'You couldn’t tack a couple of 0’s on my salary for me to agree to that': Employee is told by boomer manager to be on-call 24/7, calls BS

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Jun 4, 2023 10:00 AM EDT

Work culture is changing, slowly. However, the boom mentality of putting work above anything else in your live is still somehow clinging on to some companies. OP has been working at this job as a a personal care attendant supervisor for about a month now but has come to a the frightening realization that this job is 24/7. When he interviewed for the job he was told that it was not 24/7, however you will be expected to be on call at least once a week. OP has worked these kinds of jobs before and was perfectly fine to agree to that. 

However, once he started working he quickly realized just how unorganized the place is and how rude management is. He realized that he isn't on-call "once a week," but he is expected to drop anything he is doing at any moment 24/7. Now he can't even go to bed without worrying about getting called into work. And this job specifically is very important to be 100% focused when there, especially if it's an "emergency" call. That means he can't go out and have a drink with friends or stay up late thinking he might be able to sleep in. It's become a 24/7 job and he is calling BS. He turns to Reddit for some words of advice and many have something to say—check it out below! If you think this is a toxic work environment, heres another story where the workplace was so unsupportive and unhealthy that they quit on the spot—there's even a video! 

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  • 01
    Joint - Posted by u/TheMeds Peds 10 hours ago Am I overacting or is it total BS that I'm expected to be on call 24/7?
    via u/TheMedsPeds

    Photo via u/pixahiva

  • 02
    Font - So about a month ago, I took a job as a personal care attendant supervisor for old and disabled people. I've done this kind of work before, so I knew going in that part of being a supervisor would include "On Call"which would basically be responding to emergencies after hours. During the interview I asked how the on-call work, the person who interviewed me, the owner, insisted that on-call rotates, which I agreed with. No biggie.
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 03
    Font - Turns out there are other problems with the place: the company basically it's a shit show, people calling in left and right, people clocking in and leaving, no actual schedule, condescending mean boss who's not only mean, but incompetent, she's the changing the rules left and right, then denying they ever were the way the straw that broke the camels back for me is on-call.
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 04
    Font - I've worked this kind of job before and with round the clock care and clients that can't be left alone, a manager needs to be on-call 24/7, which is fine, but my previous company rotated it.
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 05
    Font - During office hours, you dealt with your own clients emergencies. After hours the person on call does. Sure if that person had a case they didn't know much about, you could help, but it was by phone. And that was supposed to be more of a courtesy, not a requirement.
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 06
    Font - Didn't matter who's case it was. If a staff no call no showed and you couldn't find coverage last minute, the on call person covered the shift.
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 07
    Font - But not here. While I was told in the interview it rotates. I learn now, the only thing that rotates is the actual phone. The company is "too big" for anyone person to handle emegencies. So if someone gets a call and it's not their clients emergency, the correct case manager is called and helps handle it. Okay, fine.
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 08
    Font - Here's the thing, if someone actually has to report in person to cover a shift. It's not the person on call but whoever the case belongs too. So even if I'm not on all. If the Saturday night overnight staff doesn't show up, the person who the case belongs to has to go. And if they refuse. The person on shift who leaves still gets in trouble but we could catch a whole neglect charge because
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 09
    Font - those clients aren't supposed to be left alone. I think that's dogsh t. Because that means at any moment I can get a call, have to drop what I'm doing and cover a shift NO MATTER WHAT!
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 10
    Font - When I brought this up to my manager she said "well find e coverage and you won't have to go. And "yeah but we barely have 24 hour clients" Oh yeah? Well I've been here a month and already had to work a 12 hour shift, it wasn't on the spot and it happened to be during my first on- call rotation. Long story short, a time off request fell through the cracks.
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 11
    Font - But anway, I want to fing quit. Being on call is no fun, but I can handle 1 out of every 4 weeks but not 24/7. It doesn't matter if it happens once a year. It COULD happen at any point. Which makes me feel like I'm never truly off.
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 12
    Font - Especially with the turn over rate at this place. These workers make $9-$12 an hour. They dgaf, they the place is short staffed and unorganized. So they know if they do no call no show, if they know a handful of clients, turn their paperwork in and do a good job, nothing will happen other than maybe some rudeness from one of us.
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 13
    Font - This is no way to fing live. I can't leave town to go see my family/friends (which I do once or twice a month, I moved to this city a year or two ago so all my people live about an hour a half away) no vacations, no drinking, no anything that would inhibit me from our hour window of being able to report to whatever clients house.
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 14
    Font - Hell sleeping can be stressful because I could a call at 3 AM from an overnight staff deciding to leave for whatever reason. You couldn't tack a couple of 0's on my salary for me to agree to that. Sure is shit not cool with making 55k a year doing that.
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 15
    Font - Is this that unreasonable though? Some say, that's a pretty intense reaction because someone MIGHT call out one night and you'd have to go. But to me, that's just f king huge abs I want the fuck away from this place. If the cost of living wasn't so high and I know I could get another job making at least $25 an hour, I'd put my notice in tomorrow. But unfortunately that's not an option for me.
    via u/TheMedsPeds
  • 16
    Mammal - -The-Griff 10 hr. ago if you not getting paid you're not on call you are on standby 2 totally separate things
    via u/-The-Griff
  • 17
    Font - TheMedsPeds OP. 9 hr. ago How would you define the two? To be on call means to me, if you are called to respond to an emergency and expected to stop what you are doing and handle it, that's on call. Standby means you've agreed to pick up a shift if needed.
    via u/The MedsPeds
  • 18
    Font - Getting paid for it doesn't really matter but FYI we get $50 per week of having the phone. The three weeks I'm not, nothing. No money. I'd just get paid if I had to work the shift.
    via u/The MedsPeds
  • 19
    Font - dcgregoryaphone. 9 hr. ago The reason getting paid matters is then the boss doesn't get to just have your time for free. Standby, to me, is a specific period of time where you're on standby and it's not 365 days a year.
    via u/dcgregoryaphone
  • 20
    Font - Its like "I'll cover any needed shifts Mon-Weds of this week." On call, to me, means you're being paid and you're essentially working, though at a much lower rate than actually doing work...and neither system should be 365 days a year that's clearly not reasonable.
    via u/dcgregoryaphone
  • 21
    Font - ShakespearOnIce 8 hr. ago Track your hours, work out your hourly wage (remember time and a half for hours over 40 in a week), ask yourself abd then your boss if they think its worth sticking around for For reference, 55k/yr is about 27/hr at a standard 40 hour load
    via u/ShakespearOnIce

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boss failblog workplace-stories HR-meeting workplace-nightmare terrible-bosses boomer-boss antiwork-reddit employees supervisor Reddit personal-care-attendant
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