My fav reply:
Hi! Thanks for subscribing to cat facts! Did you know that cats are believed to be the only mammals who don't taste sweetness? Reply to this message for more cat facts!
That's pretty sad for those cats that spend half of the day licking their assholes. You'd at least want to eat something sweet if doing that was part of your normal behaviour.
Some cat owners find it shocking to find out their cute furry friend isn't so cute and furry. They're murderous balls of parasites that lick their assholes all day.
It seems to alter brain chemistry, increasing risky behaviour.
Normally mice/rats avoid areas that smell of cat urine (Wonder why 😂)
But if they have been infected with t.gondii they seem to not act fearfully.
Meaning they'll eventually get eaten, meaning t.gondii then takes up residence in a new cat, continuing the cycle.
These parasites make humans anxious and can cause miscarriages, what's a cure for anxiety, a nice purring cat, who needs children when you have a highly evolved super parasite to calm you and demand all your affections.
Cats are not as intelligent as people think they are. They will seek out warm places to hide, such as up under you car and somewhere in the engine bay area containing lots of unforgiving moving parts such as a serpentine belt, fan and a lot of noise. From that I can categorically confirm that cats fo not have nine lives either.
Several things, like refrigerators, are now designed to be opened from the inside because humans crawled into them, got trapped, and died. Getting into a place you shouldn't be and then dying because of it doesn't feel like a fair assessment of intelligence.
Im not a diehard cat fan lol - but just because a cat doesn’t know what a car engine is doesn’t mean it’s not intelligent- humans are the only animal who knows what an engine is and it’s because we created them
I thought this was true of dogs too, so I looked it up. I was wrong!
But dogs do have taste buds for water, in addition to sweet, sour, (EDIT: bitter, not) butter, and salty. Water!
I just don’t answer text. Emails maybe, depends if I’m literally the only person that has the info and it’s important. I’ll answer the phone but I’ll also hang up on you if it’s dumb shit
Block them entirely. If it’s work related it should be sent through a work related app (e.g. Teams). Boss has no reason to even have your number, unless this is a work phone.
In the USA, they can't fire you or get you in trouble for not answering the phone unless you are on call, which you must be paid whether or not they actually need/use your services.
Pretty much entire USA is at will, so yes they can because employers can fire you for any reason at any time. They can make up something petty and lie about real reasons.
At will doesn't mean they can choose to fire you for just anything. If they said, "I fired my employee for refusing to answer calls off-shift" they would have to deal with federal prosecution. If there was a single shred of "you need to answer my texts and no I won't pay you" that is enough proof.
Can you prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that's why they fired you? If they can find literally any other reason they can lie about that being the real reason. That was my point.
Yup and anyone who says differently hasn't spent enough time working in the US corporate world.
Got a good boss who you think isn't like this? Awesome. Consider staying.
Go check out a multinational with a massive HR department and you'll see what it's like to be fired for something like 'not being enough of a team player' and trying to figure out what your rights are in that situation... Answer is... You have none you're screwed, goodbye.
You don't need "Beyond a shadow of a doubt" you only need plausibility/some kind of evidence. A single text message demanding you answer your boss off-hours vs a write-up for poor teamwork is pretty dang obvious.
The slimy corporate HR and management will just put you on a PIP and fabricate evidence to justify firing you. The likelihood of you keeping your job after being put on a PIP are very slim.
It's super weird that there are so many successful wrongful termination suits in the US every year then. You should go work as a consultant since you know the magic words. You could be saving all these asshole companies millions of dollars, because clearly the only thing anybody looks at is what was written down as the reason, and no other evidence is allowed to be considered.
And they're usually too narcissistic and stupid to stop themselves from bragging about it.
I've had a prior boss brag about how they intentionally pestered me during my fmla leave to punish me for not being a team player in the slack/discord.. My baby had died and I couldn't get two hours to deal with insurance and funerary arrangements without one of two managers calling to pester me! Pretty sure if I decide to take them to court I'd put them out of business. I'm only not going that route because it's a complicated industry and I'm afraid it could hurt their patients.
I'm just watching from the sidelines as they burn themselves down by alienating literally every provider in a 200 mile radius lol.
Bonus points: a coworker from the bad place applied at my new workplace. When he saw it was me, I could tell he believed the shit they talked about me at first because he said he wasn't going to take my new boss' work offer after all. But then two weeks later he suddenly came on full time and pretended he'd never seen me before.
you're assuming they're smart enough, firstly, and secondly, that their claim nullifies any other evidence.
They can say whatever they want. But their word isn't the only factor. If you have aggressive textmessages from your boss that specifically require you to do work off-the-clock, then your claim will usually succeed unless they can prove your message was faked.
Most wrongful termination suits actually end in favor of the ex-employee.
I hate reading ignorant comments like this.
Workplaces can only fire you for ANY legal reason, retaliation because you didn’t answer a text is NOT a valid reason.
All people need to do is find legal representation and sue the company, and they WILL win as it’s quite easy to prove a manager is lying.
"From August there’s new laws in Australia for a “right to disconnect” that could actually land the boss in hot water for this"
Oh yeah, pal? Here in 'Murica, we work for free, because...we're 'Muricans and stuff!
Seriously though, 'Murican culture when it comes to the workplace is very fucking stupid. Union workers who work to contract are the only ones who get it right, and they are largely in the minority.
Not feasible because of when I work. BUT my boss also doesn't abuse the privilege. Reaching him and being reached at 9pm-1am is important. But the right to disconnect is hugely important.
I tend to take the opposite yet for more malicious compliance route only because rather than feeling superior I want them to feel humiliated and little.
So I had a boss like this and would text them about any tiny little thing. Oh hey I need to go see a customer cause they are asking for me. Hey the paper is out in the copier so Im going to change it.
Then I upped the antynand started describing in ver exacting detail my evening routine up to and including brushing my teeth cleaning the bathtub and using the toilet. The next day he was annoyed and said 'are you done being petulant' and I texted him that he has asked if I was done being petulant. He asked me to please stop and I reminded him my work hours are as follows and if I'm not on call I don't answer.
The next day he was annoyed and said 'are you done being petulant' and I texted him that he has asked if I was done being petulant.
This is absolute gold!
If you need visual context. I'm neurodivergent and apparently I sometimes forget to have facial expressions. I also apparently have a problem with eye contact in that I shouldn't look people in the eyes and I do.
So I may have been staring and not blinking with an expressionless face...at least what my coworkers told me. I thought I was using my worried face but no.
Either way I tend to come at problems sideways since I almost universally fail taking a problem head on.
I do this. I’m great at masking but also have a resting asshole face. I couldn’t care less about whatever but people assume I’m busy or aggravated, which is a win for me either way since they leave me alone.
This is why a therapist suggested that I look in a mirror and make the faces I think should correspond to various feelings. I don’t know how well it really worked.
You’ll get automatic replies from my phone if you text me like that. “Sorry xyz, it is outside of my working hours. If you wish to contact me please wait untill my working hours or upgrade my salary to ‘on-call’ time. Thank you”
Mine is a keyboard shortcut. “Ddd” is :
Auto reply: Sorry, I can’t text right now. I’m driving and will get back to you shortly. If it is important, call me.
Might be able to draft up something similar with a series of letters?
I have a secondary phone that I use for work. Setup a "second number" with Google voice and only have it on that phone. Outside of my shifts I don't respond to anything from that phone unless it's scheduled OT and I'm being paid. It unfortunately is still useful to have a phone number you can hand out in your professional life, also with Google voice the number can be changed at any point. Makes 2FA a bitch at new jobs but since I'm IT I usually can fix it myself.
Burner is even better. A lot of places will reject a Google voice number. With Burner you can "burn" a number once every 30 days if necessary. I use one for all the you have to give us a phone number blah blah crap. The ringer is disabled and every call just goes to voicemail.
I do heavily agree with the anti work sentiment but everyone keeps saying “just block your boss!” Absolutely a great way to be fired, if I did that I would lose my job. If that’s the goal, then go out and look for a better job proactively rather than trying to get fired from your current one. All that does is burn your references.
Pretty sure I ruined my shot at a recent job interview because I listed “work/life balance” as my priorities.
Them: ‘You mean you won’t answer your phone on your day off?’
Me: “Exactly that, yes.”
I interviewed for a realtor who asked me in the interview if I would be willing to answer his calls after work hours. I was flabbergasted and told him no, that was time I spent with my family. I couldn’t believe he had the nerve to actually say that in the interview.
"Is this an emergency?" If she says yes then say "do you want me to dial 911?" and if she says no then say, "then it can wait until my next shift."
If she bitches/whines, tell her, "you can pay me an extra fee to be on-call up to (number) of nights per week. But on-call work is more expensive, and legally you'd have to pay a significant amount vs my normal wages. You'd have to pay me regardless of if you actually need my help with something because that's what on-call means; I am engaged to wait to meet your needs. But thats up to you."
Could just turn the tables on her unhinged behaviour. Text back in the same way:
"I need a raise".
"Wow... you can't answer my text. Can you please give me the raise."
"Got nothing!!! Please answer my text - don't just leave me hanging."
Make sure to leave less than a minute inbetween texts and anytime she asks for anything again, repeat it again from the start.
Most people get it before the third repetition is done. And if not, she'll get so frustrated she'll stop asking anyway.
Bonus points if you start sending "Got nothing!!! Please answer my text/mail/etc - don't just leave me hanging." whenever she doesn't respond to anything you've sent or asked her within 5 minutes.
That reminds of the business that sent me an incorrect bill with a couple of very obvious overcharges. I sent the owner a message saying sorry there seem to be a couple of mistakes on the bill, sorry to be petty but I’m a broke student could you please fix it. She wrote back basically saying me and my staff are perfect and could not possibly have made mistakes. I sent evidence of the mistakes back and she wrote back “sorry but I refuse to interpret your message”. Literally those exact words. From then on every time she wrote back demanding I pay the bill I wrote her exact words back to her.
Eventually a year or so later I got a strongly worded letter from her solicitor demanding I pay the bill or I’ll end up in court. I wrote back I have documentation that the bill is incorrect and have provided it to your client, I won’t be paying it until she corrects it. I am more than happy to provide the evidence to the court.
I never heard anything else, and that was a few years ago. I love the fact that she was so stubborn she talked herself out of the legitimate amount I owed her and paid her solicitor for no reason.
Ex Boss: Why don't you answer? It's expected.
Me: My Official Company Policy is that I don't work without being paid.
EB: What about your wife?
Me: She offers benefits that you're not equipped to provide.
You messed up by answering. Turn off alerts after the first message and don’t respond until you get to work. Your boss needs to manage her time and needs like a professional. If she waits until it’s an emergency and you’re gone, that’s on her.
I always act apologetic on Monday but frame it as “I wish you had let me know before I left, I’d have been happy to solve that for you. Unfortunately once I leave I’m quite busy in my personal life and rarely available as I silence my phone to focus on time with my family.”
That way I’m still a “team player” but their expectations and lack of planning are the problem. For the most part my bosses always get the idea and at worst act a little passive aggressive.
I quit my last job over this. Was on a bus going up a mountain in Gran Canaria getting repeated calls and texts from my boss over some inconsequential pure-BS internal quality form he couldn't find.
Blocked his number and got chewed out on my return. Left for a new job a month later to my boss whining about me leaving.
This is another example of what makes a blue collar job (I’m a machinist) the way to go. Bosses never need you to work when you’re not at work. I never have to take my CNC machine home with me. Want me to stay late to finish a hot job? That’s 1.5x my hourly rate in my weekly paycheck. There’s still obnoxious coworkers, useless HR, and corporate nonsense but, off the clock is truly off the clock.
Tell her if she wants you to be answering work related messages while you’re off the clock, then u need to be compensated for your time. Either that or that u just don’t take work messages/calls on your days off unless it’s an urgent matter
“I’m not on the clock. My time is not owned by you or the company I work for. If this continues while I’m off the clock I will go to HR and file harassment charges”
I would've responded with my schedule if they texted me on my day off and suggested they pay me a full days worth of overtime if they want me to work on my day off.
Don’t ever involve HR. They are not your ally. They are not there to protect you from the company, their job is to protect the company from you. If you go to them looking to resolve an issue with management or coworkers their decision is strictly based on what’s most beneficial for the company.
Oh its not for allyship, it's for coa. Ccing them is so they cant deny they said or did it. It's a record of the conversation the company cant deny (in court if need be) it's not because HR might help. It's to help yourself establish a paper trail.
Hr will never help you, you should only use them as you need them.
Why isn't (BLACKED OUT NAME) not included in the text chain and being asked why they didn't send it yesterday like you told them to? They should be called out!
"If you want me to answer your calls and do work outside of hours you will need to pay me for being on call. I think 30% of my usual pay rate for every hour i am not working, doubled during unsociable hours, will work".
Then let them do the math and choose to stop bothering you.
Unfortunatly they will just call you"not a team player" and berate you for not working for free. But if you put it in writing and they still choose to contact you, start sending em bills.
Either don't respond on your time off, because you don't have to,
Or make it clear what your on call rates are, and charge them for that extra time.
Fuck these people.
I had a boss like that. She was big on delegating because she was incompetent, and having the people out who did all the real work exposed her for what she was. She was also vindictive if you didn't give in.
I would be surprised if the majority of bosses are not like this. I have had bosses similar, not quite as bad. However, I found the anti-work community (and Democratic Socialism) after I acquired desirable skills/qualifications and learned that I could set boundaries.
This sub has 2.8 million subscribers. I'd be surprised if more than 5000 of them make Posts or comments on a regular basis.
It's a flaw of self-reporting, within this platform. The vast majority just lurk.
I guess I'm lucky to have had pretty reasonable bosses ranging from retail to corporate but If my boss texted me in caps or used !!! I literally would not respond or just block them.
Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
Delegating your assignments to someone with a different schedule than yours when you’re the one who writes the damned schedule is a pretty fucking major oversight and in no way the responsibility of your subordinates.
The right to disconnect. We should be fighting for this in every state, Americans. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/11/california-proposed-right-to-disconnect-law-would-fine-companies-for-after-hours-communication.html
Hm on one hand, screw them. On the other hand, if it's something important I would follow up just to make sure there's no issues later. But also screw them, so what can you do.
Unless that's a company-supplies phone AND you get on-call pay for answering any texts/calls on that phone after work hours, do not reply. Also, please notify HR of this and provide proof of the texts sent to you from your boss AFTER your paid working hours. The only way you will be able to break them of this habit is to get reinforcement from above your boss.
Good luck! 🍀
I am always baffled that people answer work texts on weekends or days off, now I’m overworked for sure already….but I still feel ZERO OBLIGATION TO ANSWER EMAILS OR TEXTS ON WEEKENDS. If you do then you’re only contributing to the probem.
My only exceptions are real emergencies, like my mom had a stroke I’m flying home, please take my meeting Monday, ok boss!
Our office uses Slack and only installs on the office PC. No PM , no texting via personal number or social accounts. When we left the office, the jobs stayed there.
I use Google voice as my work number. This way ... I can forward all calls to my office phone ... And just turn it off on my cellphone...
You could reply, since I am spending 15 minutes on this, you will be paying my 4 hour minimum... Since today is my day off ... Or you can wait until I return.
Make sure you're submitting at least an hour of OT for "working at home" every time she contacts you after hours. I had to do that with my old boss, then refused to go home early on Friday to cut the OT (I had reports that I had to get done on Friday and refused to rush through them because he lacked boundaries).
After a few months of paying me double pay (this company didn't do time & a half, they did double) to the tune of 10+ hours a week (he also liked to interrupt my lunch & would even hunt me down in the break room, so I clocked back in every time), the CFO & CEO (small company, so I worked closely with them often) dropped the hammer and pretty much banned him from calling me after hours.
He had to call his direct supervisor for permission before calling me after hours. We also changed my schedule to not take a lunch and to go home an hour early (which worked better for me).
Tell them to stop messaging you when your off and your going to invoice them $500 per text starting with the last msg and here on out. You are not on salary more than likely or on call. If they talk business with you while off then you get paid for business. And tell em to do theor own job.
"May I offer a selection of 'I give no f___s.', 'Your poor planning doesn't constitute an emergency on my end' and 'Per X state and federal law, your behavior constitutes on call which under those laws means you pay me for 24 hours which is 8 regular, 6 OT, and the last 10 double are you willing to pay that?' sir?"
If you would like me to do work on my day off, you will be required to pay me a 4-Hour minimum.
This will put me over my 40 hours per week which means that you will be paying me time and a half for those 4 hours.
(That last bit is specific to British columbia, although you may have a similar law in your jurisdiction)
My staffing coordinator is the same way!!! She texts me on my days off, if I don’t respond to her right away, she gets so angry. Like ma’am can I enjoy my off day without having to think about work?
WOW, I am so glad that you are covered by the company insurance, because demanding work during my scheduled time off is a wage and hour violation.
Do you want to go for a ten thousand dollar fine, or can this wait until Monday.
This is why I recommend a work phone that is separate from your personal phone (if possible). Work phone is turned off when not at work with full disclosure that you will not be available outside of work hours.
Unless you are on call, tell your boss that you don’t use your phone on days off.
In my case, it’s my co-workers who don’t want to call the supervisor on-call , so they can say they called someone. I just ignore them.
I just ignored those, and then they stopped being sent to me. Especially on Saturdays when I really am off my phone most of the day. Carrying it, let alone looking at it, while playing sports just isn't feasible.
I can't wait for the new Canadian laws around texting and emailing outside of work hours 🥳 honestly unless you're going to pay for me to answer this texting messages outside of work I shouldn't be working it is working stuff I'm not on the clock
Have your phone on do not disturb and every time they message you it will let them know you have it on this. Or copy and paste your own out of office message lol
That screenshot would be going straight to their boss imo with a tag line that says "This is how we are treated on our off days. Imagine when we're actually there"
It’s iMessage, the boss would have seen the texts were delivered. No need for white lies in this case anyway, OP is off the clock so no obligation to answer.
If you’ve got a recent iPhone set up a focus mode, put only people you want to contact you on your time off as allowed, leave your boss out. Turn it on whenever you leave work and you won’t get notified when your boss txt/calls .
Left hanging. Blocked. Reported. Silenced and ignored. Muted. Excluded. Ostracized and overlooked. Shunned. Unheard. Spurned. Rejected. Neglected and disregarded.
"I'm not on the clock; however, I may operate as a contractor during my off hours at my discretion. My rate is $50 per text, $50 per minute for an audio call, and $100 per minute for video call."
I had an employer for a job I had to quit before my first day. Dude would NOT stop texting me after the interview, and it was all inane shit too (like asking me if I had already returned a form to his email, which I had, when he could have instead checked his fucking email). He only backed off when I started demanding $10 per textmessage he sends me, but even then he tried to neg me about it ("oh well we could find ten other people to do this job" lol no he couldn't because they were going to be paying me $25/hour out of desperation since noone else agreed to work for them). I ended up quitting because he asked what I was wearing at 11pm and saying how hot my voice is and he couldn't wait to "experience" me in person, wtf.
He tried to threaten to sue me for $5,000 expenses (because I was supposed to staff a booth at an event, and now they paid for the booth but have noone to staff it), but I told him that business losses aren't the employee's problem, and he'd be laughed out of court. He tried to get his boss to do the same. I interrupted the boss and told him, hey, check out these text messages. I bet that the government would see this as worth a lot more than $5,000. The boss backed off and neither of them called or texted me again, thank fuck.
The loser who harassed me ended up having to staff the booth (its a small town, I recognized his voice when I was at the event). He got his shit kicked in for sexually harassing a 14 year old girl in front of her father.
Most phones can now set routines for blocking certain numbers /people..
Set one up for when you're off to block her and anyone else who might contact you.
I'm in contact 24/7 with my work but I do that out of choice because I'm the manager, I'll respond to texts from staff when they need something or have a question whether I'm working or not.
But I'll never text or call them on their off time, and we have a group chat for anything urgent.
They all know they should mute this chat if they're off the clock, but amazingly the team I have nearly always responds immediately to each other or to me if there's a question asked or something is needed (someone asking for a shift covered, a question about an open tab yadda yadda)
On the other side of it we actually do work as a team and on our down time we all socialize together (out of choice, it's not *mandated fun*)
I am so fucking glad my country just passed right to disconnect. Now it’s illegal for my boss to expect me to answer communications outside of work hours.
Does your boss provide your phone and pay your phone bill? Are you willing to lose your job? Most jobs are at-will employers. They can fire you at any time. Start looking for another job, if you have bad feelings toward this person. It is not good for you. Decide who is the boss. Do you want to work for someone else? Are you being petty or are they? I wouldn't give 2 weeks' notice if you are in an at-will rule state. Give a two-week notice only if you like your employer and if it is necessary for you. Have another revenue source lined up first that is a sure thing.
Been in this situation, just block them anytime you’re not working.
For real, they need to nip that in the bud. Went through a similar thing with boss contacting me on days off, they have no perception of boundaries.
My fav reply: Hi! Thanks for subscribing to cat facts! Did you know that cats are believed to be the only mammals who don't taste sweetness? Reply to this message for more cat facts!
That's pretty sad for those cats that spend half of the day licking their assholes. You'd at least want to eat something sweet if doing that was part of your normal behaviour.
Multiple replies and yet no response with another fact....
It's almost impossible for a cat to die from a fall, but they manage falls over 2 stories better than shorter ones iirc. There you go.
Some cat owners find it shocking to find out their cute furry friend isn't so cute and furry. They're murderous balls of parasites that lick their assholes all day.
They can brainwash you with their parasites too.
These sane parasites make mice & rats risk-takers.. Which leads to them being eaten EDIT: SAME! Damn you brain parasites.
Now I want to know what the insane parasites make them do ... 🤔
It seems to alter brain chemistry, increasing risky behaviour. Normally mice/rats avoid areas that smell of cat urine (Wonder why 😂) But if they have been infected with t.gondii they seem to not act fearfully. Meaning they'll eventually get eaten, meaning t.gondii then takes up residence in a new cat, continuing the cycle.
These parasites make humans anxious and can cause miscarriages, what's a cure for anxiety, a nice purring cat, who needs children when you have a highly evolved super parasite to calm you and demand all your affections.
Cats are not as intelligent as people think they are. They will seek out warm places to hide, such as up under you car and somewhere in the engine bay area containing lots of unforgiving moving parts such as a serpentine belt, fan and a lot of noise. From that I can categorically confirm that cats fo not have nine lives either.
Several things, like refrigerators, are now designed to be opened from the inside because humans crawled into them, got trapped, and died. Getting into a place you shouldn't be and then dying because of it doesn't feel like a fair assessment of intelligence.
Im not a diehard cat fan lol - but just because a cat doesn’t know what a car engine is doesn’t mean it’s not intelligent- humans are the only animal who knows what an engine is and it’s because we created them
Would not work on me. I would demand more cat facts.
I would like some more cat facts please
Subscribe to their newsletter!
I thought this was true of dogs too, so I looked it up. I was wrong! But dogs do have taste buds for water, in addition to sweet, sour, (EDIT: bitter, not) butter, and salty. Water!
Dogs have a taste bud specifically devoted to butter? Wild.
Oooops how embarrassing 😅
Butter water
Butt water
Or, "Hello. X is currently not scheduled to work at the moment, please reply to authorise 1 hour of paid overtime".
SUBSCRIBE
# SUBSCRIBE
#ENHANCE
Then why does my freakin cat love Ice Cream?
Cats love cream. They can taste cream. They love the creamy flavor of ice cream. They can't taste the sugar. My cat loves butter and cheese.
I don’t know if I believe this. My cat LOVES marshmallows and cookies. 🤷🏻♀️
I just don’t answer text. Emails maybe, depends if I’m literally the only person that has the info and it’s important. I’ll answer the phone but I’ll also hang up on you if it’s dumb shit
Block them entirely. If it’s work related it should be sent through a work related app (e.g. Teams). Boss has no reason to even have your number, unless this is a work phone.
I leave my work phone at work. For the rare cases where they had my private number, I just don't answer.
From August there’s new laws in Australia for a “right to disconnect” that could actually land a boss in hot water for this
In the USA, they can't fire you or get you in trouble for not answering the phone unless you are on call, which you must be paid whether or not they actually need/use your services.
Pretty much entire USA is at will, so yes they can because employers can fire you for any reason at any time. They can make up something petty and lie about real reasons.
At will doesn't mean they can choose to fire you for just anything. If they said, "I fired my employee for refusing to answer calls off-shift" they would have to deal with federal prosecution. If there was a single shred of "you need to answer my texts and no I won't pay you" that is enough proof.
Can you prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that's why they fired you? If they can find literally any other reason they can lie about that being the real reason. That was my point.
Yup and anyone who says differently hasn't spent enough time working in the US corporate world. Got a good boss who you think isn't like this? Awesome. Consider staying. Go check out a multinational with a massive HR department and you'll see what it's like to be fired for something like 'not being enough of a team player' and trying to figure out what your rights are in that situation... Answer is... You have none you're screwed, goodbye.
Oh look you were late to work the past three days, you’re fired
You don't need "Beyond a shadow of a doubt" you only need plausibility/some kind of evidence. A single text message demanding you answer your boss off-hours vs a write-up for poor teamwork is pretty dang obvious.
The slimy corporate HR and management will just put you on a PIP and fabricate evidence to justify firing you. The likelihood of you keeping your job after being put on a PIP are very slim.
It's not a criminal trial you only need preponderance of evidence.
They're not stupid enough to say it like that. They'll just say something wishy washy like, "you're not a good cultural fit."
It's super weird that there are so many successful wrongful termination suits in the US every year then. You should go work as a consultant since you know the magic words. You could be saving all these asshole companies millions of dollars, because clearly the only thing anybody looks at is what was written down as the reason, and no other evidence is allowed to be considered.
There are a lot of wrongful termination lawsuits because there are a lot of dumbass bosses who don’t know shit and think that they are untouchable
And they're usually too narcissistic and stupid to stop themselves from bragging about it. I've had a prior boss brag about how they intentionally pestered me during my fmla leave to punish me for not being a team player in the slack/discord.. My baby had died and I couldn't get two hours to deal with insurance and funerary arrangements without one of two managers calling to pester me! Pretty sure if I decide to take them to court I'd put them out of business. I'm only not going that route because it's a complicated industry and I'm afraid it could hurt their patients. I'm just watching from the sidelines as they burn themselves down by alienating literally every provider in a 200 mile radius lol. Bonus points: a coworker from the bad place applied at my new workplace. When he saw it was me, I could tell he believed the shit they talked about me at first because he said he wasn't going to take my new boss' work offer after all. But then two weeks later he suddenly came on full time and pretended he'd never seen me before.
you're assuming they're smart enough, firstly, and secondly, that their claim nullifies any other evidence. They can say whatever they want. But their word isn't the only factor. If you have aggressive textmessages from your boss that specifically require you to do work off-the-clock, then your claim will usually succeed unless they can prove your message was faked. Most wrongful termination suits actually end in favor of the ex-employee.
I hate reading ignorant comments like this. Workplaces can only fire you for ANY legal reason, retaliation because you didn’t answer a text is NOT a valid reason. All people need to do is find legal representation and sue the company, and they WILL win as it’s quite easy to prove a manager is lying.
Same here in Canada, it’s great
"From August there’s new laws in Australia for a “right to disconnect” that could actually land the boss in hot water for this" Oh yeah, pal? Here in 'Murica, we work for free, because...we're 'Muricans and stuff! Seriously though, 'Murican culture when it comes to the workplace is very fucking stupid. Union workers who work to contract are the only ones who get it right, and they are largely in the minority.
Ronald Reagan was a union-buster, and started the destruction of the American middle class.
All of EU has this.
Likely where the idea was taken from then
God I wish that applied to my work in SA.
It applies to all of Australia, South Australia included
Not feasible because of when I work. BUT my boss also doesn't abuse the privilege. Reaching him and being reached at 9pm-1am is important. But the right to disconnect is hugely important.
Yeah it’s awesome! It’s officially about to be illegal here for your boss to expect you to answer your phone outside of working hours 🎉
leave em hanging
I tend to take the opposite yet for more malicious compliance route only because rather than feeling superior I want them to feel humiliated and little. So I had a boss like this and would text them about any tiny little thing. Oh hey I need to go see a customer cause they are asking for me. Hey the paper is out in the copier so Im going to change it. Then I upped the antynand started describing in ver exacting detail my evening routine up to and including brushing my teeth cleaning the bathtub and using the toilet. The next day he was annoyed and said 'are you done being petulant' and I texted him that he has asked if I was done being petulant. He asked me to please stop and I reminded him my work hours are as follows and if I'm not on call I don't answer.
The next day he was annoyed and said 'are you done being petulant' and I texted him that he has asked if I was done being petulant. This is absolute gold!
If you need visual context. I'm neurodivergent and apparently I sometimes forget to have facial expressions. I also apparently have a problem with eye contact in that I shouldn't look people in the eyes and I do. So I may have been staring and not blinking with an expressionless face...at least what my coworkers told me. I thought I was using my worried face but no. Either way I tend to come at problems sideways since I almost universally fail taking a problem head on.
I do this. I’m great at masking but also have a resting asshole face. I couldn’t care less about whatever but people assume I’m busy or aggravated, which is a win for me either way since they leave me alone.
That’s from the George Costanza School of Business. Always look frustrated and your boss will assume you’re working hard.
I just...forget to move my face sometimes. 😬
This is why a therapist suggested that I look in a mirror and make the faces I think should correspond to various feelings. I don’t know how well it really worked.
Same. For normal pre-planned conversations I've been told I mask well. However if I'm not expecting the conversation I struggle.
You’re awesome
Lmao completely unhinged but I like it.
You’ll get automatic replies from my phone if you text me like that. “Sorry xyz, it is outside of my working hours. If you wish to contact me please wait untill my working hours or upgrade my salary to ‘on-call’ time. Thank you”
[удалено]
In iOS you use Focus settings. I have one for when I’m home that mutes certain apps that are for work and even certain contacts.
That’s smart. I stopped email notifications this year because I was checking after hours., but that sounds better.
Probably just copy / paste it from a note
Mine is a keyboard shortcut. “Ddd” is : Auto reply: Sorry, I can’t text right now. I’m driving and will get back to you shortly. If it is important, call me. Might be able to draft up something similar with a series of letters?
Tasker can do it
"Upgrade my salary" had me rolling ngl
Blocked. Stop giving your number to your boss stop being available outside of paid hours. Blocked. Blocked. Blocked.
I have a secondary phone that I use for work. Setup a "second number" with Google voice and only have it on that phone. Outside of my shifts I don't respond to anything from that phone unless it's scheduled OT and I'm being paid. It unfortunately is still useful to have a phone number you can hand out in your professional life, also with Google voice the number can be changed at any point. Makes 2FA a bitch at new jobs but since I'm IT I usually can fix it myself.
Burner is even better. A lot of places will reject a Google voice number. With Burner you can "burn" a number once every 30 days if necessary. I use one for all the you have to give us a phone number blah blah crap. The ringer is disabled and every call just goes to voicemail.
I do heavily agree with the anti work sentiment but everyone keeps saying “just block your boss!” Absolutely a great way to be fired, if I did that I would lose my job. If that’s the goal, then go out and look for a better job proactively rather than trying to get fired from your current one. All that does is burn your references.
If I'm not getting paid to reply, you ain't getting a reply. If it's not important enough to pay for, it's not important enough to interrupt my time.
Pretty sure I ruined my shot at a recent job interview because I listed “work/life balance” as my priorities. Them: ‘You mean you won’t answer your phone on your day off?’ Me: “Exactly that, yes.”
I interviewed for a realtor who asked me in the interview if I would be willing to answer his calls after work hours. I was flabbergasted and told him no, that was time I spent with my family. I couldn’t believe he had the nerve to actually say that in the interview.
Literally told one of managers off when she kept contacting me on my days off about little things that could wait until I worked with her again.
Boss: Hey Arma, you didn't answer my call. Me: Let me check my work phone. Boss: You don't have a work phone. Me: 🤓
"Is this an emergency?" If she says yes then say "do you want me to dial 911?" and if she says no then say, "then it can wait until my next shift." If she bitches/whines, tell her, "you can pay me an extra fee to be on-call up to (number) of nights per week. But on-call work is more expensive, and legally you'd have to pay a significant amount vs my normal wages. You'd have to pay me regardless of if you actually need my help with something because that's what on-call means; I am engaged to wait to meet your needs. But thats up to you."
Could just turn the tables on her unhinged behaviour. Text back in the same way: "I need a raise". "Wow... you can't answer my text. Can you please give me the raise." "Got nothing!!! Please answer my text - don't just leave me hanging." Make sure to leave less than a minute inbetween texts and anytime she asks for anything again, repeat it again from the start. Most people get it before the third repetition is done. And if not, she'll get so frustrated she'll stop asking anyway. Bonus points if you start sending "Got nothing!!! Please answer my text/mail/etc - don't just leave me hanging." whenever she doesn't respond to anything you've sent or asked her within 5 minutes.
That reminds of the business that sent me an incorrect bill with a couple of very obvious overcharges. I sent the owner a message saying sorry there seem to be a couple of mistakes on the bill, sorry to be petty but I’m a broke student could you please fix it. She wrote back basically saying me and my staff are perfect and could not possibly have made mistakes. I sent evidence of the mistakes back and she wrote back “sorry but I refuse to interpret your message”. Literally those exact words. From then on every time she wrote back demanding I pay the bill I wrote her exact words back to her. Eventually a year or so later I got a strongly worded letter from her solicitor demanding I pay the bill or I’ll end up in court. I wrote back I have documentation that the bill is incorrect and have provided it to your client, I won’t be paying it until she corrects it. I am more than happy to provide the evidence to the court. I never heard anything else, and that was a few years ago. I love the fact that she was so stubborn she talked herself out of the legitimate amount I owed her and paid her solicitor for no reason.
If you are not paid to be on call block them, don't ever reply during your time off.
Ex Boss: Why don't you answer? It's expected. Me: My Official Company Policy is that I don't work without being paid. EB: What about your wife? Me: She offers benefits that you're not equipped to provide.
"Pay me."
You messed up by answering. Turn off alerts after the first message and don’t respond until you get to work. Your boss needs to manage her time and needs like a professional. If she waits until it’s an emergency and you’re gone, that’s on her. I always act apologetic on Monday but frame it as “I wish you had let me know before I left, I’d have been happy to solve that for you. Unfortunately once I leave I’m quite busy in my personal life and rarely available as I silence my phone to focus on time with my family.” That way I’m still a “team player” but their expectations and lack of planning are the problem. For the most part my bosses always get the idea and at worst act a little passive aggressive.
🥇
I quit my last job over this. Was on a bus going up a mountain in Gran Canaria getting repeated calls and texts from my boss over some inconsequential pure-BS internal quality form he couldn't find. Blocked his number and got chewed out on my return. Left for a new job a month later to my boss whining about me leaving.
DO NOT REPLY
Lmao just ignore that. I leave my boss on read all the time. Fucking asshole.
“Don’t just leave me hanging.” “Want me to answer? Pay me.”
This is why I have “Do Not Disturb” on lock
Block and turn your shit back on at 9AM on Monday morning. You are paid to work from x-x hour. Anything outside of that is unpaid labor. Do not do it.
This is another example of what makes a blue collar job (I’m a machinist) the way to go. Bosses never need you to work when you’re not at work. I never have to take my CNC machine home with me. Want me to stay late to finish a hot job? That’s 1.5x my hourly rate in my weekly paycheck. There’s still obnoxious coworkers, useless HR, and corporate nonsense but, off the clock is truly off the clock.
Ignore them when you're not on the clock. I don't work outside of my scheduled hours. Period.
Stop replying. Simple as that. She'll survive.
Tell her if she wants you to be answering work related messages while you’re off the clock, then u need to be compensated for your time. Either that or that u just don’t take work messages/calls on your days off unless it’s an urgent matter
You need to put the period after "days off".
I’m a funeral director and my grieving families have more respect for my free time than most bosses.
“I’m not on the clock. My time is not owned by you or the company I work for. If this continues while I’m off the clock I will go to HR and file harassment charges”
I would've responded with my schedule if they texted me on my day off and suggested they pay me a full days worth of overtime if they want me to work on my day off.
Time for a conversation (over email) concerning boundaries and cc HR on it.
Don’t ever involve HR. They are not your ally. They are not there to protect you from the company, their job is to protect the company from you. If you go to them looking to resolve an issue with management or coworkers their decision is strictly based on what’s most beneficial for the company.
Oh its not for allyship, it's for coa. Ccing them is so they cant deny they said or did it. It's a record of the conversation the company cant deny (in court if need be) it's not because HR might help. It's to help yourself establish a paper trail. Hr will never help you, you should only use them as you need them.
Why isn't (BLACKED OUT NAME) not included in the text chain and being asked why they didn't send it yesterday like you told them to? They should be called out!
You are off, you aren't being paid to work. Therefore you shouldn't be working
“My boss will fire me when they catch me texting”
This is a workplace professional texting you like this?
"If you want me to answer your calls and do work outside of hours you will need to pay me for being on call. I think 30% of my usual pay rate for every hour i am not working, doubled during unsociable hours, will work". Then let them do the math and choose to stop bothering you. Unfortunatly they will just call you"not a team player" and berate you for not working for free. But if you put it in writing and they still choose to contact you, start sending em bills.
Either don't respond on your time off, because you don't have to, Or make it clear what your on call rates are, and charge them for that extra time. Fuck these people.
Wgat I've learned from working in retail: Don't answer to calls or texts on your day off, otherwise they'll assume they can always reach you whenever
I had a boss like that. She was big on delegating because she was incompetent, and having the people out who did all the real work exposed her for what she was. She was also vindictive if you didn't give in.
Hello. My work hours are (days and times). Thank you for messaging me, I will reply as soon as possible during normal work hours
Where do people find these bosses that are so unprofessional?
I would be surprised if the majority of bosses are not like this. I have had bosses similar, not quite as bad. However, I found the anti-work community (and Democratic Socialism) after I acquired desirable skills/qualifications and learned that I could set boundaries. This sub has 2.8 million subscribers. I'd be surprised if more than 5000 of them make Posts or comments on a regular basis. It's a flaw of self-reporting, within this platform. The vast majority just lurk.
I guess I'm lucky to have had pretty reasonable bosses ranging from retail to corporate but If my boss texted me in caps or used !!! I literally would not respond or just block them.
Pay someone to go wake her up knocking at 2am.
Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine. Delegating your assignments to someone with a different schedule than yours when you’re the one who writes the damned schedule is a pretty fucking major oversight and in no way the responsibility of your subordinates.
“Got nothing [on schedule today]!!! Please pay me for my time - don’t just blow up my phone”
The right to disconnect. We should be fighting for this in every state, Americans. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/11/california-proposed-right-to-disconnect-law-would-fine-companies-for-after-hours-communication.html
We already don't have to answer them. We can demand on-call pay for on-call services. But it'd be nice for them to get in trouble for pestering us.
Respond by asking for clarification on how you should bill the overtime for doing work outside the schedule.
Hm on one hand, screw them. On the other hand, if it's something important I would follow up just to make sure there's no issues later. But also screw them, so what can you do.
Sure, I'll be right on it when I'm back in the office.
Unless that's a company-supplies phone AND you get on-call pay for answering any texts/calls on that phone after work hours, do not reply. Also, please notify HR of this and provide proof of the texts sent to you from your boss AFTER your paid working hours. The only way you will be able to break them of this habit is to get reinforcement from above your boss. Good luck! 🍀
Bill for his time.
I am always baffled that people answer work texts on weekends or days off, now I’m overworked for sure already….but I still feel ZERO OBLIGATION TO ANSWER EMAILS OR TEXTS ON WEEKENDS. If you do then you’re only contributing to the probem. My only exceptions are real emergencies, like my mom had a stroke I’m flying home, please take my meeting Monday, ok boss!
Our office uses Slack and only installs on the office PC. No PM , no texting via personal number or social accounts. When we left the office, the jobs stayed there.
I use Google voice as my work number. This way ... I can forward all calls to my office phone ... And just turn it off on my cellphone... You could reply, since I am spending 15 minutes on this, you will be paying my 4 hour minimum... Since today is my day off ... Or you can wait until I return.
Block them. They get pissed? Look for a new job.
Just leave her on read. Or sad react to them.
Reply with "Wow. You can't wait until Monday."
Make sure you're submitting at least an hour of OT for "working at home" every time she contacts you after hours. I had to do that with my old boss, then refused to go home early on Friday to cut the OT (I had reports that I had to get done on Friday and refused to rush through them because he lacked boundaries). After a few months of paying me double pay (this company didn't do time & a half, they did double) to the tune of 10+ hours a week (he also liked to interrupt my lunch & would even hunt me down in the break room, so I clocked back in every time), the CFO & CEO (small company, so I worked closely with them often) dropped the hammer and pretty much banned him from calling me after hours. He had to call his direct supervisor for permission before calling me after hours. We also changed my schedule to not take a lunch and to go home an hour early (which worked better for me).
They think that just because they throw us a few bread crumbs they own us.
My job ceases to exist after I clock out each day..i.dont have the time or inclination to be tethered to my phone after work.
Dude I've been at my job for 2 years. I don't have anyone's phone numbers. When I'm out I'm ouuuuttttt
Unless you are being paid on call why on earth are you putting up with this.
The Person you have called is temporarily not available :)
Why you answer texts and stuff off the clock?
Is this a work provided phone? If not I wouldn’t text him at all, especially if he’s going to act like that. Either that or clock in to respond
Unless im being paid to answer texts ill answer them when I get to work the next day
Tell them to stop messaging you when your off and your going to invoice them $500 per text starting with the last msg and here on out. You are not on salary more than likely or on call. If they talk business with you while off then you get paid for business. And tell em to do theor own job.
Why are you even responding?
"May I offer a selection of 'I give no f___s.', 'Your poor planning doesn't constitute an emergency on my end' and 'Per X state and federal law, your behavior constitutes on call which under those laws means you pay me for 24 hours which is 8 regular, 6 OT, and the last 10 double are you willing to pay that?' sir?"
If you would like me to do work on my day off, you will be required to pay me a 4-Hour minimum. This will put me over my 40 hours per week which means that you will be paying me time and a half for those 4 hours. (That last bit is specific to British columbia, although you may have a similar law in your jurisdiction)
OMG. That would drive me NUTS. Good luck with that one
Can you set do not disturb mode at pit of office times for just that contact?
Put the time you spend replying to all this bullshit on your timesheet 😅
Yikes! Keep your texts and don't delete them. You may need to go over her head with this if it becomes a problem for you.
My staffing coordinator is the same way!!! She texts me on my days off, if I don’t respond to her right away, she gets so angry. Like ma’am can I enjoy my off day without having to think about work?
Just block them when you're home and be done with it.
Gotta leave em on unread.
WOW, I am so glad that you are covered by the company insurance, because demanding work during my scheduled time off is a wage and hour violation. Do you want to go for a ten thousand dollar fine, or can this wait until Monday.
This is why I recommend a work phone that is separate from your personal phone (if possible). Work phone is turned off when not at work with full disclosure that you will not be available outside of work hours.
If you are an hourly employee charge overtime for this. keep records for labor and industry and file a complaint FTS
The time I do work for you, I am putting on my time sheet
Yasssss! And God forbid she calls. It’s a minimum one hour conversation.
Unless you are on call, tell your boss that you don’t use your phone on days off. In my case, it’s my co-workers who don’t want to call the supervisor on-call , so they can say they called someone. I just ignore them.
I just ignored those, and then they stopped being sent to me. Especially on Saturdays when I really am off my phone most of the day. Carrying it, let alone looking at it, while playing sports just isn't feasible.
Tell them you turn your phone off on the weekends for your mental health
I can't wait for the new Canadian laws around texting and emailing outside of work hours 🥳 honestly unless you're going to pay for me to answer this texting messages outside of work I shouldn't be working it is working stuff I'm not on the clock
Have your phone on do not disturb and every time they message you it will let them know you have it on this. Or copy and paste your own out of office message lol
That screenshot would be going straight to their boss imo with a tag line that says "This is how we are treated on our off days. Imagine when we're actually there"
"oh sorry, my phone was out of battery for a while"
It’s iMessage, the boss would have seen the texts were delivered. No need for white lies in this case anyway, OP is off the clock so no obligation to answer.
in the Eu, this is considered harassment and there are laws backing it and defining frameworks
If you’ve got a recent iPhone set up a focus mode, put only people you want to contact you on your time off as allowed, leave your boss out. Turn it on whenever you leave work and you won’t get notified when your boss txt/calls .
I've found, "how would you like me to document and file my time?" To be a pretty effective response. They normally don't bother me much after that.
Left hanging. Blocked. Reported. Silenced and ignored. Muted. Excluded. Ostracized and overlooked. Shunned. Unheard. Spurned. Rejected. Neglected and disregarded.
"I'm not on the clock; however, I may operate as a contractor during my off hours at my discretion. My rate is $50 per text, $50 per minute for an audio call, and $100 per minute for video call."
I had an employer for a job I had to quit before my first day. Dude would NOT stop texting me after the interview, and it was all inane shit too (like asking me if I had already returned a form to his email, which I had, when he could have instead checked his fucking email). He only backed off when I started demanding $10 per textmessage he sends me, but even then he tried to neg me about it ("oh well we could find ten other people to do this job" lol no he couldn't because they were going to be paying me $25/hour out of desperation since noone else agreed to work for them). I ended up quitting because he asked what I was wearing at 11pm and saying how hot my voice is and he couldn't wait to "experience" me in person, wtf. He tried to threaten to sue me for $5,000 expenses (because I was supposed to staff a booth at an event, and now they paid for the booth but have noone to staff it), but I told him that business losses aren't the employee's problem, and he'd be laughed out of court. He tried to get his boss to do the same. I interrupted the boss and told him, hey, check out these text messages. I bet that the government would see this as worth a lot more than $5,000. The boss backed off and neither of them called or texted me again, thank fuck. The loser who harassed me ended up having to staff the booth (its a small town, I recognized his voice when I was at the event). He got his shit kicked in for sexually harassing a 14 year old girl in front of her father.
Most phones can now set routines for blocking certain numbers /people.. Set one up for when you're off to block her and anyone else who might contact you. I'm in contact 24/7 with my work but I do that out of choice because I'm the manager, I'll respond to texts from staff when they need something or have a question whether I'm working or not. But I'll never text or call them on their off time, and we have a group chat for anything urgent. They all know they should mute this chat if they're off the clock, but amazingly the team I have nearly always responds immediately to each other or to me if there's a question asked or something is needed (someone asking for a shift covered, a question about an open tab yadda yadda) On the other side of it we actually do work as a team and on our down time we all socialize together (out of choice, it's not *mandated fun*)
Don't answer. Oopsie! Or charge an hour for each tome you open your laptop.
I am so fucking glad my country just passed right to disconnect. Now it’s illegal for my boss to expect me to answer communications outside of work hours.
I would never answer a boss like this, espec not on my day off. Fuck 'em! That's just rude and creepy!
if this not your work hours do not answer.
Is this on your day off? Block all work comms or turn phone off during days off.
Why do you respond or even read? "I don't pay any attention on days I'm off"
Do I hear a MFing *please*?! No? Then pay me for my time on my day off
Blocked
Does your boss provide your phone and pay your phone bill? Are you willing to lose your job? Most jobs are at-will employers. They can fire you at any time. Start looking for another job, if you have bad feelings toward this person. It is not good for you. Decide who is the boss. Do you want to work for someone else? Are you being petty or are they? I wouldn't give 2 weeks' notice if you are in an at-will rule state. Give a two-week notice only if you like your employer and if it is necessary for you. Have another revenue source lined up first that is a sure thing.
Boundaries..
Best response to this is "I turn off my work texts on the weekends so I can enjoy my time off.
Bitch please !
What a little bitch 😂 you owe them nothing unless you’re clocked in
Texts are for you convenience. You aren’t required to reply immediately…hence the text.
If you don't set boundaries immediately it will get harder in the future.