Netizens were left ‘cringing’ on Tuesday after a video of office employees breaking into dance went viral on social media. Several social media users compared the clip unfavorably to school dance performances for chief guests — urging Indians to “stop treating Europeans as gods”. The video has been shared widely over the past few hours with thousands insisting in the comments section that it was ‘hard to watch’. It was not immediately clear where or when the performance took place.
‘Super, super cringe’
The video has left the internet horrified with many calling out Indian offices for trying to “unduly appease” foreign visitors and clients.
“This is super cringe. Super, super cringe. And these women or girls, or whatever… oh god. I hope they find some honor, some self-respect. Stop treating Europeans as gods. However, they must first start thinking more positively about themselves,” urged one X user while sharing the video.
“I can’t watch this…peak cringe. What is this? I’m getting secondhand embarrassment, how is this even real?” lamented another.
“Ughh.. I feel embarrassed seeing this. What is this? Some kind of circus of dancing monkeys to earn a penny? Stand by your work when the leader visits not silly antics,” fumed one Reddit user.
“Without knowing the context, why you call this ‘cringe’ .. I see them all having a good time and that is what matters,” countered another.
‘My company also does…’
Others revealed that the unfortunate performance was not an isolated incident with many Indian companies encouraging similar practices. Several Reddit users shared personal anecdotes from their workplaces — from mandatory sarees during such visits to having appraisals tied to enthusiastic participation.
“In my previous company, the management used to give preference or points in appraisal or promotion to people who took part in these acts during visit by clients,” revealed one Reddit user.
“All this hungama is done in Indian offices only, We had the CFO and CTO visit us…and our company arranged the water sprinkling welcome given at weddings. Saree clad girls garlanded them and all the junior developers lined up for selfies. When I visited them in their US office, they were just regular blokes who came in, parked their cars and went into their offices. Very few even noticed them except the guys walking just said ‘hi’ to them. Indian offices treat clients and senior management as state visits of President or PM kinda things,” noted another.