Boss won't stop calling employee on approved PTO, claiming they're needed for client emergency, employee blocks him in response: ‘He messaged me on Facebook asking me to call’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Dec 30, 2025 10:00 AM EST

What is your reaction when you get a phone call from your boss?

Naturally, we each react differently when we see our boss's name pop up on our phone screens with an incoming call. It is highly unlikely that anyone would be excited to get said phone call, so it's safe to say no one is jumping with delight. Still, some people would do anything to avoid talking to their boss on their phone and would rather send them to voicemail than face the scary possibility of listening to what their bosses have to say in real time. While others understand that if their boss is calling them, it's probably not for a reason they can ignore, and it's better to get it over with as fast as possible than to prolong that experience for longer than necessary.

All that, however, depends on where you are and what you are doing at the time you get that incoming call from your boss. If you're already in the office and working, then accepting a call from your boss might not be as scary as accepting it while you're currently running late. Or if you're in the bathroom, it might be best to send your boss to voicemail just this once, instead of accepting the call and regretting it when you realize you have yet to wash your hands.

Being on vacation is another valid excuse for why you decided to screen your boss's call. Say what you want about PTO, but if an employee is taking their approved time off, they shouldn't be bothered with work-related issues, no matter what. That doesn't stop some bosses from calling their vacationing employees, and it unfortunately also doesn't stop some employees from answering, as wrong as it may be. 

It takes a lot of courage to refuse a call from your boss, even while on vacation, but the employee in the story below did more than just refuse to answer. They had to block their boss after his nonstop calling got way out of hand, all because he couldn't handle a client crisis by himself. And when the boss started messaging his employee on Facebook, the situation reached the point of no return…

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  • I’m on approved PTO and my manager still won’t leave me alone.

    I'm on approved time off that my boss personally approved. I have auto-replies set on my work email and phone, and my work cell phone rolls to the office while I'm out.
    via chuckmorris007
  • Cheezburger Image 10591547904
    via Hirurg

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

  • A collaborative project I had been working on got delayed after my vacation started. My boss first texted my work number, then my personal phone, asking if "we" needed to call the customer the day before notifying them of the delay.
    via chuckmorris007
  • I didn't respond because I'm on PTO and felt that once I'm out, this becomes a management responsibility.
    via chuckmorris007
  • A couple days later, he called again and left a voicemail saying he didn't want to "step in the middle of the ball game" and that I needed to call my counterpart because the customer was upset.
    via chuckmorris007
  • Again, I'm on approved PTO. I didn't respond. Then yesterday he called again saying leadership was escalating, the customer was losing faith in the company, and he needed contacts from me to try to resolve the situation.
    via chuckmorris007
  • At that point, I blocked his number on my personal phone. So he messaged me on Facebook asking me to call
    via chuckmorris007
  • Two minutes later, a district manager from the department we're collaborating with the same one he referenced in the voicemail, also messaged me on Facebook asking me to call him.
    via chuckmorris007
  • I muted both, marked them as read, and didn't reply. This feels like a huge boundary violation.
    via chuckmorris007
  • I'm on approved time off that HE approved. I didn't agree to work. I didn't refuse, I was simply unavailable.
    via chuckmorris007
  • What makes this worse is that I recently raised concerns to my boss's boss about my boss being retaliatory, and now this is happening.
    via chuckmorris007
  • Am I wrong for ignoring all of this, or is this workplace crossing a serious line?
    via chuckmorris007
  • TL;DR: On approved PTO, boss tried to make me fix a project issue anyway. When I didn't respond, he and upper management messaged me on Facebook.
    via chuckmorris007
  • Feels like harassment, am I wrong?
    via chuckmorris007
  • Cassierae87 A company that can't handle an employee on vacation or sick leave has bigger problems than one customer.
    via Cassierae87
  • OP chuckmorris007 Exactly
    via chuckmorris007
  • Kia RioGrl They were harassing you for information you had already told them was on company documents that you reviewed with them? That's wild. I mean, you're sc ved but that's temporary. That kind of stupid is a permanent life condition for the boss.
    via KiaRioGrl
  • Woman outside on a phone call
    via AH86

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

  • OP chuckmorris007 Yes it's standard information that is on all documents for a project like this which we do on the daily.
    via chuckmorris007
  • Regular-Performer703 Where I used to work, if you got a call from work while on vacation you automatically got another day of vacation and whoever called you would have to justify to hr why they needed to call you.
    via Regular-Performer703
  • OP chuckmorris007 That's nice
    via chuckmorris007
  • hanimal16 They don't seem like very good managers if they can't process things without you there lol
    via hanimal16
  • OP chuckmorris007 Maybe they'll see some of the value I bring to the table
    via chuckmorris007
  • px4855 The customer is right to lose faith in this company. You should follow suit...
    via px4855
  • OP chuckmorris007 100%
    via chuckmorris007
  • mcflame13 For now. Screenshot everything regarding your boss and the district manager from the company your company is collaborating with. Once you get back from PTO. Talk to HR and keep records of any interactions with HR for record keeping/evidence.
    via mcflame13
  • OP chuckmorris007 HR will just protect the company they don't care about the employee. Go look at this post on r/askHR
    via chuckmorris007
  • SolarisWesson You did the right thing. They are managers but they cant MANAGE this situation?
    via SolarisWesson
  • OP chuckmorris007 My thoughts exactly
    via chuckmorris007
  • DarthSanis Good luck to you when you return to work.
    via DarthSanis
  • OP chuckmorris007
    via chuckmorris007

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boss workplace-stories employee manager job tales-from-the-workplace ceo facebook PTO overworked-employees workplace company
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