‘Astonishing’: Text exchange reveals what boss didn’t ask

A text exchange between a mum and her boss has gone viral over the one thing he never asked.

A texting chain reveals the callous response a woman got from her boss after she had to leave work early to care for her child.

UK workplace Ben Askins has created a niche online by sharing anonymous text message exchangers between workers and employees.

Mr Askins has now amassed millions of views by giving people a peek into workplace across the world.

“Hey. I’ve just had a call from Jamie’s school, he has had a fall and they’ve asked me to pick him up,” the worker texted.

“Right. How long are you going to be?” The boss demanded.

“Not sure yet. They said he is a bit bruised and shaken. So I’m going to take him home, I’ll have to have to work from home for the rest of the day. If that is okay?” The employee asked.

The boss doesn’t ask at any point if the child is okay. Picture:

The anonymous boss didn’t inquire if the child was okay and instead berated the employee.

“Can no one else pick him up? This is meant to be an office day,” the boss replied.

The worker replied and apologised, but said they had to leave because no one else was home to care for their child.

The boss didn’t take the hint.

“What about our meeting later?” The boss asked.

The employee replied and said she has her laptop, and once she’s home and gets her son settled, she’ll log back on.

The boss replied that it was “not really the same” and the employee fired back that she would be “online and available” but couldn’t leave her son alone.

“I will let you go but please don’t tell anyone. I don’t want people thinking this is an option for everyone,” the boss said,

“Okay understood. Thank you,” the employee texted.

He was stunned the boss didn't ask if the child was okay. Picture: TikTok/BenAskins

Ben Askins argued the boss didn't right by the worker. Picture: TikTok/BenAskins

Mr Askins argued that the employee had nothing to be thankful for because the boss was doing less than the bare minimum.

“Think about how wild this is,” he said.

“There are obviously things that are so much important than work.”

Mr Askins argued it was “astonishing” that the boss didn’t want other workers to know it is okay to take time out of work to care for your child.

Mr Askins said the only response to an emergency like that is to let your worker go home, and also let them know they don’t have to log back in later if they can’t.

“He absolutely Bodged it”,” he said.

The employee said that she’d log back on once her child was sorted. Picture: iStock

People online were fairly stunned by the texting exchange.

“Anyone else feels like workplaces are going backwards rather than forwards?” one asked.

“It’s always the same people with sick kids and the rest of the team has to pick up their slack. Always,” another claimed.

“Do managers and bosses know that employees are only there so they have the ability to care for themselves and their family?” One asked.

Adding. “It isn’t an option available to anyone, taking care of the kid is the only thing to do here. There’s not even a choice.”

“My first boss was like this, took me years to realise it wasn’t normal,” one shared.

“I worked for bosses like this, who had kids of their own. They drained the joy out of my job for 6 years. I resigned without a new job, that’s how done I was,” another said.

Originally published as ‘Astonishing’: Text exchange reveals what boss didn’t ask