We live in a world where ‘hustle culture’ is celebrated and taking day offs is looked down upon. Taking a break is equivalent to not working ‘hard enough’. As a result, we now have an entire generation filled with professionally burnt out youngsters.
This toxic work culture was highlighted even more when a professional took to Reddit to reveal that their boss expected them to work even when they were on vacation. The boss allegedly bombarded the professional with messages and passive-aggressive voicemails.
“Today we are having a lazy day and I decided to flip my work phone on to see if I had any emails to start prepping for next week. I had 20 voicemails and hundreds of messages and emails with over half of them being from my manager demanding why I hadn’t zoomed in for meetings and why I wasn’t reachable,” the professional wrote.
They went on to add, “I checked my phone voicemail and the unknown number was him saying he ‘hoped there was a damn good excuse for why I was off the grid’ if I wanted to keep my job. He even started out the voicemail with ‘I’m so sorry you’re in the hospital because that’s the only reason I should be needing to hunt you down like this.’ In slack I had a few DMs from coworkers I feel I get along with saying I need to reply ASAP because my absence was impacting them with how mad our boss was.”
Have a look at the post here:
AITA for turning my work phone off on vacation? from AmItheAsshole
After screenshots of the post were shared on Twitter, several people responded by sharing their toxic work experiences and expressed how ridiculous it was to be expected to work while on vacation. Have a look:
At a previous job, I let myself get sucked into always being available. It started with “hey, do you have 15 minutes to look at something” and turned into doing a lot of work on vacation.
— steve (@spsnomad) February 21, 2022
This is textbook “hostile work environment.” Run, don’t walk, to HR. Lay it all out and see where the company lands now with respect to work/life balance. Sorry you’re going through this, I know from my own life experience how consuming this is. Protect your mental health!
— JoEllen 🐝🕷️☮🌈🐦🐾 (@sunfish51) February 21, 2022
Every workplace I have been in has been like this. I have to constantly answer text, call or email on days off. Even have to take work courses online on days off and not get paid for it.
— Fergie ♉(They/Them) (@FergieTheTaurus) February 21, 2022
Remembering the many voicemails from a previous boss when he couldn’t find an unimportant file that was, of course, exactly where it was supposed to be.
In the background you can hear my colleague, in every message: “Her cousin died, she’s at his funeral!!!”
— Can we not? (@KillrQueenBitch) February 21, 2022
I feel bad for this person being so freaked out. If they do get in trouble for it, they 100% have grounds to be like “yo, this was approved vacation time that you already knew about”.
— Roya Hellbender (@RoyaHellbender) February 21, 2022
Yeah, that manager needs to go with his passive aggressive BS. It’s either that, or I would walk. Wouldn’t want to work for someone who didn’t have my back as I do theirs.
— 👑n’golo 😁 rayнan👑 (@TheBlooRay__) February 21, 2022
I can’t imagine a scenario where the behaviour of your supervisor is acceptable. Time off means time off. Every role can and should have someone to step in in the interim if needed. This is bullshit and I’m mad for you. I hope everything works out for you tomorrow 🥰
— angrywhitefemale (@sweetspot010) February 21, 2022
My phone would be off too. Not my work hours, not my problem, and I’d tear them a new one first thing when I got back to work.
— Xandra Anderson ✨ Read My Blog (@alexandapen) February 21, 2022
I hate that we’re expected to be “On” all the time—in work and in life.
Working all the time isn’t healthy or normal. Being expected to answer every single message immediately (work or otherwise) isn’t healthy or normal.
— mandi hinrichs (@mandi_hinrichs) February 21, 2022
Their boss should have conveyed that she was going to be potentially needed tho I’m not sure what they could need them for if they’re that new to the position. Sounds like the boss doesn’t know how to do their own job
— Hermès (@imontherunyall) February 21, 2022
The world is in desperate need of better work culture.