I started a new job at a big law firm a month ago. Everything was going well at first, but after the first few days, my boss started getting brave. He started calling me after hours. At first, it was at 7pm then 10pm and once he even called on Sunday. After I answered the first time, Sundays became the norm.
The worst part was that it was always about non-urgent stuff. After about three weeks, I stopped picking up my phone. The next Monday he confronted me about it and I told him that I don’t take call after 5pm and I don’t care if they are urgent or not.
He tried arguing with me, but I reminded him that my contract didn’t mention that I needed to be available while I wasn’t in the office. He just nodded, and I went on with my day, thinking it was settled. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The next day, he sent a companywide memo. All the laptops pinged at the same time and the next thing I knew everyone was looking at me. I opened the email and the realization was instant. They were all looking at me because it said that there would now be a mandatory on-call rotation.
One person would be assigned each week to take his calls after-hours. It wasn’t long before my colleagues started making remarks and asking questions. But the thing is, I have a newborn and every time he calls he’s waking the baby and that has led to arguments between me and my wife.
It’s not that I don’t want to help him out, but I’m not going to lose my family because he’s lonely. My wife already gave me an ultimatum, she’s asking me to choose between my job and my family. And the truth is that my family will always come first.
So I decided to do the one thing I’ve been avoiding since this started. I sent my resignation to the human resources department. They asked me why, and I told them the truth. That was when things got out of hand.
My boss was called into the office and received his last and final warning. Turns out this wasn’t the first time he was using the company for his own gain. He is known for trying to get people to work after hours. That’s why our specific hours are stated in our contracts.
The next day, he sent another email saying that he made a mistake with his memo. We aren’t allowed to work after hours unless we’re instructed to do so by the human resources department. A month after that, he resigned.
So, Bright Side, am I to blame for all this? Is it my fault that my boss ultimately left his job?
