Boss sends important email late at night expecting employee to respond — gets a reality check instead

While most workplaces give employees the leverage to finish their work efficiently and without rushing, some bosses are hell-bent on getting things done within an unimaginable timeframe. Sharing one such ordeal in August 2025, a Reddit user described a bizarre demand put forth by his boss, but this time, the employee decided to teach him a lesson.

The employee who went by the username u/nboro94 took to the popular subreddit r/AntiWork to share a story from his workplace. A year ago, on a working day, the employee was just in the office and was making coffee at the office kitchen when he saw his boss storm into the room and begin yelling, "Where have you been? Why haven't you answered my email? Are you ready for this meeting?" The employee who was confused at this moment explained that they had just arrived and were clueless about what he was talking about.

This enraged the boss, who snapped that it was their "responsibility" to check the emails "on their way, since they took public transit." He further commanded that the employee had only 10 minutes to put things together before the urgent meeting began. The employee calmly asked why he hadn't called him instead if it was an emergency. But unfortunately, the boss was not having none of it and shot back, "Focus now, not argue."

When the employee decided to get to his desk and begin work, he realized that the boss had assigned him hours of work, which he was required to finish in 10 minutes! However, the employee decided not to do the work and instead walked into the meeting room. The VP (Vice President), who was supposed to attend, arrived twenty minutes late since his train was delayed. He spoke briefly for about five minutes and then ended the meeting. The boss was never asked to present anything, the employee never had to say a word, and the "urgent insights" were never even mentioned.

Surprisingly, the employee also revealed the boss had never apologised to him, but luckily for the employee, the boss was transferred to another department a month later. A similar story has been reflected in a study by Kuutila, Mäntylä, Farooq, and Claes in 2019, which explored the effects of time pressure in software development. The study revealed that increased time pressure often leads to higher productivity or faster task completion, but it tends to reduce work quality, particularly in tasks related to quality assurance. The study also highlights the trade-off between speed and quality, emphasizing that while time pressure can boost short-term output, it often comes at the cost of precision and careful work.

Soon after the post went viral, fellow Reddit users shared their thoughts on the employee's experience. u/Bored_Eastly commented, "Unrealistic boss. I had a boss who wanted to make sure he never had a cancelled or delayed flight again. I think my shocked Pikachu face lasted about a day. LOL 'Fixing all unforeseeable problems of commercial airlines isn't in my skill set.'"

u/QuitCallingNewsrooms wrote, "I have been in too many of those meetings to count. They never apologize, they never learn, and the important information that has to be ready is never discussed."

u/Paxdog1 wrote, "Your boss was creating a target. Don't work for a person like this."

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