Wild text boss sent to worker on annual leave

A text exchange between a boss and an employee that is on holidays is going viral online and people are shocked.

A boss demanding that an employee reply to his text messages while on holiday is going viral online.

Workplace expert Ben Askins routinely goes viral on social media by weighing in and sharing anonymously the wild text messages some employers send their employees.

Sometimes, they’re positive, but 99 per cent of the time, he is sharing text exchanges where the boss showcases poor management skills.

In this particular case, a boss texted a worker and prefaced the text by telling them it was “just a quick one” but asked if they could review and tweak some slides for an upcoming presentation.

The presentation was for the next day, and when the employee didn’t reply, the boss followed up and asked, “Did you see this message?”

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The employee texted back and said, “I’m on holiday remember?” Before explaining they’d just gotten off a plane and were about to check into some accommodation.

The boss didn’t say sorry, nor had the boss forgotten the employee was on annual leave; instead, the boss doubled down.

“I know, but this is important, but the meeting has been brought forward, and we need to sort this out,” the boss argued.

The employee replied that they hadn’t brought their work laptop away on holidays and had evening plans.

“You don’t have your laptop? Why on earth not? Can you find somewhere to jump online? It won’t take long,” the boss fired back.

MORE: 5 ways to deal with a micromanaging boss

The whole exchange is wild. Picture: Text

The employee held strong and said they couldn’t immediately start working.

They advised the boss to ask someone else on the team – you know, someone who is not on holidays.

The boss wasn’t deterred and said it would take too long to get another employee up to speed and then went straight to begging.

“Please. I really need you to do this. We have to win this one!”

The employee didn’t relent and argued that they’d booked the holiday months ago and were away with family, so they couldn’t just “abandon” plans to start working.

The boss didn’t seem impressed and fired back, “Right, good to know where your priorities are”.

The employee replied and said, “Yes it is with my family.”

He said it was clear the boss can't be doing that. Picture: TikTok/ben.askins

He pointed out workers need to recharge. Picture: TikTok/ben.askins

Mr Askins praised the employee for an “amazing” response but also pointed out the obvious that the manager’s behaviour wasn’t acceptable.

“It is just so obviously incorrect,” he said.

He argued that if the boss hadn’t arranged for someone to cover the worker’s workload when they were away that was obviously their fault and had nothing to do with the person on holidays.

“As a boss you can’t just keep badgering people. I know it is tempting and easy with WhatsApp, but you’re just going to make people leave,” he said.

The worker didn’t bring the laptop on holidays. Picture: iStock

Mr Askins also added that if you don’t allow employees to switch off and relax, they won’t recharge and be able to keep doing good work.

“Terrible from start to finish,” he mused.

People online were shocked by the text exchange although many argued that the employee shouldn’t have even responded to the initial text.

“These people are too soft! Not only would I not read the messages until I’m back at work, I would’ve blocked them the day I finished anyway,” one said.

“I wouldn’t have answered in the first place. I am on holiday, that is It,” another claimed.

“Nope. When I go on vacation, I have no access to the internet. If they want me to work, I need internet and at least double pay,” another worker claimed.

“Baffles me why they message back I would just ignore,” someone else said.

Another said the boss had some “absolute nerve” to message an employee on holidays, someone fumed over the manager’s “audacity” and one claimed the entire exchange was “wild”.