense and overwhelmed
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Sorry im just looking to vent after a very strange day. I'm not looking for people to tell me to quit.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • I have been out of a job for 6 months and I need anything I can get to stay on top of bills for my family since our savings is almost completely depleted.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • I've already decided to start looking for a new job but I've never been in a more sketchy unprofessional environment my first day.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • It all started during the hiring process. I am in sales and always ask "What type of resources will I be given to succeed?" I.e a cell phone, laptop, continued training ect.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • Man in glasses rubs his eyes at a desktop computer in a sunlit office, with a blurred coworker behind him.
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    Stock photo used for editorial context. Individuals in image are models.

  • Walking into a tiny office with an empty desk, no landline, no computer, and an iPad that mysteriously “shipped late” set the tone for how this company handles logistics. Being told to download work software onto a personal phone for an HR onboarding call, using credentials that didn’t even work, pushed a minor inconvenience into a real privacy concern. IT staying silent for over 13 hours on a broken login points to an internal culture where fixing problems quickly just isn’t a priority.

  • I was told I would be given an IPad and that's it. I asked about getting a company issued phone because I would like to keep some distance between my personal life and my work life, also I would prefer not to give my personal number to customers.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • I was almost laughed off the call because "would you really draw a line in the sand over that when you have the potential to make so much money?" I said that I saw it as a measure of the company and the conversation quickly shifted.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • I continued to move on because, well money and my family needed stability. Today was my first day and I walked into the smallest office I had ever seen and was given my own office with the smallest desk with nothing on it.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • No landline phone no computer nothing. I asked about the iPad and was told that it was delayed in shipping and would be here by tomorrow.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • Ok cool I call up the Regional Manager (RM) ask him what's up and what I should do all day since I'm supposed to be training all week.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • He said he knew about the iPad but I'm supposed to be on a call with HR in 10 minutes to start onboarding so just download all the Microsoft apps my personal phone to jump on the call.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • I reluctantly agree because I just want to get started working and I don't want to sit around all day.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • Well the credentials they sent did not work so I sent a request to IT to figure it out at 8:30 and as of now at 10pm still have not heard anything.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • Relay this to RM and was asked if I had a laptop with me. Nope was told I would be doing this on an iPad so did not bring one.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • I then was told that since I did not have the iPad I should spend the next 7 hours memorizing the 25 page talk track since I could not do anything else.
    via MileHighGuy2
  • So that's what I did all fr king day. My RM calls me at 6pm and asked how the day went.
    via MileHighGuy2

  • Spending seven hours memorizing a 25-page script because there was nothing else to do turned an empty day into forced busywork. The real reveal came at 6pm, when the Regional Manager responded to a legitimate complaint about missing basic equipment with “oh here we go with the phone again.” That reaction shows a manager who treats valid concerns as annoyances rather than problems worth solving.

  • I told him the issues and reiterated that it was strange that I didn't have an even a land line and he said, "Oh here we go with the phone again." The flags are waiving and I have never felt more uncomfortable with a job in my professional career.
    via MileHighGuy2

  • A delayed shipment happens, IT backlogs happen, but stacked together on day one, they form a pattern of a company treating structure, privacy, and communication as afterthoughts. Needing the paycheck doesn’t erase the instinct that something is off, it just means the job search continues quietly in the background while collecting a check from a company that clearly wasn’t ready to hire anyone.

  • Thank you for listening to my rant.
    via MileHighGuy2

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