Client Called Three Times on Sunday

[Anonymous]

I don't answer unknown callers. But more importantly I don't take my phone to Mass on Sundays.

Well, a 'very special' client called me Sunday morning at 9:30, 10:15, and 10:30. I was at church and obviously missed the calls. I'm hesitant to even use the word miss because that implies failure on my part.

They left no VM and they didn't send a corresponding email. So, as far as anyone would know it's a spam call. I don't even know how they got my cell number. They called my manager who fielded their concern.

Anyway, within 10 minutes of walking in this morning my manager was up my a$$. I calmly explained that I didn't have my phone and that I don't work weekends. In the end, he wants to have meeting later today to 'make sure stuff like this doesn't happen again.'

What would you say?

[Anonymous]

How important is the client and how stable is the relationship?

[Anonymous]

Fine, have the meeting! If your client needs responses on Sunday, as a team you need to figure out how to have someone on call and how to communicate that to clients. If you’re not going to give responses on Sunday, you need to figure out how to communicate that to clients.

It doesn’t sound like you’re working at McDonalds, so put on your big boy professional pants, put aside your defensiveness and figure out a good solution as if you’re all on the same team. Which, theoretically, you are.

[Anonymous]

Also, what level are you, is what you do critical, do you make a lot of money, was it an emergency....

I can't tell you how often I hear from my bosses on weekends and it really p*sses me off! Because it's mostly trivial. Sometimes I wake up on a Sunday morning to see the CEO texted me at midnight because he forgot his password! I mean....

However if it's something terrible like say, a network hack or the server room is literally on fire, I'd want to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't answer unknown callers. But more importantly I don't take my phone to Mass on Sundays.

Well, a 'very special' client called me Sunday morning at 9:30, 10:15, and 10:30. I was at church and obviously missed the calls. I'm hesitant to even use the word miss because that implies failure on my part.

They left no VM and they didn't send a corresponding email. So, as far as anyone would know it's a spam call. I don't even know how they got my cell number. They called my manager who fielded their concern.

Anyway, within 10 minutes of walking in this morning my manager was up my a$$. I calmly explained that I didn't have my phone and that I don't work weekends. In the end, he wants to have meeting later today to 'make sure stuff like this doesn't happen again.'

What would you say?

I would say that that special client needs to call the manager if they have weekend concerns. You don’t work weekends and you especially don’t take your phone into your place of worship and you wouldn’t have answered it anyway because you were in mass.

[Anonymous]

Also you should say out loud that you were in religious observance and your religion does not allow you to work Sundays.

I double dog dare them to NOT extend you a religious accommodation for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fine, have the meeting! If your client needs responses on Sunday, as a team you need to figure out how to have someone on call and how to communicate that to clients. If you’re not going to give responses on Sunday, you need to figure out how to communicate that to clients.

It doesn’t sound like you’re working at McDonalds, so put on your big boy professional pants, put aside your defensiveness and figure out a good solution as if you’re all on the same team. Which, theoretically, you are.

OP here.

That's why I'm asking for tips. My professional response would be something along the lines of "Bill, as you know, our offices are closed on the weekend. However, if you need us to be reachable for things on, say, Sunday morning, we can arrange that for a fee."

I think this is a reasonable and expected planed but I strongly suspect the client would balk at the fee and expect us to take the call or email gratis because "it's just a quick 10 minute chat."

Reminds me of the children's book "If you give a mouse a cookie, he will ask for a glass of milk."

[Anonymous]

I’d say if it was that important, then the client would have left a voicemail.

[Anonymous]

Also, how did your manager find out that you didn't take the call? Did the client call and complain? Or did they move on to his cell phone number at 10:20 AM?

[Anonymous]

Why didn't you call after mass? Just check in. You sound unprofessional on this one sorry

[Anonymous]

It's 100% fine that you didn't answer your phone on Sunday morning. If they didn't leave a message or send an email, that's really on them. But to state that you "don't work on weekends" is a bit much. Unless you are in a role where that is the norm but that certainly isn't the norm for most experienced professionals with "special" clients.

[Anonymous]

Client can wait until Monday. Don’t be silly. It’s not unprofessional to take a day off.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it is reasonable to expect to be able to reach people at a particular time on a Sunday if it has not been pre-arranged. Your professional response sounds fine to me. Alternatively, you could say something like:

Our offices are closed on the weekends, and we are not always available due to religious and family events etc. If you can send us an email instead we will get to it as soon as we can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why didn't you call after mass? Just check in. You sound unprofessional on this one sorry

Disagree. Client could have at least left a text.

[Anonymous]

A lot depends on the nature of the work. Obviously if you are a lawyer working on a court case or a merger that is very different than most things that do not have expectations of weekend work.