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!

I think, looking at the original post the unstable woman’s line manager is mostly who the op is annoyed with, she says this in the last paragraph but she was feeling tired due to dealing with an upsetting incident at night and being up at 4 am, so after speaking with the woman’s manager and getting that strange response, she felt confused as I would too!

It’s like she was gaslighted by the manager to become unsure of her feelings towards the incident hence why I think she’s posted here. but then of course, it’s MN and some people didn’t read it all (I’m not criticising, I’ve done it myself on occasion) and they’ve got the wrong end of the stick and thought that SHE was the one on the front line on call

So you were on call but didn't check emails and told the person I'll deal with it next day. You are being paid a call out retainer so yes you should have helped. And how have you lost sleep at being called at 10.30, many people would still be awake at that time

Cancel the cheque 😁RTFT

Another one who can’t read. How does terminating a call after 45 minutes count as “immediately”?

OP is NOT a counsellor. And she doesn’t set the protocol for the company either, despite your little eyeroll.

So you were on call but .....

So you drop in on page 31 of a thread without even bothering to read the op's posts?

spot the person who doesn't bother to read ANY of the OP's updates

I would suggest reading all of the OPs posts before commenting.

Do you understand the police would not do a welfare check in these circumstances?

They absolutely would you are welcome to Google it. Someone being hysterical for 45 minutes, not able to string a sentence together or be abled to be calmed down is serious

I did Google it to check I was correct before i posted. Very clear in what circumstances they'd do a welfare check. None are present here.

From police.uk

Ah so you dont understand how AI Overview works either.

I invite you to Google that exact phrase that you say is from the police.uk site. It should be the first result if it's from there and not a garbled mash of an AI interpretation from 23456456 sources.

Also google tells us:

A manager should call the police (999 in the UK) if an out-of-hours call from a hysterical colleague indicates an immediate risk to life or safety. If the colleague is in danger of taking their own life, experiencing a severe psychotic episode, or has seriously harmed themselves, emergency services are appropriate. 1, 2, 3]
However, if the call is emotional but not an immediate threat to life, alternative actions should be taken to support the employee while maintaining professional boundaries

The police are meant to be used as a front line emergency service, ie if someone is suicidal or self harming, and even then if they are fully stretched they may not make it out to someone (which is sad but true, I have personal family reasons to know that this is the case and I wish it wasn't!)

They won't be chasing up any work upsets, no matter how upset the person is, and as pp has pointed out OP hasn't got the distressed person's address in any case so police wasn't a realistic solution here.

I've had the opposite experience the police have always been brilliant with me.

Having read some of the replies here, I can understand why hysterical woman couldn't comprehend what she should have done. So many people unable to read and understand.

I'm sincerely glad that they have been, and I'm sorry to hear that you have suffered 💐

I imagine thats because you genuinely have had people fear for your immediate safety, or you have genuinely feared for theirs (which i dont doubt would have felt very real).

Op hasnt said she feared for this employees immediate safety. The police would specifically ask this question - i haven't had to make such a call but a manager has. They are quite thorough as you'll know. The op would confirm she emailed the employee afterwards, that she did not fear for their immediate safety, police would not do a welfare check.

Thankyou im in a much better place now.

I get your posted off but isn’t part and parcel of being senior the buck stops with you

id be more concerned that they’d sent 50 emails and were hysterical a bit of compassion but more importantly duty of care I’d be concerned for there welfare

OP isn’t in her direct management chain though.

Surely this is a reverse? No one could think the employee on call is in the right here.

How to say you haven't read the thread without saying you haven't read the thread!

You’re being unreasonable.
someone rings you in hysterics, you haven’t responded to emails and you’re on call?
you sound incompetent.

I suspect she has got to that state because she has a job where she has received either zero, or at the very least, inadequate training (she clearly didn’t know the protocol if she was emailing the OP directly, and even the line manager also didn’t seem to think it was wrong of her to have done so….) and non existent support, coupled with the intransigent attitude of her seniors, as displayed by the OPs over the top reaction to the events of the weekend. Bourne out also by the fact that the OP was then, herself, unable to sleep, and describes herself as ‘sleep deprived’ for worry of whether or not she was correct to be so annoyed or not. Sounds like an appalling place to work if everyone is getting so het up about something so minor. And as the OP has used the analogy of ‘like in the civil service’, I’m going to take the, not unreasonable leap, and assume it is, indeed, the civil service. Says it all.