Boss Asks Employee To Work On Her Previously Approved Day Off
James Holden We’ve all dealt with terrible bosses, whether they foster an unhealthy work environment or simply dehumanize their employees with unattainable standards, a lack of feedback, or plain unkindness.
One employee shared her recent interaction with her boss and it had viewers outraged for her when she was meant to be enjoying her “approved day off”. Chris Donnelly, a career-focused TikTok creator, shared the anonymous woman’s story and expressed his similar disgust for the interaction she had with her boss.
The woman’s boss said he was ‘appalled’ after she refused to guide him through a work project on her already approved day off.
In a thread of text messages shared with Donnelly, this woman explained the situation she was forced to endure with her boss on a day she’d previously requested off to deal with her “sick mother.”
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She admitted that she previously had issues with requesting time off in her role because a third party handles and approves all requests and scheduling. Knowing this, she sent her request months before and kept track of the approval documents as they came in.
Not only did she prepare early with her approval request, but she also ensured her team had everything they needed to operate without her for a day, creating several meetings and documents meant to transfer knowledge about her project.
While she was with her ‘sick mother,’ the woman got a text from her boss asking for assistance on a project she previously worked on.
“Where are you? Why aren’t you in the office,” the woman’s boss asked in a text.
Explaining to her boss that she had taken the day off, he abruptly told her that he would’ve never approved her Friday time.
Despite having it approved, she made sure to add her time off to her boss’s calendar so he was aware of it, even though it wasn’t necessary. In response, her boss actually told her he “never checks the calendar” and would have never approved her absence if he'd known.
Photo: Hrecheniuk Oleksii / Canva Pro
“I need your help,” the boss continued. “The [slide] deck is not where it needs to be.”
In shock over the exchange, she stood her ground and told her boss that she’d be back in the office on Monday. She added that she’d be happy to help him with the project after the weekend, but she’d “prefer not to be working Friday evening, when [she] has the day off.”
The boss angrily rejected the woman’s empathetic response telling her he needed her help “right now.”
Despite preparing for her day off with meetings and ‘explainer documents’ — that the boss never reviewed — he still said his request was ‘not a big ask.’
With multiple pleas for her to jump on a call with him, he started to make her feel guilty. Instead of simply asking other employees for help, he placed blame on her for his own disorganization.
“It’s completely unreasonable for him to be messaging her on her day off,” Donnelly exclaimed. “Let alone her telling him she’ll log on for thirty minutes in the evening, on her day off and him refusing to say he needs her now.”
“We literally need 30 minutes of your time, it’s not a big ask on something so important,” her boss argued.
Prathan Chorruangsak / CanvaPro
The reality is that this woman knew how important her project was which is exactly why she had several “prep meetings” with the team — that her boss was invited to, but never attended — to talk through the slides, project overview, and action items.
Along with that, she made several documents that encompassed all of that information and sent them to multiple team members and to her boss directly. Although her boss tried to argue he never received the documents or had time for the meetings, she was not willing to let him walk all over her.
Ultimately, the woman sent the ‘inappropriate’ messages to HR along with ‘receipts’ of her preparation and a request to be taken off her boss’s team.
“He’s obviously been sent the material,” Donnelly argued of the boss, “and now he’s probably searched it and found it. He’s trying to assert his power over her.”
Many women go to impossible lengths to fight for space — let alone respect — in many corporate environments. Over 23% of women in the workplace feel they face daily discrimination based solely upon their gender identity compared to less than 10% of men.
Thankfully, this woman was not going to let her boss' inappropriate behavior go unnoticed. Armed with the documents and receipts regarding her preparedness she outlined the entirety of her conversation with her boss to HR and included him in the email.
Related Stories From YourTango:Leaving no room for vague responses or unruly questions, she simply asked to be removed from the man’s team and suggested that the company take disciplinary action against the boss who, as she put it, treated “his employees poorly.”
Ultimately, her boss sent her a “seemingly rehearsed” apology — likely prompted by HR — and she was removed from his team.
Sadly, this kind of behavior in workplaces is common, but this woman's experience should offer you a glimmer of hope. Always know your worth and never let anyone bully you. Keep records and stand up for yourself because you have to be your own best advocate.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer at YourTango focusing on pop culture analysis and human interest stories.
