Manager slams remote staff for using ‘power cut’ excuse to skip office work: ‘Can’t afford a ₹1k UPS?’

A manager’s Reddit rant slammed WFH staff for using ‘power cut’ excuses to skip work.

A fiery Reddit post by a frustrated manager has sparked debate over the misuse of work-from-home privileges. The post accused some remote employees of repeatedly using the “power cut” excuse to skip meetings and go offline during work hours.

The manager questioned how well-paid employees could still claim to face such problems.(Unsplash/Representational Image)

"Can't hop on a call because of no electricity is an excuse that I absolutely can't stand," the caption of the post reads.

Manager vents over fake excuses:

According to the manager, two members of a seven-person team often mark their Slack status as “network issue” or “electricity outage” and then vanish for hours. “It’s understandable to have network issues once in a while, but if it continues for weeks, shouldn’t you switch providers?” the post read.

The manager questioned how well-paid employees could still claim to face such problems, pointing out that both earn more than 1.5 lakh a month after tax. “What kind of a kanjoos person cannot afford a UPS for 1k?”

The post also criticised those who blamed laptop battery failures. “My company gives everyone MacBook Pros. If someone says their battery died, they’re either careless or lying,” the manager wrote.

While admitting that occasional excuses were understandable, the manager highlighted that repeated disappearances could attract unwanted attention from management. “If tomorrow management takes action, the same people will say they have no work-life balance."

Check out the post here:

Screengrab of the Reddit post.(Reddit)

Reddit reacts:

The post quickly drew strong reactions online. Many users agreed with the manager, saying remote work flexibility was being taken for granted by some employees.

Others, however, said the manager’s tone was too harsh and failed to consider genuine cases of poor infrastructure or frequent power cuts in smaller towns.

One of the users commented, "My company had a 2-day WFH per week policy and it got revoked 6 months ago (5 days WFO now) all because of 3 (2 mainly) who every single time: Power cut - connected on hotspot."

A second user commented, "This is a real concern; few of my teammates do this very frequently, and the manager won't approve leaves for the rest of us, stating shrinkage or pending tasks."

"One time, one of my team members posted a screenshot of no internet connection. When I closely checked the screenshot, it was the same screenshot that was pasted 2 days before by the same team member," another user commented.

(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)