Boss gets 'offended' by employee's 'Hey' greeting on WhatsApp; chat goes viral

Social media platforms and text messaging services have changed the way people around the world interact with each other. Be it the use of casual greetings, short forms, abbreviations or emojis, communication has evolved in various ways. While one generally uses such texts for friends, family or other near and dear ones, can such messages be used during a conversation with one's boss?

A work-related conversation between two people on WhatsApp has created a discussion on social media. The viral post shared on Reddit showed an employee being called out for addressing his boss with the word “hey”. Sharing a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation on Reddit, a person named Shreyas was puzzled and asked how “Hey isn’t professional?”

The boss had asked the employee if he had submitted the test, to which the latter replied, “Hey, No, not yet (sic)”. The superior wrote, “Hi Shreyas, My name is Sandeep. Please don’t you the word ‘hey'”. He added, “If you can’t remember my name, simply use ‘Hi.'”

That was not all, the boss then sent him a long text on the don'ts while addressing a superior. He advised his subordinate to not use words like “dude”, “man”, only “Hello” and “Hi there”. The boss added that words like “chap” and “chick” should not be used in emails and also posted a “Thanks”. The employee replied that the platform was not email or LinkedIn, but WhatsApp and that he was just being 'casual' as the boss had texted him on a personal number.   

The reactions to the post were divided, but most sided with the employee. They added that the younger bosses are usually fine with being addressed by their names, but the older ones tended to be stern on the use of formal terms.  

Netizens react to viral WhatsApp chat between employee and boss

The viral post has grabbed the attention of  many on the internet and has accumulated 53,400 upvotes and more than 6,600 comments. There were comments galore on it; "I like how hey is unprofessional but emojiis are fine," a user wrote. Another netizen replied, "if "hey" is unprofessional, so is "hi". They're both informal". A third user expressed, "Small egos trying to control their small corners, that's a big red flag if you've just joined this company".