Memes about ‘#corporatelife’ were among the first ones to be rolled out in the early 2000s. Fast forward two decades, and what does it look like when workplace happenings of 2026 get distilled onto social media? In a word, depressing.
In the Viral Spiral that is corporate reels, it’s the employees who are caught in an eternal spiral. The best you can do is jump from one frying pan to the next. Everyone is a ‘corporate mazdoor’, there is no end in sight, and the currency of hope runs weaker than the rupee. Now that it is appraisal month, tensions run especially high, resignations abound, and the one place it all airs out is on Instagram.
‘Chillar’ is the word Indians are using to describe their paltry pay hikes. Content creator Shalini recently posted a reel where she picks up a total of seven coins from the pavement. “The increment I got,” reads the text.
An old favourite is the scene from Andaz Apna Apna (1994), where Aamir Khan hands Paresh Rawal a bag of coins—poore 8,535 rupaye, 29 paise. Rawal’s indignant “Yeh toh chillar hai (This is loose change)” is now the inner monologue of every desi employee signing their appraisal letter with a brave smile.
Decimal point raises are the norm. If anyone has reaped the gains of globalisation in this reel universe, it’s the brown nosers.
Also read: Rakhi Sawant understands virality better than Bollywood. Give her a talk show already
DMing coworkers
I am, of course, being too cynical. There are cute reels too. In a recent video, ‘orophile’ Chitra Sharma played Lata Didi’s ‘Thandi Hawayein Lehra Ke Aaye’ over a clip of an office AC unit.
“The kind of icy temperature you maintain in office, did you hire people or penguins?” read the Hindi text. As someone who suffers through chronic office-AC-induced cold, I relate.
It’s one among many lighthearted memes that only get shared because one needs something to send to that cordial colleague. The one you can’t discuss relationships, family, or god forbid, politics with. And the genre is evergreen. You’ll find Reels featuring the ‘useless’ Gen Z intern, the certified flirt, the gossip girl, and the masochistic manager.
And if you thought it’s all naps and card games in government offices, think again. A GST office in Delhi was recently subject to a ‘surprise inspection’ by CM Rekha Gupta. In the beautifully shot video, she walked around with a furrowed brow, checking which of the employees had arrived at the office by 11 am.
“Their attendance sheet must come to me… I want it for every month,” Gupta told an officer. And you thought Bollywood’s Nayak: The Real Hero (2001) was too out of touch. The commenters weren’t convinced, though. “CM not nursery teacher,” wrote one.
The latest headache for public sector employees, however, isn’t Gupta’s PR run. It’s the government’s Mission Karmayogi, under which employees must watch 10 iGOT Karmayogi training videos for ‘civil‑service upskilling’.
In true government employee fashion, they’ve already figured out a way to weasel out of the task. “You came to know you can skip videos,” read the text on a video showing a blissful worker.
The comments are full of other tips to hack the system. Armed with AI cheat codes and jugaad, our Karmayogis are ready to show the world how Vishwaguru does it.
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(Edited by Theres Sudeep)