The incident came to light after Karthik Sridharan, co-founder and CEO of Flexiple, shared a screenshot of his conversation with the intern, highlighting the unique circumstances of the situation.
In the WhatsApp conversation, it can be seen that an intern quits before his tenure at the company via text saying he doesn’t need it anymore as he received funding for his AI startup. Sridharan shared the exchange on X (formerly Twitter), captioning it, “This only happens in Bangalore.”
This only happens in Bangalore – pic.twitter.com/KtfB6dhJl5
— Karthik Sridharan (@KarthikS2206) September 1, 2024
Sridharan reached out to the unnamed intern via WhatsApp to enquire about his absence from work on Friday, August 30. To which, the intern instantly replied: “Hey, sorry I took a leave because I had a meeting with a VC. My AI startup got funded. I don’t need the internship anymore.”
The screenshot has received over 5,000 likes on X. Netizens are dropping varied reactions on the post where some are congratulating the intern for the startup and others are criticizing the way he left his internship. Many expressed concern about the intern’s lack of professionalism.
One of the users said, “I think this is disrespectful to some extent but understandable.”
Another said, “Glad for the kid! Just hope someone will guide him to get better at communication as well!”
Third added, “I guess that internship was just the warm-ups!”
“No matter how young/experienced someone is, basic communication skills and respect for others are needed,” another user said.