After months of exhausting overtime, I finally took a much-needed vacation. My boss had approved the leave weeks in advance, so I fully unplugged — no work, no emails, just sun and peace. But on my second day, I got a strange message from her: “Share your live location. I need to confirm you’re actually on holiday.” I laughed it off at first, thinking it was a weird joke. But the texts kept coming. Then the calls. She wasn’t kidding.

I told her I was on approved leave and didn’t owe her anything. That’s when the messages turned threatening. She said if I didn’t comply, she’d mark my time off as unauthorized. Confused and irritated, I vented online with a beachside photo. A coworker messaged soon after: “Are you staying at that beach resort? Just saw your post.” That’s when it all clicked.

My boss had taken a secret trip to the exact same resort — with a married colleague from our department. She must’ve seen my post and panicked, worried I’d run into them or expose her. Her frantic request for my location had nothing to do with work and everything to do with avoiding personal fallout.

After that, she vanished from all communication. Nobody’s heard from her since I returned. Rumor is, she’s still “on leave.” But that incident made one thing clear: boundaries matter, and when leaders cross them for personal gain, it says everything about who they really are.