When you're on Vacation from your Job

[JanetRose]

does your boss ever call you about work?

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

At my other school, I would get emails (to my personal email address) from my boss on vacations and the weekends with lists of things to do. Never phone calls, though.

 

[WDWBarb]

Oh, yeah... and at both jobs that I've had in the last 10 years. I had to beg and plead for my last boss to give me a one-week REAL vacation where he didn't call or email me constantly. He finally gave in and only called me once.

It was... lovely....!!

My current job, my boss will call me at 6 a.m. or on weekends or when I'm on vacation. He loses all track of time and just calls whenever he's thinking about something. He means no harm - he's just horribly forgetful.

 

[clh2]

I did help my boss out with something on my last vacation - actually went in for a couple (maybe 2) hours on Wednesday evening.

He backed out my vacation day!

He generally wouldn't do it, though. But there was a big project happening, and my days off weren't flexible because I volunteer a particular week at a Girl Scout camp.

 

[aprilgail2]

They try their darnest to NEVER call us after our shift, on weekend or on vacations- union contract states that if they call us anytime not on our normal work hours they have to pay us 2 hours pay per phone call. I don't mind getting calls LOL--easy money!

 

[stacy347]

No, but I did get a call on my cell from a coworker asking if I could cover her shift ~ we had a pretty good chuckle when I told her I was at WDW and I'd have to pass.

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

No, but I did get a call on my cell from a coworker asking if I could cover her shift ~ we had a pretty good chuckle when I told her I was at WDW and I'd have to pass.

Yep. I've gotten the same call, same circumstances. Multiple times.

 

[sharlon]

DH gets calls every vacation. He also has to check emails. The best though was this past August when we were at WDW. There was a county bid that his operation was bidding on. DH's company had the business for years. So, during our vacation, the county decides to make changes to the bid package, so they call DH and ask him questions about what they should change while we are on vacation. Then, they don't award them the business.

 

[christineann]

My boss is pretty good about calling me only in case of emergency.......if only my co workers did the same. I don't think I've ever taken time off without getting a couple calls asking me stuff they should be able to figure out themselves.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

It's happened before where my work contacts me. Since I take my work laptop with me, it's easy to take care of whatever issue.

Back in the days before email and cell phones (talking 70's here) my dad's work used to call him back early from vacation often. Once we were camping in Yosemite, and a ranger came up to us and asked if my dad was Ray _____, he had a call from American Standard. We had to cut our camping trip short & go home.

 

[froggygrrrl]

Not me, as my job doesn't function that way, but my DH practically spends as much time working on vacation as he does when he's in the office. It's ridiculous. There have been instances when we are in WDW that I will walk one step in front of him, so he can follow my feet while he is glued to his Crackber...er, I mean BlackBerry.

 

[stinkerbellsmommy]

I just joined the boards last month to get some help with our upcoming trip, and now I find myself posting on just about every imaginable thread!! I'm so addicted

In any case, so far we've both been lucky to only have had "emergency calls". I've also had coworkers who were backing me up call and ask me if I wanted to deliver some positive news to a consultant that I'd been working very closely with. That kind of news I can always deal with

However, I will say that lately our managers seem to have caught on with the fact that nearly all of us at work have the aforementioned "crackberry" (for good or bad...I use mine for a lot more personal reasons than I do for work, but shhhhh). Because of this, they always have to throw out there, as they did during the holiday slow time for us, "It's great if you have time off/vacation scheduled, and you should definitely take it, because it's YOUR time off and you deserve it, but don't forget to check in with your voicemails/emails". Ummmm, isn't that the EXACT opposite of what being on vacation means?? And let me say that in no way do I deal with life or death situations. Most can just as easily be handled by someone else, and if they can't, then that's when I would expect a phone call on my cell phone. I don't think it's fair to basically "force" someone to check their work email or voicemail when on vacation. It's my time off, and should be seen that way.

Sorry, just needed to vent, since we're leaving next week. Who knows what kind of message I'll get then. I've already been warned by DH that I'm "not allowed to check work email unless a matter of life and death and called 4 times by coworkers with valid emergencies". Luckily for him, he leaves work at work when he's out the door.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Um, well, not vacation - but my last job, I was out on disability for three months, and the STD company was refusing to pay me, and STILL my coworkers kept calling with questions!

 

[Lassie Lynne]

Ah no......never...my vacation is my vacation and thankfully I have had jobs that really never need to contact me. My DH (on the other hand) has had calls a few times. When we go on vacation this April though, I told his boss that I will be screening all calls and it better be very very important (like the building burnt down!!), his boss will call just to "see what he was doing" and chat...not going to happen during WDW time. Of course, I am sure that there will still be plenty of calls in the evenings when we get back to the room, but hey, I can handle that.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Not my boss per se, but my COMPANY does call me when I am clearly on vacation, wondering if I would like to work. Um, no. Thank you.

 

[BudKing]

Calls on vacation, weekends when ever needed
Glad to have a good job to get calls from.

 

[supercarrie]

Sadly, yes. Urgent e-mails and phone calls are just a way of life regardless of whether I am on vacation, it is 10pm, or Sunday morning.

What bothers me even more is when I am off sick - I have bronchitis, and my doctor has told me to rest. I phoned into work yesterday and said I would work from home as I was ill, and my boss insisted I take the time off as sick leave. I didn't argue as really, I should be resting, even though I had my doubts about whether that would happen.

It is now only 11am on my first sick day, and I've already had 2 "urgent" phone calls and multiple e-mails from my boss. Yet she is telling everyone else I am off sick, and to contact her if they need assistance. Basically, as far as I can tell, she has told everyone that so that she can look important, because everything is just getting passed back to me anyway.

So much for a sick day!

 

[MIGrandma]

Not mine, no. I was a waitress. No need to call me when on vacation.

DH though, yes. I hate it when he gets business calls when we're on vacation. When they know he's on vacation and still choose to bother him, I think it's just rude. And it's not the type of call that only he can answer, there are others who could handle those calls. That's one of the best things about cruising, once the ship leaves the home port, the cell phones get turned off and put into the room safe for the duration of the trip. Love that!!

 

[Kit'smommy]

DH and I are both CPAs and work in finance for large public companies. We both check our voicemail/emails while on vacation and usually have at least one or two calls during a week long vacation. It is just part of the territory. Still the pay is good and I can take off early/come in late here and there without tracking it as paid time off, so it pretty much evens out.

 

[Darcy03231]

I work in a small law firm and am the only one who knows how to do certain things. I get called all the time. I've also been known to come in for a few hours in the middle of a vacation day or at night when I've come home from vacation. About the only vacation I've had when I wasn't called was when I was on a cruise and even then there were multiple messages on my cell phone when I returned.