It is not unusual for companies to reject candidates. However, it is unusual when a company rejects a candidate for simply asking if their WiFi costs would be reimbursed.
We are not making this up. This is actually what happened.

A co-founder of an ed-tech firm took to LinkedIn and posted about a similar incident. In his post, the co-founder mentioned how their company was hiring someone for a role with a package of ₹10.5 lakhs. The role was “a healthy offer” and a “significant jump from the candidate’s previous role”.
But things took a turn when the candidate asked if their WiFi cost would be reimbursed, which in the co-founder’s words, was “less than ₹1000 per month.”

The request raised red flags for the co-founder. And he changed his decision from a “hesitant yes” to a “hell no”. His reason: if someone makes requests like these, then they are not a right fit for his firm.

A user posted a screenshot of the post on Reddit. And here’s what Redditors had to say.

“Honestly, the candidate dodged a bullet.” – auctus10

“Candidate dodged a bullet there. F*** his company and his “I am job giver” attitude. With this attitude, his company is going to run to the ground. Piece of sh** startup hustle culture a*****e.” – roguerak

“If a start-up co-founder is asking for validation on his arrogance and lack for communication abilities on the Internet, then definitely it’s a workplace which people should be cautious about. What’s next, rejecting a candidate because they recovered from an illness? Or rejecting a female because the candidate recently got married and is potentially planning to have a baby?” – aatank619

“Imagine having to work for this guy, with a God Complex, where a single wrong question would cost you your job or promotion. The candidate was lucky to have dodged this bullet. On top of everything, he had the audacity to post that on LinkedIn; so that he would come off as some sort of wannabe thought leader with a badass attitude.” – masoomdon

“The answer should’ve been a simple, “No, we don’t have any such benefits, our CTC is structured differently.” The problem, though if you expect your employees to WFH, you need to make sure they don’t cheap out on their internet. And it’s the company’s responsibility to pay for the internet connection. You’re literally paying peanuts for your employees to be more productive.” – penguin_chacha

“It’s not like the girl even demanded for the reimbursement! This guy just rejected her on the basis of a request! These are the type of people which the general workforce tends to hate with a vengeance.” – ThickSkinIndian

While the setting for the original post has been changed on LinkedIn and it is no longer public, users were quick to share this on Twitter too.

High time companies give us actual perks and benefits rather than bean bags and ping-pong tables.