Ignoring work texts

[Pixiedustaway]

Do you? What are you're reasons if you do? Yesterday my boss and supervisor texted someone to come in and he totally ignored both. I feel like unless you are in a life or death situation you can respond.

What say you?

 

[Poohlove]

Was he on call?

 

[Klayfish]

I would ignore every text, because I don't text at all. I've never sent one in my life. So if someone texted me to come in, I wouldn't even see it.

 

[brooke789]

When in at home I'm not attached to my phone. If I was texted asking to come in I'd likely not know for hours.

 

[indimom]

Depends on the job and what you signed on for...

In my current job:
If it's my day off, I may not even be looking at my phone. I don't live with my phone in my pocket.
If I'm on call, then obviously I'm answering all calls, at all hours.

 

[Pixiedustaway]

Not on call. But imo should have answered. We all text so we know he got it. I just think ignoring your boss is rude and unprofessional. But the guys had like 6 jobs in 4 years so it's not surprising

 

[FlightlessDuck]

There is not enough context to answer the question.

Am I on vacation? Is there a problem that developed after I left for the day? Is it a weekend?

Need more information.

 

[Pixiedustaway]

It's not really that complicated. He was home. Asked to come in. Ignored the question. Was asked to come in tomorrow (today) also ignored. Not on vacation.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

It's not really that complicated. He was home. Asked to come in. Ignored the question. Was asked to come in tomorrow (today) also ignored. Not on vacation.

So... he was skipping work? Or just a day off?

I work in an office. Monday - Friday. I'm not scheduled. This is a "professional" work environment. Salaried. If I was texted and asked to come in on Saturday, I might ignore it. It's Saturday. I get paid to work Monday through Friday. Maybe I'm having company over. Maybe I'm out with my family. Maybe I'm busy with some other responsibility.

If I'm not busy, I'd probably at least respond.

 

[kimblebee]

So... he was skipping work?

Sounds like he's not scheduled to work and is being asked to come in to cover someone else.

Personally, I would have responded and said I couldn't come in. I hate sending a text and getting no reply..at least let me know you got it.

 

[mom2rtk]

Did anyone follow up and actually call him?

 

[Jennasis]

I am of the opinion that it is common courtesy to respond to a text...eventually. Nobody is under any requirement to immediately respond unless it is an emergency.

 

[Poohlove]

If it was his day off and he was texted to come in you can't expect the guy to answer. As a manager if I texted someone to come in and they "ignored" me I would call the person. Just because you saw a group text doesn't meant that he did, maybe he went out for the day and left his phone at home or one of any number of situations. There is always the possibility that he did actually speak/text with the boss but you did not know about it.

Last spring and summer I worked part time for a company that was very disorganized with their scheduling. The manager had a habit of scrambling at the last minute asking people to cover jobs and it got really old really fast - it's part of the reason that I stopped working for that company. Why isn't there someone scheduled accordingly so that this person who is not on call is being asked to cover shifts.

 

[tvguy]

They don't have my cell phone number, so no texts. Same with my wife. They have no issue calling our landline to call us in.
Of course, since the people generally in charge of calling in people don't have company cell phones, they are calling from a landline from work, they can't text anyway.

 

[Boardwalk Jedi]

As a nurse who constantly gets texted about picking up a shift, I usually answer. But there are times I don't. If the problem is that a workplace is understaffed to begin with (and nothing is being done), then I shouldn't have to feel guilty about ignoring it.

 

[morgan98]

As a little side discussion to this, I would say it really depends on the situation. Is this an hourly job we are talking about? Perhaps from a common courtesy, do not upset the apple cart perspective, he should have responded. However, if he was hourly and not on call, I am not sure one should expect a response. Is this a company provided cell phone?

Note: I am not responding to this from my perspective. I do check work emails regularly and even worked some over the holiday weekend as this is a busier time for me. However, I know from supervising hourly employees, who receive overtime, there can be labor laws that do not require hourly people to be tethered to work email/texts during their off hours.

 

[aprilgail]

Do you? What are you're reasons if you do? Yesterday my boss and supervisor texted someone to come in and he totally ignored both. I feel like unless you are in a life or death situation you can respond.

What say you?

Depends- sometimes I just shut the phone off for the day if I am doing something - like if I am at the beach I will just leave the phone home or in the car because I am not going to be bothered texting etc while I am there relaxing. Unless it was an "on call" type situation then I would feel no need to text back especially if I was not interested in going into work on my days off! I would get called from work with a question about something stupid while on vacation and there was no way I was even going to answer a call from there while I was on vacation-my job there was basically unimportant as far as something needing to be answered urgently!

 

[Pixiedustaway]

I am of the opinion that it is common courtesy to respond to a text...eventually. Nobody is under any requirement to immediately respond unless it is an emergency.

Yes. This was all we wanted. We all just normal office workers. It's a laid back office. I would have just said "no sorry I have plans". Was not an emergency but we could have used the help

 

[Pixiedustaway]

If it was his day off and he was texted to come in you can't expect the guy to answer. As a manager if I texted someone to come in and they "ignored" me I would call the person. Just because you saw a group text doesn't meant that he did, maybe he went out for the day and left his phone at home or one of any number of situations. There is always the possibility that he did actually speak/text with the boss but you did not know about it.

Last spring and summer I worked part time for a company that was very disorganized with their scheduling. The manager had a habit of scrambling at the last minute asking people to cover jobs and it got really old really fast - it's part of the reason that I stopped working for that company. Why isn't there someone scheduled accordingly so that this person who is not on call is being asked to cover shifts.

Not a group text. I was there when my boss texted him. He could have responded with no I can't I have plans. That's it.

 

[Pixiedustaway]

Sounds like he's not scheduled to work and is being asked to come in to cover someone else.

Personally, I would have responded and said I couldn't come in. I hate sending a text and getting no reply..at least let me know you got it.

This exactly. But he is nototrious for "not getting" his texts. He blames the phone all the time. We could have used the extra person. But he just blew it off