Manager continually calls employee on Teams unannounced, interrupting meetings in progress: 'It’s disrespectful of my time'

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Apr 26, 2026 9:00 PM EDT

Should you pick up a call from your boss no matter what?

Sometimes you start working with somebody and realize that you have completely opposite working styles. Maybe you've gone through the whole interview and hiring process without realizing what it would truly be like to work somewhere. This is a pretty common thing. You can glean all of the information you can from the hiring process, but you don't know what it's truly going to be like day by day until you start on day one. You may have met your manager and have an idea of what they expect from you, but you can't know what their day-to-day attitude and working style are like. And unfortunately, sometimes this means that they are completely opposite from yours. Sometimes people are over-communicators. They want to touch base about anything and everything, and they expect the same from you. You probably have this type of person in your life, if not at work, then at home. They're constantly pressing you for details that you didn't think mattered. They're circling back on stuff that you would never think to circle back on. 

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  • 01
    A man sits at his desk looking at his laptop
    via Unsplash+ (Milles Studio)

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

  • There's nothing wrong with being this type of person, but you have to realize that not everybody is that way. Some people are undercommunicators. They trust that they can manage themselves in their work, and they expect everybody else to also. They don't need to constantly check in to make sure everything is being done correctly. It's hard to square these two opposite attitudes in the same workplace. And if you're being managed by somebody, you're probably expected to bend at least a little bit to their working style. That's what happened here, with this employee who was quickly learning that their manager wanted something from them that they weren't willing to give. They didn't like their day being constantly interrupted by phone calls and base touches. So they wondered what they could do to navigate that type of boss, especially early into a job. Keep scrolling to read the full story and see what happened here.

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    My manager keeps calling me on Teams unannounced. How to stop it?

    As the title says really. I'm fairly new to the company, like 2 months in, and I thought at first he was trying to be extra helpful, but I've come to realise it's his working style which really bothers me. It's never urgent. However I doubt he calls his manager out the blue. Examples of when he calls me:
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    - Once I was in another meeting and he called. the other person said it was fine to answer it so I did, and when he realised I was in another meeting he still continued for what really could've been a one sentence message. - Sometimes it's in response to a quick question I've asked, which I appreciate but again I messaged/emailed bc it doesn't need to be a call, and I would like to have the info to refer back to.
    via Traditional_Web_3149
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    - We manage a shared inbox. An email will come in and he'll call me just to tell me to deal with it.. but I know to deal with it that's part of my job. He'll sometimes also just go through the whole inbox while I'm on the out the blue call and it ends up being like an hour long meeting that throws me out my flow.
    via Traditional_Web_3149
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    - someone might ask something in our team group chat and he'll call me instantly to ask about it, but he should know more than me. he often adds on loads of tasks during these calls as well amidst his waffling, so I find it hard to manage my workflow. Again with such things I'd rather have it written down so I can refer back to it and have the full ask, and a paper trail.
    via Traditional_Web_3149
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    How do I address this with him? I've started to ignore some of his calls, then he ends up messaging but I'm not sure if this is unprofessional. I'm conscious of the hierarchy and that I'm still on probation but I don't want to accept this as the norm. It's disrespectful of my time. A lot of them also end up being just us working on the call in silence after he's said his piece which I can't stand. I'll try to end it sometimes and he'll start talking again.
    via Traditional_Web_3149
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    Another thing- the meetings he does schedule are unnecessarily long with abbreviations as titles and no agenda, and he comes unprepared spending 10mins. replying to other messages or looking for relevant files. When I respond to the invite asking what it's about, he calls me. I would rather he include this in the invite so I can come prepared, and stick
    via Traditional_Web_3149
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    A man sits at a table working on a laptop
    via Unsplash+ (Milles Studio)

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

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    to the agenda to stop wasting time. He has a habit of working extra hours which I feel like I'm going to have to start doing to make up the time of mine he wastes with calls.
    via Traditional_Web_3149
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    Commenters gave their opinions and takes on how to tackle this.

    TractorKingOfItaly Could you try being proactive by scheduling a daily check in meeting and presenting a shared agenda that you can continuously update? As someone new, you're not in the position to decline calls from the manager. But if you're in another meeting, send a message stating you'll return his call as soon as you wrap up.
    via TractorKingOfItaly
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    SparklesIB If you're on another call, tell him you'll call him back - when you're on a Teams call, people can see you're on a call. Otherwise, schedule a meeting with him to tell him you're proactively looking
    via SparklesIB
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    for ways to become more efficient. Try to get him in your side. Don't tell him he's a time-waster, even though he is. Instead, come armed with suggestions like: What would you think about me going dnd from 9-11 and 2-4 each day, so that I can focus on the Inbox? That kind of suggestion. If he agrees, set your Teams settings to not accept calls during dnd.
    via SparklesIB
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    You must be subtle and persuasive. And gently lead him into allowing you to be successful.
    via SparklesIB
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    moonhippie He's a micromanager. Good luck trying to change his management style. It's best to remember that he's the manager - you are not. You have choices tho - one of those is to quit.
    via moonhippie
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    mikasMoose Never answer a call while on the meeting. That was very wrong.
    via mikasMoose
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    Themayorofaweso... The only thing worse than an absent manager is a micro manager. You want a middle of the road manager who just keeps tabs and steps in only when they truly need to.
    via Themayorofawesome
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    Whatasonofabitch It's really interesting how quickly the social norms about calls have changed. Up until 7 or 8 years ago, the primary method for synchronous business communication was telephone calls. There was
    via Whatasonofabitch
  • 18
    no such thing as sending a Teams message. You just called someone whenever you needed to talk to them. If they were busy, they let it go to voicemail. Now, it almost seems røde to call someone without messaging first, or to call at all. There are many times when a Teams message is
    via Whatasonofabitch
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    more efficient, but you don't get the same level of engagement or depth of understanding that you do with a call. I'm sure that's a difficult change for many experienced professionals.
    via Whatasonofabitch
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    Evening_Sky_5572 Can't stand this type of person. So much wasted time being interrupted. I would seriously consider leaving.
    via Evening_Sky_5572
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    Impossible_Link81... I would wait it out so that your boss learns to trust you a bit more and then I'd start "coaching up." You can look up articles about this and ways to accomplish it. You need to prove your work first, though. 2 months
    via Impossible_Link8199
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    probably isn't long enough to coach up yet. I feel like a portion of the reason he is calling is to make sure you're actually working and the other portion is just him being annoying. If you're ever on a Teams call that he tries to interrupt,
    via Impossible_Link8199
  • 23
    do not let that happen again. You shouldn't be ignoring. your boss completely, but it's okay not to always answer right away and call him back later. When you call back just say something like "Sorry, I was in the middle of X and Y. What's up?"
    via Impossible_Link8199

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antiwork workplace-stories toxic-workplace job work coworkers working toxic-boss bad bosses
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