'Her phone was on 'Do Not Disturb': Employee written up for "improper" callout after boss ignores their call

We all love our sleep—and that's a fact–and we equally deride anything that interrupts that sleep. Late-night garden parties with blaring music and loud-talking attendees; your neighbor warming his modded diesel truck at 4:30 am, an hour before he actually leaves for work; your pesky employees from the shop you manage calling you at 5:00 AM just to let you know that they're ditching out and are going to leave you battling a tediously understaffed day of work, while also now conveniently sleep deprived.

Of course, all of these are reasonable—at least somewhat. However, when you've instructed your employees, under threat of reprimand, that they must call you at 5:30 in the morning—well, being upset that they call you isn't very reasonable at all. It would be even more unreasonable to ignore that call, put your phone on 'Do Not Disturb' and then write them up for "not following proper call-out procedure." Why, that would be just silly.

Like what you see? Follow our WhatsApp channel for more.

Posted by Brad Dickson

Still, that's exactly what happened to this worker when they attempted to call out of their shift due to an illness. The shift wasn't even theirs in the first place, but rather one that they had agreed to trade with a coworker. When they tried to follow the instructed procedure and call their boss, they were met with the message that “their caller could not be reached” and when they tried to call again it was apparent that the phone had either been swapped over into ‘Do Not Disturb’ or had been switched off completely. They soon received a call from another manager instructing them that they had not followed proper procedure and were to be reprimanded.

They shared their story with this popular online workplace community, telling of their experience, and seeking commiseration and advice from readers. See their account of events, along with some of the key reactions, below.