Loser Managers

[Anonymous]

I’m a private sector manager and I would never send that over the weekend. That’s dumb.

I would just reschedule the meeting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pick a fight with her if you want to pick a fight. Seems like a weird fight to pick, but you know more about the likelihood that you'll get fired for it, how easy it would be to get a new job, and whether you can afford unemployment.

This.

In my line of work (government lawyer) this would not be unexpected. I answer emails on weekends all the time. I am not a fan of texts, would prefer an email, but if my boss texts me, I will answer. I try not to send emails to subordinates on weekends but sometimes it's unavoidable.

You perceive your industry and situation quite differently. If you're right, then keep on keeping on. If you're wrong, presumably you'll find out the hard way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you handle them?

It is extremely rare that I look at email on the weekend. If there is an emergency, someone will call. I don't work in an emergency world, anyway, and there has been one weekend call in the 9 years I've been with my employer.

However, I logged in this morning (Sunday) to look at my calendar to see if my wife and I could switch who was taking the dogs to the vet. While logged in, I saw an email sent yesterday (Saturday) to my whole team asking f we could move the weekly meeting (always unproductive and a time waster) from Tuesday at 8:30 to Monday afternoon at 2pm. No explanation given for the move and there were no other emails pointing to a problem. Boss just wanted it moved probably so he could vote easier, if I had to guess.

I ignored it.

My manager has texted me and the team 3 times in the last 2 hours. Only about half have responded. You know, because they are out lving their lives.

Well, my manager just texted me point blank "Chris, will this work?" presumably because I didn't answer her previous texts.

Absent an explanation why this is needed and why it couldn't have just been an announcemnet tomorrow morning, along with a quick "I'm sorry to bug you on the weekend, but..." I will not be answering her.

But I really would like to tell her to get a life

Anyway- consider this a PSA to not be a loser manager.

Are you salaried? If so, you’re an ass not to respond and I’d put you on the figurative sh!+ list. I never contact my team on the weekend unless it’s necessary. When it’s necessary I usually do it without explanation- because I’m announcing something major and I want everyone there at the same time. Perhaps it’s a layoff round - now you’re on my sh!+ list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is something urgent came up and your manager‘s private life and wanted to make sure it was going to work out as far as moving your meeting. If they don’t normally act like this, in your shoes, I would give the Grace I’m assuming some kind of extraordinary circumstance.

You sound like you really hate your manager, and you also sound a little petty because it would’ve taken very little for you to respond to the message once you saw it. I don’t understand why you were playing games about that.

Ehh, I think you're missing the point. It's about the interruption, not how little effort it takes to text back. It's also about boundaries and precedents. What's next? Expectation to answer work texts 7 days a week 365 days a year?

Do you call people at 2 am? I bet not. You don't because it's rude, not because it's 'hard' for the person youre calling to pick up the phone.

Ehh, I’m not missing the point. I said if they don’t normally act like this, I’d give this instance some grace. Sometimes people react very strangely when something bad suddenly comes up in their personal lives. Maybe this was that. I don’t see an inevitable jump from this to expecting 24/7 availability. I agree OP should definitely normally maintain boundaries.

But OP refers to her manager as a “loser,” which makes me think there’s an existing dislike on OP’s part.

I agree with the loser point. Why would a manager bother their whole team over the weekend about scheduling a meeting? It's clearly not an emergency and seems like a desperate need for attention.

If it were me - it would be an emergency, but I wouldn’t indicate so in email or text. See the big picture!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is something urgent came up and your manager‘s private life and wanted to make sure it was going to work out as far as moving your meeting. If they don’t normally act like this, in your shoes, I would give the Grace I’m assuming some kind of extraordinary circumstance.

You sound like you really hate your manager, and you also sound a little petty because it would’ve taken very little for you to respond to the message once you saw it. I don’t understand why you were playing games about that.

Ehh, I think you're missing the point. It's about the interruption, not how little effort it takes to text back. It's also about boundaries and precedents. What's next? Expectation to answer work texts 7 days a week 365 days a year?

Do you call people at 2 am? I bet not. You don't because it's rude, not because it's 'hard' for the person youre calling to pick up the phone.

Ehh, I’m not missing the point. I said if they don’t normally act like this, I’d give this instance some grace. Sometimes people react very strangely when something bad suddenly comes up in their personal lives. Maybe this was that. I don’t see an inevitable jump from this to expecting 24/7 availability. I agree OP should definitely normally maintain boundaries.

But OP refers to her manager as a “loser,” which makes me think there’s an existing dislike on OP’s part.

OP here. My manager is a loser. They have no life. They have no hobbies. They have no partner. They have no kids. They routinely stay past 7 or 8 "because somebody has to get this all done!"

I explain to her that if work is causing her to stay for 15 hours a week extra, she is overloaded, not a martyr. I'm 51; my days of caring about my employer more than myself or my family are looooooooong over.

Again, we are not curing cancer. For purposes of this discussion, imagine us as manufacturers of toilet paper roll tubes. Life will go on if the entire team stays home for two weeks. It mght be hard for people in DC with an over inflated idea of their work's importance but we are not doing God's work or stopping sex trafficking. We make disposable household goods.

She makes loud passive aggressive comments about people 'leaving at the exact stroke of 5pm.' like all the time. She is clueless on how no one likes her.

Op, you sound bitter and judgmental. If you’ve already crossed the line to being bitter and mean, I think you should probably start looking for a new job.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pick a fight with her if you want to pick a fight. Seems like a weird fight to pick, but you know more about the likelihood that you'll get fired for it, how easy it would be to get a new job, and whether you can afford unemployment.

This.

In my line of work (government lawyer) this would not be unexpected. I answer emails on weekends all the time. I am not a fan of texts, would prefer an email, but if my boss texts me, I will answer. I try not to send emails to subordinates on weekends but sometimes it's unavoidable.

You perceive your industry and situation quite differently. If you're right, then keep on keeping on. If you're wrong, presumably you'll find out the hard way.

OP says they've been there for nearly a decade. Soooo, sounds like theyre good.

[Anonymous]

Seems like a weird hill to die on considering it's not the norm. Don't respond if you don't want to. But calling your boss a loser because you don't agree with their management style makes you sound juvenile and petty.

[Anonymous]

I can see my team’s calendars. I would reschedule the meeting and follow up on Monday morning to make sure everyone knows attendance is required. That’s it. No weekend texts necessary.

[Anonymous]

At my company, which is a not-for-profit government service provider, there is no expectation that salaried workers should be unavailable on weekends. In fact, we are encouraged to work when we want as much as we can. Get over it.

[Anonymous]

Yes your manager is a loser. I am guessing she is childless and never married ? People like that will ruin an office.

[Anonymous]

Indeed manager is a complete loser. Recurring 1 hr weekly meeting to ramble about nonsense which could be put in a 2 sec email instead

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you are going to be fired

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you are going to be fired

Sounds like you are a loser.

[Anonymous]

Wow are you crazy lazy. I have work email on phone, a meeting change it beeps I say yes and move on. It’s one second

[Anonymous]

I would see the email and meeting change on Monday morning and that would be fine. I also send emails and Teams messages at weird times and don't expect anyone to respond until their next work period. (and have been on many threads telling people to control their own damn alerts).

OP is right and the manager is so out of line for texting about something so trivial.