INTERNSHIPS are a crucial step for university students to gain valuable industry experience, and often a requirement for graduation.
However, one intern’s journey took an unexpected turn after standing up to her boss for body shaming, leading to her failing the internship.
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Taking to Threads, @lyana.jasmin shared her experience at a workplace where her boss habitually commented on employees’ weight.
According to Lyana, the boss once remarked, “You look like you’re over 70kg,” despite her actual weight being 52kg.
Frustrated, Lyana responded, “Why are you interested in people’s weight?” to which the boss replied, “Tak boleh ke?” (Can’t I do so?).
She countered, “Even if I was over 70kg, is that a problem? I can play football, do gymnastics, and I’m very athletic. What do you do? Walk around the park for 10 minutes every week, then post about it on WhatsApp status and call it a day.”
Her outburst left the boss silent for two weeks.
However, it wasn’t the end of the ordeal. Lyana later learned she had failed her internship, allegedly because she called him out for his behaviour.
Determined not to let the incident hinder her progress, Lyana emailed her lecturer, detailing her excellent work performance and describing the workplace as “toxic.”
Fortunately, her lecturer assured her the failed internship would not affect her final grade, allowing her to switch to another company.
Some netizens rallied behind Lyana, condemning the boss’ unprofessionalism.
One user called hochuomo commented, “Ouch that must have cut open an ego wound, did it bleed much?”
Another user called miszz.l shared advice on how Lyana could have handled the situation differently, stating, “Instead of responding harshly, you could have said, “Boss, I don’t appreciate you body shaming me. I believe as long as I do my job properly, my weight has nothing to do with you.” There’s no need to compare yourself to him or criticise him, because when you do that, you’re no different from him. It’s the same thing.”
