Boss Texts Employee's Mom When She Couldn't Get A Hold Of Him Because She Forgot He Was On Vacation
Wouldn't you… maybe… check the company vacation system first?
Krakenimages.com | Shutterstock We've all heard a story or two (or one hundred) of bosses with no boundaries, but this one takes the cake. It simultaneously rolls together every stereotype of a bad boss there is — inappropriate expectations, disrespect for privacy, total and utter incompetence, and a complete ignorance of the basic day-to-day workings of the office they actually run. It's like Michael Scott from "The Office" come to real life.
A boss texted an employee's mom when she couldn't get a hold of him.
Now, at first blush this probably doesn't sound that bad, right? You try to contact someone long enough with no acknowledgment whatsoever, you start to think the worst. Perhaps something terrible has happened! What if no one knows! It's easy to think that tracking them down by all means is the right thing to do.
If ONLY that was what this boss was up to. The story was sent to career expert and business guru Chris Donnelly, who frequently shares bizarre workplace stories like this on his social media platforms. And when it comes to dunderheaded, presumptuous bosses, this woman should be up for some kind of prize.
She started by texting an employee named Sam at around 8:00 a.m., urgently looking for him to finish an important report due by noon. When Sam didn't respond, she became increasingly insistent, texting and calling every fifteen minutes. Finally, she became indignant, and said she was calling Sam's emergency contact.
The employee's bewildered mother told the boss they were on vacation — which the boss had no memory of.
Now, imagine you're some middle-aged lady lying on a beach with your family and you suddenly get a text out of nowhere from your son's boss. "Linda, this is Laura, Sam's boss," the text read. "I'm trying to reach Sam all morning but haven't heard back. Do you know where they are?"
Sam's bewildered mother informed Laura that Sam was right next to her on their vacation. Now you'd think a boss would suddenly be like "Ohhhh! That's right! How silly of me!" Not Laura! She had absolutely no idea Sam was on vacation, and was immediately indignant.
It was at this point that Sam suddenly jumped into the conversation and said exactly what all of us are probably thinking. "Laura, why are you texting my mum? I'm on holiday. You approved it three months ago."
The boss insisted the employee was in the wrong and escalated the issue to HR.
In case you're not quite following here, Laura herself was the one to approve Sam's vacation! Three months ago! With her own hands! A normal person would have taken a step back and realized they got their wires crossed. But then, a normal person would have checked the company vacation system before calling an employee's mom in the first place, so…
Anyway, not only did Laura take no accountability, but she insisted Sam should have asked first before going on vacation — and demanded they get cracking on the report due at noon! Sam, of course, had no intention of doing so, and flatly told her as much.
"Forgetting about leave that you yourself approved does not give you the right to text my mum, and try and force me to work," he wrote. "I'll be addressing this with HR too," Sam added — and THAT was the line that changed Laura's tune.
"You do not need to message HR about this, Sam," she wrote. "Feels like a waste of their time and ours. Let's just agree to disagree." Agree to disagree?! When you called my mom on my vacation?!
The boss ultimately got fired for a similar incident.
Suffice it to say that Sam didn't "agree to disagree" and immediately emailed the company's HR department screenshots of the ridiculous text conversation with Laura, as well as the confirmation of his vacation in the company tracking software. JUDGMENT FOR THE PLAINTIFF! BOOK HER!
Sam told HR that the situation was "a severe breach of professional boundaries that has caused unnecessary stress for both me and my family." And HR apparently took it very seriously. Laura got fired months later for another incident of a very similar nature, presumably because Sam's had already set off alarm bells.
"Lesson: ALWAYS keep written proof of any interaction with your boss re holiday/sick time," one commenter wrote, which is certainly good advice. Others in the comments chimed in to say that a scenario like this is completely illegal in some countries, namely Australia.
Of course, we all know how America works — there is no law preventing this, and it's perfectly legal for your boss to hound you on vacation because there's no law saying they have to give you vacation time in the first place. Still, nobody in their right mind would think this is okay, so keep those screenshots. If nothing else, you can send them to internet career gurus so we can all have a good laugh at your incompetent boss's expense!
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.