22:30 work call - completely unacceptable?

[shortbreadconsumer]

I received a work call from someone in my organisation at 22:30 last night. I answered, thinking it was an emergency. The colleague was completely hysterical and impossible to understand. In the end I had no choice but to end the call with 'we can discuss this in the morning.'

This morning I spoke to the persons line manager about it, who said that it was 'unfortunate, but not unreasonable' for this individual to have called me as I had not answered any emails from said colleague over the weekend. They had sent me over 50 emails this weekend. I did not see the emails as seniors within the organisation take an 'if it's urgent, they have my number' approach.

I am more senior than both of of these colleagues and I was 'on call' all weekend as the most senior point of contact in the organisation. However, this was not an issue that required weekend working and, more importantly, it was not an issue that I needed to be consulted on. It was very simple and should have easily been resolved in working hours by this individual alone - her direct line manager would not have needed to input either.

AIBU to think that this was unprofessional and unacceptable from both of them?After no sleep, I've reached that 'was it really that bad' point where I am so sleep deprived that I am not sure whether I am overreacting in my annoyance or not!

This would only be acceptable if someone had died

🤣🤣🤣

The thing is, being worried about a friend or family member if you haven't heard from them for 3 days is one thing, especially if it's out of character.

Going to the house of a manager because they haven't responded to work emails over a Bank Holiday weekend when the manager isn't actually working is not at all reasonable it is harassment.

Not if you're concerned for their safety

But that is not a reasonable concern, because it's entirely normal not to reply to work emails over a long weekend. You cannot reasonably expect a response, and going to someone's house is a massive invasion of their privacy.

To be fair, I would be downright horrified if someone turned up at my house in the middle of night (as some people seem to think is the norm). 😱Guess I should count myself lucky allI got was a work call.

Because they haven't responded to one of fifty emails over a Bank Holiday weekend?

When I was at school in about the 1800s, a girl moved to our town from South Africa. She was struggling with maths homework so went round to the teacher’s house to ask for help. This was, apparently, normal in her previous home.

(From the telephone directory, before anyone asks).

Fearing for a work colleagues safety simply because they chose to ignore you out of work hours is unhinged behaviour. Your colleagues owe you nothing.

What job have you worked in where a colleague not responding to work emails for 3 days over a holiday weekend would prompt you to be concerned for their safety?

I'm sorry, but if you turned up at my house because i've ignored everything work related for 3 days over a holiday, i'd be calling the police on you for harassment/stalking, filing for a restraining order, and be making a formal complaint to HR.

You shouldn't even know your colleagues addresses, and if you do have access to that information, misusing the data for that purpose is a MASSIVE breach of trust.

So playing devils advocate

say she did ring junior on call person and she did say to call you to calm her down /know that you could resolve the issue etc

, would your reply to her irate phone call / conversation been any different

If she’d rang junior person on call then the junior person would have (potentially) phoned OP, not the employee who shouldn’t have been working. Junior person might have requested OP call this person back but this obviously didn’t happen.

But if she contact junior after the 50 emails etc What would have junior said to her - relax. Don’t worry. We will sort this tomorrow in the office

or

call op and say she’s going to get a call from a very stressed colleague

just curious

I have all my colleagues and managers on Facebook so they respond usually quickly on messenger

Junior should have said either don’t worry speak to x on Tuesday OR I will contact manager (op) & she may give you a call back.

As someone who works in HR this would have you on a disciplinary. Employees should not be contacting colleagues or managers on social media. Official work channels only.

And I only check Facebook a couple of times a day.

Why I've worked in multiple job where this has been completely normal

When I was at school in about the 1800s, a girl moved to our town from South Africa. She was struggling with maths homework so went round to the teacher’s house to ask for help. This was, apparently, normal in her previous home.
(From the telephone directory, before anyone asks).

This sort of thing is the reason my late aunt, who was a primary head, was ex-directory. And also lived far enough from her school that she wouldn't be likely to bump into parents in Tescos at the weekend.

Well thats more then op checks her email

Facebook is personal. I scroll for leisure.

I didn’t check my work email from 3.00pm last Friday to 9.00 am today.

OP was not required to check her emails and there was a protocol in place making this clear.

My work colleagues are not my friends. Facebook is for friends. I run a work Facebook account which is linked to my personal one but I only switch to it during work hours.

Your not friends with any of your colleagues. You never go on nights out or buy birthday cards or go to their funerals or weddings thats really sad. I've made some amazing friends through work

If they're your friends, then it's different.

We aren't talking about friends.
We're talking about work colleagues.

It's different.