WTF?! Would you be willing to quit an internship over an RTX 5060? An intern who won one of the mid-range cards during a business trip to an Nvidia event was told he had to hand it over to his company. He refused, and ended up quitting over the constant pressure to give up his prize.
The incident began when a Shanghai intern was sent on an all-expenses-paid business trip to Suzhou on November 14 to take part in an Nvidia roadshow, MyDrivers reports.
During the show, a stamp-collecting raffle was held for the audience. The intern decided to take part in the lucky draw and ended up winning an RTX 5060, which was valued at around 3,000 yuan ($422).
Later that evening, a colleague informed him that the company's finance department had found out about the prize and, as the firm had paid for all aspects of the trip, he needed to hand over the card.
But the intern later confirmed that the finance department did not know that he'd won the GPU, suggesting the co-worker was simply being jealous.
The company eventually found out about the card – likely via the bitter co-worker – and wanted the intern to hand over his prize.
Senior management conducted multiple interviews with the worker, arguing that since the firm funded the trip, the GPU should be considered company property.
Despite the constant pressure, he never handed over the RTX 5060. While the intern wasn't forced to leave, the HR department reportedly suggested that he "look for other companies." He submitted his resignation on November 19.
According to lawyers analyzing the case, the ownership of an official prize lies in judging whether it was obtained by luck or as a result of performing official duties. Unless the company had clear rules in place regarding staff or interns taking part in competitions while on business trips, it could not have legally demanded the GPU be handed over.
It might seem like a lot of fuss over a $400 item, but for some companies – and co-workers – there's no lower limit to pettiness. The fact the winner was an intern likely played a big part in him choosing to leave the firm, and the incident should have convinced him there are better places to work. Plus, he got to keep his RTX 5060.
According to the latest Steam survey, the RTX 5060 was the third-best performing GPU in October by user-share growth, rising to 1.3%.