Office manager demands receptionist cover his shift unpaid and last minute, receptionist refuses, causing manager to miss client meeting: ‘I documented it and emailed HR’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Oct 25, 2025 9:00 PM EDT

If you want your boss to like you and respect you as their employee, sometimes you have to do things at work that you are not a fan of. Whether it is doing something outside your line of work, or sitting through a meeting you have no desire to be in. Work is rarely a place where you only do what you were hired to do in the first place, as funny as it may sound.

However, there are certain things your boss simply cannot ask of you, no matter what, and if they did, it is more than acceptable, and even crucial, to say no.

When the office manager in the story below kept calling out of shifts at the last minute, he turned to his receptionist to cover for him. At first, she agreed, until she realized he was, simply put, taking advantage of her. This led her to refuse to cover his latest shift, even though it meant missing a huge client meeting. He was furious, but she was done with being on his beck and call…

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  • 01
    Female receptionist talking to a man in a suit
    via MATJAZ SLANIC

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02

    AITJ for making my older coworker miss a major client meeting because I refused to cover his shift for free?

    Hey everyone, I (19F) work part- time as a receptionist at a small firm while taking night classes.
    via amolina_01
  • 03
    My coworker "Mark" (48M) is the office manager. He's super disorganized, and our front desk is just the two of us.
    via amolina_01
  • 04
    I gave him my academic schedule three months ago so he'd know when I can and can't work.
    via amolina_01
  • 05
    Mark has a habit of calling out last minute, usually citing "stomach issues," and pressuring me to cover his shifts.
    via amolina_01
  • 06
    He leans hard on "team player" and "initiative for advancement" lines. A. while back he even had me work 12 hours straight, unpaid, and I missed a critical college presentation.
    via amolina_01
  • 07
    I documented it and emailed HR, saying I wouldn't cover unscheduled shifts overlapping with school unless approved and paid.
    via amolina_01

  • Never work for free; that is basically lesson number one in business.

  • 08
    Yesterday, two hours before a huge client meeting, Mark called hysterically asking me to drop my last lecture to cover his shift.
    via amolina_01
  • 09
    receptionist working with report papers for appointments
    via Dragos Condrea

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 10
    No mention of pay. He tried guilt- tripping me about "all the flexibility I owed him" and said if anything went wrong it'd be my fault.
    via amolina_01
  • 11
    I stood firm, told him I couldn't come, and reminded him it's a management problem, not a staff shortage.
    via amolina_01
  • 12
    Mark missed the meeting, the client was upset, and now he's spreading that I sabotaged him.
    via amolina_01
  • 13
    So Reddit... AITJ for not rearranging my academic life to bail him out?
    via amolina_01
  • 14
    traciw67 Ntj. This is not your responsibility, and NEVER work for free!
    via traciw67
  • 15
    OP amolina_01 Thanks! Free labor is not happening again.
    via amolina_01
  • 16
    kiwimuz Definitely NTJ. You had already advised of your availability. Let HR know about the latest manipulations to try and get you to work.
    via kiwimuz
  • 17
    OP amolina_01 Yeah, that's the plan. I've got everything documented so HR can see he's been pushing me.
    via amolina_01
  • 18
    BeautifulChaos Energy Talk to payroll, tell them you expect to be paid for that 12 hour shift What he did is illegal. And start looking for a new place of employment
    via BeautifulChaosEnergy
  • 19
    HappySummerBreeze Taking someone's shift is not unpaid. Thats wage theft and is illegal pretty much everywhere. Send HR an email of the time worked and request you be paid for it
    via HappySummerBreeze
  • 20
    Background_Edge_9427 NTJ. You made yourself clear when you could and couldn't work. He should be more organized! As for working for free, that's crazy! If you work you should get paid. That's the whole reason for working!
    via Background_Edge_9427
  • 21
    RandomCoffee Thoughts If you are not being paid to answer his calls when you aren'tscheduled, then don't. He can't manipulate you if you aren't picking up. Mute his text messages, show up for your shift, leave when your shift is over. Rinse and repeat. No exceptions.
    via RandomCoffeeThoughts
  • 22
    snickers7777 NTJ. Never work for free.
    via snickers7777

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boss shift aita workplace-stories employee office manager manager job tales-from-the-workplace reddit story overworked-employees workplace Reddit company receptionist
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