Boss won't stop bothering employee while they're on holiday PTO, employee sends him a message: ‘We can discuss them when I am back from PTO’

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Dec 28, 2024 6:00 PM EST

The post-Christmas stretch between Christmas Eve and New Year's is the time of year when many employees cash in all of their unused PTO. It makes sense. The week feels like a liminal space filled with strange leftover sandwiches and playing with the gadgets you unwrapped on the 25th. The last thing any employee on PTO wants to think about is their boss, but some bosses will always be thinking about their subordinates.

The original poster (OP) of this story made the mistake of responding to their boss's text message while they were taking time off from work. This invited their boss to continuously leave more messages for the OP to answer, and the OP soon realized what one text message meant for their work/life dynamic. The OP decides to calmly tell their boss that they'll answer any other questions when they're back from their holiday, but the boss seems like he wasn't fond of that answer. Either way, that's his problem, not OP's. PTO is PTO is PTO.

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    News Mail 2 BL NEW
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    Boss continuously texting me while I'm on PTO?
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    Hi all - I started my PTO after the weekend to enjoy the holidays, etc. My boss knew about this PTO about a month or 2 in advance. I work on this one project in my
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    company all by myself, but before had a counter partner who also assisted with this project but he quit shortly after. During his time, I made multiple training videos &
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    information documents for future purposes. In these training and documents, I covered almost all scenarios that can happen in this project, etc. I have my
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    auto reply 000 message set up & anyone with any questions to contact my boss. Well, I wake up Monday morning to a few texts from my boss asking me
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    questions about this project & him doing my tasks while I'm away. I made the mistake of texting him & he insisted on asking me a few other
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    questions which I answered and then he responded & when he did respond, I read the message and deleted the convo from my recent texts so it wouldn't
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    bother me when I looked at it lol. The day goes by & silence. Next day comes around - again, another text & question. I am stupid and of course reply. He keeps going like
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    "sorry, last question, sorry" - after I answered, he responds (best part when he responds is when he's like "oh i should have looked at this page you made before
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    asking you a question") and again I read it, and delete the thread from my recent messages. Christmas was yesterday, everyone was off from my work so yay, no texts!!!
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    I wake up this morning & again. "hey 1 question" So I answered his question & then continued to say "If there are any other questions, we can discuss them
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    when I am back from PTO" & his response immediately was "... thanks" Am I wrong to be irritated that I have not been able to enjoy my PTO because
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    when I end up looking at my phone, he has sent me a text? Am I also wrong to be irritated when the Friday before the weekend started, I told him there's multiple
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    trainings and documents I made with information? Am I wrong to set boundaries?? I don't think I'm too concerned about being in trouble because I'm literally on PTO that he was aware of about a month and a half in advance.
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  • There is absolutely nothing wrong with setting workplace boundaries, especially when you are engaging in personal matters outside of work, off the clock.

    Many folks think that they need to be at their employer's beck and call, even when they're taking PTO. That is not how PTO works… But many bosses will try to trick you into thinking as such. Don't let the big guys try to take away your work/life balance—because if they try once and succeed, they'll try again.

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    Edit: Thanks for all the comments. I appreciate the feedback; even the comments telling me I am stupid. Lol.
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    WillowDarling • 1d ago • Set boundaries quickly, or it's gonna keep being 'just one more question.' Charge him for every text he sends you or anything you have to reply to. You are on PTO. They are ruining your vacation and I'm pretty sure they know they aren't allowed to do that. You are not in the wrong.
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    twewff4ever 1d ago. . For future reference, ignore work texts while on PTO. Set out of office so it has a blurb about no access to emails and text messages. One year I did make it known that I would be drinking a lot over Thanksgiving so good luck to anyone who contacted me. No one contacted me.
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    las978 1d ago Ask him to adjust your PTO time taken to reflect the time already used as paid working time and that any additional questions be handled the same way. He'll stop asking questions that can wait until you return.
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    Fordwrench ⚫ 1d ago Turn off the phone.
    via Fordwrench

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boss workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace bosses work toxic-boss PTO workplace Horrible Bosses holidays vacation
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