Manager kept calling employee with ‘work’ on vacation. He let it ring for 4 days and then gave it back
'I immediately declined the call and continued enjoying my weekend...'
Before taking a 4-day weekend, an employee (u/giros8yarrow) had already informed the manager that they wouldn't be available to take calls. However, the boss continued to pester the employee with work calls. So they decided to ignore every call and then gave it back on returning. The story was shared on Reddit on October 29, 2025.
The employee was working at a large logistics company that was struggling with staff shortages. While they were entitled to get 40 leaves per year, they couldn't afford to take days off due to the workload. "Our team is small; it's basically just me and one other colleague who handles the core work," they wrote. The colleague was problematic; the author said he always made sure to call in sick on the same day they had planned a day off. "It's become a predictable and recurring pattern," the employee wrote. To avoid such overlap, the author had already informed them about taking a 4-day weekend for their dad's 80th birthday celebrations. This time, the colleague wasn't the one creating the issue, but it was the manager and his unrealistic expectations of his colleagues. "As I was leaving on Wednesday, I reminded my manager that I would be completely unavailable. And just as I expected, on Thursday at 7:30 AM, my phone started buzzing. It was my manager. I knew exactly who was calling and why, so I immediately declined the call and continued enjoying my weekend," they shared.
On Monday, when the employee reached the office, the manager and department head pulled them in for a meeting. They told the employee that they were not a "team player" and threatened them with a formal warning for not answering the phone on their day off. "After they finished their lecture, I calmly asked them if they were aware that this was the sixth time this exact scenario had happened," they recalled. As soon as the employee said this, the department head and the manager turned blank. They told them they would look into the matter, but the employee decided to quit immediately. "The department head got back to me and apologized, but this was the last straw. My manager always sides with my coworkers and is rarely fair. I just got fed up with it and couldn’t take it anymore," they wrote.
It's weird that while working overtime is fine, taking a day off for personal reasons is not. A report from Dayforce, a global human capital management firm, found in a survey that employees are sneaking in work when they’re supposed to be enjoying their vacation. In fact, 16% said they have missed out on family or friends' time because they had to work while on vacation. Moreover, while 15% said they've worked secretly while on vacation, 11% have pretended to be sick so they could work instead.
Meanwhile, reacting to the Reddit post, u/appropriate_egg9668 commented, "You did the right thing all around. You're not responsible for their poor management. Upper management should have handled the situation." u/go_big_resumes wrote, "Not wrong at all. You gave a heads-up; it’s your day off, and your manager’s frustration is their problem, not yours. You handled it calmly and pointed out a recurring pattern they’ve ignored for a year. Boundaries aren’t being uncooperative; they’re being smart."
u/gonpostlscott said, "It is absolutely warranted! And letting them air out their arguments only to be met with your comeback of the past repeated offenses by the coworker. You told them you’d be completely out. So it is for them to now realize the problem and to deal with it." u/international-ant174 pointed out, "If your 'day off' is them calling you multiple times, then it's not a 'day off.' Give them the option: if you call me on my day off, you have to pay me for the day, and that PTO go back into my total. On call isn't off work."
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