Avoiding phone calls from your boss

[mhsjax]

Isn't it the case anyways in most retail situations that you need to be reachable as much as possible if you are a manager? The store is a team. You need to work together and that may mean working doubles, etc. on short notice so the store stays open. Sometimes you need to work when you don't want to. Sometimes you need to work when you are "having a bad day." Its part of working a retail job.

Isn't that pretty much what I just said.? If you know you need to be reachable then yes. I believe that the OP never said that it was known that you needed to be reachable until just a little while ago, this is why I posted what I did.

 

[hereyago]

It is still not known why she didn't respond back, something may be gravely wrong in her world and the last thing on her mind is a phone, or she could have still be having a bad day and thought 3 attempts was just silly. However, here is a question:

when she was called on day 1-was it known then the family emergency manager would also need day 2 off?

The reason i am asking is: if so, why not ask no response girl if she could work a couple hours the next day instead of waiting the next day?

I recall back in the day I worked in Receiving in a major department store: we ended up having a shipment come in late, but another shipment just got there to. clothes and boxes everywhere. Now you would think, if you see all these boxes, someone would have the sense to say in the morning, um can ya'll stay late to try to kick out as much merchandise? but our immediate supervisor was in hospital and the assistant manager of the store after keep coming back time after time to check on progress, waited until a half hour before we were to leave to then ask if we could stay late.

3 times of call/text? That is a bit much even for retail. That is some Dog the Bounty hunter stuff trying to track someone down. especially when she had been good about returning phone calls even the day before.

Sometimes you have to do doubles,etc. sometimes you may be the person who has something happen, it's nature of the beast.

 

[pixiefairy]

Going through this very situation today, in fact. I don't think it's acceptable to ignore the call at all.

My boss' father passed away monday, so the remaining three managers are covering everything we need to. Today, one of the assistants is sick with a stomach flu, the other assistant is also ill, and I'm the part time manager, and I have lack of daycare. My one co-manager called this morning, we've been working on coordinating coverage all day. The other assistant went in sick, the other one has to go and cover until I get there because none of my available sitters was able to help me. None of us are thrilled, but we go because it's expected of us.

My boss texts me, calls both cell and home to get me if she needs to ask a question or needs me to cover. I may not answer the moment it rings, but you bet I always call back. I've earned major brownie points for my flexibility, and they know I'm a team player. So when days like today happen, it's not a strike against me. I work with a good group of managers, and we always cover what we need to when situations call for it. It stinks sometimes, yes, but we have to keep the business running.

 

[tlbwriter]

There are always reasons you might not answer EVERY call - out of town, at the movies, etc. But if someone NEVER answers on their off day - bye bye!

When you hire people, do you let them know they need to be reachable on their days off?

 

[Art 1]

When you hire people, do you let them know they need to be reachable on their days off?

I do. And I supply them with a cell phone.

 

[tlbwriter]

I do. And I supply them with a cell phone.

But I'm wondering if the person I responded to does that.

 

[scrapquitler]

Then they need to assign on call days. Half the time on a weekend, I don't carry my phone, I leave the house and very rarely come home, except to maybe check on the dog. I don't waste my time on my day off (well when I was working) checking e-mails to see if anyone needs me. I think this is silly to expect a person to return calls or texts to their employer if they aren't on call. This spills over into the company controlling time off, which isn't happening in my world without being "on call."

I totally agree with this. When I'm not working, I'm not working. If the manager is not on call, he/she does not have an obligation to answer his phone or emails unless it is convenient.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

When you hire people, do you let them know they need to be reachable on their days off?

Of course. Always along the lines of we will do everything we can to not call you on your off days, but as in life situations arise where we might need to.

Do I expect everyone to be available every minute - of course not.

But when someone has a history of not answering the phone, and NEVER calls back that implies (to me) that they are not interested in the job.

 

[DaisyLynn]

when she was called on day 1-was it known then the family emergency manager would also need day 2 off?

No, it was not. But it was a possibility, and this manager knew that.

3 times of call/text? That is a bit much even for retail. That is some Dog the Bounty hunter stuff trying to track someone down. especially when she had been good about returning phone calls even the day before.

Sometimes you have to do doubles,etc. sometimes you may be the person who has something happen, it's nature of the beast.

When there is one person who ends up having to work 24 hours in a two day period, when they have a spouse who also works full time and 4 young children at home and must coordinate childcare, it would have been nice to receive a yes or no response, instead of nothing. That is all.


Anyway, she was finally heard from today. Nothing wrong with her phone, she had "something better to do" - those are her words, apparently.

 

[DaisyLynn]

Going through this very situation today, in fact. I don't think it's acceptable to ignore the call at all.

My boss' father passed away monday, so the remaining three managers are covering everything we need to. Today, one of the assistants is sick with a stomach flu, the other assistant is also ill, and I'm the part time manager, and I have lack of daycare. My one co-manager called this morning, we've been working on coordinating coverage all day. The other assistant went in sick, the other one has to go and cover until I get there because none of my available sitters was able to help me. None of us are thrilled, but we go because it's expected of us.

My boss texts me, calls both cell and home to get me if she needs to ask a question or needs me to cover. I may not answer the moment it rings, but you bet I always call back. I've earned major brownie points for my flexibility, and they know I'm a team player. So when days like today happen, it's not a strike against me. I work with a good group of managers, and we always cover what we need to when situations call for it. It stinks sometimes, yes, but we have to keep the business running.

From reading posts from you on other threads, I think that we are in the same kind of retail.

 

[ccgirl]

Just looking for opinions here, to make sure I'm not crazy.

Let's say that you are an assistant manager and it is your day off. One of your colleagues has a family emergency and can not come to work. Your boss calls and leaves you a message, then a text message, and then another voice message asking for your help. Is it acceptable to ignore these calls and texts?

Never. Especially as management. What if they were the one having an emergency? I really think the person ignoring the phones and then admitting she had "something better to do" shouldn't be in the management position.

 

[bettymae1121]

I'd say if the manger isn't in the habit of abusing the fact that they can call in people on their days off (meaning the boss is doing it above and beyond what is expected for that person's postition) or they are always calling one employee instead of rotating though equally, or some other type of unfair practice - I'd have to say yes, it's bad thing to intentionally duck the calls/texts.

But I will say this. I've had a lot of jobs and a lot of bosses. And my willingness to help out is in direct relationship to how my boss treats me. If a boss treats me fairly, I'll bend over backwards to help when things go haywire. If I'm treated poorly, I do the minimum and have my eyes open for a new job ASAP. The one thing I can't stand is management that walks all over their employees and then expect their employees to move heaven and earth in the course of their duties. You get what you give.

 

[hereyago]

Never. Especially as management. What if they were the one having an emergency? I really think the person ignoring the phones and then admitting she had "something better to do" shouldn't be in the management position.

ITA! That is crazy to admit oh yes, I had something better to do, but yet you wanted to be one of the higher ups. If she isn't written up or worse, I can see that the others will remember that.

 

[bookgirl]

Just looking for opinions here, to make sure I'm not crazy.

Let's say that you are an assistant manager and it is your day off. One of your colleagues has a family emergency and can not come to work. Your boss calls and leaves you a message, then a text message, and then another voice message asking for your help. Is it acceptable to ignore these calls and texts?

um....NO. That is the joy of management. Good way to get fired or lose your chance of advancment or a raise.

 

[Becky2005]

The messages sounded something like "can you come in and cover a 4 hour shift in place of ___, she had a family emergency."

I've had those type of messages and I haven't responded because usually I get the message about 1/2 into the shift or even later. Last one was something like can you work 8 - 1 and I got the message at noon!

I wasn't going to call at noon and say "Oops...nope, obviously can't come in" -- they had to have figured it out by then.

Of course, I have been so sick this week with a cold that I would pretty much ignore any calls asking me to come in on my days off right now because I just want to sleep. It's all I can do to manage to get the kids to school on time.

 

[Big Cuddly Bear]

I may be in the minority, but I say it is OK. I work to live. I don't live to work. When I am at work they get my best effort, and when I am not scheduled to work, I don't work. PERIOD. ( Unless I want to )

BTW, regarding the thread title, my boss is my boss when I am at work. When I am at home, he is nothing to me.

ETA... now that the OP has said that managers know they are on call, then I think they should pick up. That's different. But to expect someone who has not agreed to that at their workplace, I stand by what I said.

BTW, to lighten this up, I never got a chance to use this line, as I never picked up the phone, but once I heard it, I wanted to.... My buddy used it all the time.

" I would love to come in and help you, but unfortunately I am incredibly drunk right now."

 

[hereyago]

I may be in the minority, but I say it is OK. I work to live. I don't live to work. When I am at work they get my best effort, and when I am not scheduled to work, I don't work. PERIOD. ( Unless I want to )

You are my hero BCB!!!!!!! I used to let my life revolve around my job, that stopped when a tree almost killed me and my DF was soon diagnosed with lung cancer.

When I am about to pass away, I won't be thinking about how hard I worked. but you have to admit that girl was a jackwagon for saying I had something better to do.

 

[Big Cuddly Bear]

We don't have on call people where I work. Managements plan in an emergency is to bring in what ever staff they need, period. The morning of the Japanese earthquake, I got called in at 12:45 am (only 2 hours early), and once at work, I had to call a vacationing co-worker and ask him to cancel his vacation and come in. He did. Just the nature of our business.

I worked in your field for 20 years and NOBODY where I worked would have canceled a vacation. In fact, they would have laughed at you. But more that that, our company agreement would have FORBID them from calling us for that.... and if they went and made the call anyway, they had to pay us 8 OT hours of pay for violating our contract.

 

[cassandrap83]

I think that if you are salaried, you are always 'on call'.

If you are hourly, you punch in & out physically & mentally.

 

[klacey1]

I may be in the minority, but I say it is OK. I work to live. I don't live to work. When I am at work they get my best effort, and when I am not scheduled to work, I don't work. PERIOD. ( Unless I want to )

BTW, regarding the thread title, my boss is my boss when I am at work. When I am at home, he is nothing to me.

ETA... now that the OP has said that managers know they are on call, then I think they should pick up. That's different. But to expect someone who has not agreed to that at their workplace, I stand by what I said.

BTW, to lighten this up, I never got a chance to use this line, as I never picked up the phone, but once I heard it, I wanted to.... My buddy used it all the time.

" I would love to come in and help you, but unfortunately I am incredibly drunk right now."

I would love if America worked this way. From speaking with Euro friends and family, it does seem that letting work run your life is a distinctly American thing-- which is sad.
I don't think the assistant manager should have felt obligated to come in, but maybe she could have sent a quick text responding to the boss. I do HATE when people don't get back in touch with me in a reasonable amount of time.