Internet Backs Woman Who Refused to Work Weekends in Viral Post

A woman took to Reddit's "Am I the A**hole," writing that her coworkers were frustrated with her when she told her boss that it was not possible for her to answer his calls or work on weekends with little to no notice.

Reddit user u/freeefinally wrote in her post, which received 16,000 votes, that she accepted a salaried job and was told she would work reasonable hours. However, her boss began calling her personal phone number at night and on weekends to ask if she could come to work.

The Redditor said she did not pick up, and when she was asked why she didn't answer her phone, she told her boss that she does not check her personal phone often. If he needed to reach her, she wrote he should call her work phone.

"He asked me how he could reach me outside of 9 to 5 because he sees I leave my work phone on my desk at night and over the weekend," u/freeefinally wrote. "I said that honestly I'm not glued to any phone on the weekend so if he needs me to take a call on the weekend, could he make it a meeting request and put it on my calendar, so I know to be available."

Her boss, the Redditor said, told her that wouldn't be possible because the team typically handles last-minute requests on weekends.

"I said that on the weekends I usually have commitments that were made one to three weeks out and I'm not often able to cancel a previous commitment with under a day notice," u/freeefinally wrote.

She told him that she would try to answer the phone if she heard it ringing, but may not always catch it. After their conversation, the Redditor said she's gone back to ignoring his calls, but that her coworkers were unhappy with her.

"My coworkers got frustrated and said that if everyone did what I was doing nothing would get done," u/freeefinally wrote. "I said maybe nothing should get done then, if it's coming at the cost of y'all not being home for dinner with the family."

Forbes published a piece about how employees can establish healthy boundaries at work and with their bosses. One of the first things someone should prioritize is their values. Once that is complete, employees should communicate those priorities and values.

"It could be as simple as letting your boss know that you're not answering emails after 9 pm," the piece states. "It's also a good idea to inform your team what constitutes an emergency, so you aren't bothered unnecessarily during off-hours."

There may be some pushback, and the article stated an employee may need to expect to negotiate what those boundaries are with their boss.

The vast majority of commenters wrote that u/freeefinally was not out of line, and one of the top comments suggested that she start looking for a new job.

Responding to some comments, u/freeefinally noted that she is actively looking for a new job and that the team she is currently working with is understaffed.

"People need to stop kowtowing to their bosses," a commenter wrote.

Another Redditor responded and said that most employees are replaceable.

"We need to get that mentality into more peoples' heads and stop breathing in that bulls**t that the corporate fumes out about how precious and valuable employees are," a Reddit user said.

One commenter warned u/freeefinally that her coworkers and boss may start to look for an excuse to get her fired.

"Document everything," a Redditor urged her. "Boss calls you several times on your day off? Screenshot the call log and email it to yourself to back up to a cloud. Same with texts, any emails and any DM's."