By: Trends DeskNew Delhi | November 11, 2025 05:17 PM IST 3 min readThe relentless pressure, she wrote, has left her “mentally drained” and “constantly anxious" (Representative image/Unsplash)At a time when several organisations are prioritising work-life balance, a 24-year-old woman employee has recently shared her distressing work experience at one of India’s leading asset management (AUM) companies. In a Reddit post titled “My lead expects me to reply at 2:45 AM after a 14-hour day — I’m done,” she described the severe mental toll of a toxic work culture and unrealistic expectations.According to the post, the woman worked up to 14-hour days, including weekends, for two weeks. Despite the exhausting schedule, her on-site team lead allegedly sent her a message at 2.45 am and expected an immediate reply.“When I didn’t respond (because I was literally asleep), she complained to my offshore lead in such a rude way, as if being online at 3 in the morning is part of my job description,” the woman wrote. “And guess what? I was the one who had to apologise to her for it,” she continued.The employee added that previous attempts to raise complaints went nowhere due to her lead’s influence. “Every time I escalate, things just get worse. My manager? Completely useless. He just nods and agrees with whatever she says,” she said.The relentless pressure, she wrote, has left her “mentally drained” and “constantly anxious.” “I’m not sure if I should just walk away or try to survive a few more months until I find something better — but this job is destroying my peace,” she concluded.See the post here:My lead expects me to reply at 2:45 AM after a 14-hour day — I’m donebyu/Ill-Amphibian-3117 inIndianWorkplaceAlso Read | Company’s HR accidentally sends ‘you’re fired’ email to entire staff, including CEO: ‘Extremely unprofessional’The post resonated with several social media users, sparking a discussion on toxic work culture in India. “Start yelling and make a scene, not rude just facts, make a script and practice if you can, be very specific and polite, but yell, that’ll teach him/her a lesson and embarrass them enough to back off,” a user wrote. “This I’m telling you out of my experience. I know this bunch. They will try to squeeze more out of that person who they think they can control. Do these- set boundaries, logout timely, keep every communication on mail, don’t reply to chat messages outside office hours or any messenger outside the company like WhatsApp,” another user commented.“Please resign, and you can get another job, but you wouldn’t get another life. You had it enough.. I am sure you will get a better job in the notice period. And in the notice period, don’t work, just prepare and focus on interviews,” a third user reacted.© IE Online Media Services Pvt LtdTags:social media viralswork culture