An Australian quit his job after receiving a “horrifying” text message from his boss who tried to cancel a family holiday he had planned.
The wild text exchange was shared by Michael Sanz, an executive and outsourcing expert who often asks employees to share bad experiences with their bosses.
Sanz shared a conversation between his employee Noel and his boss Nick on TikTok, telling his followers:
Mr Sands revealed to news.com.au that it was actually his boss who believed he was in the right and sent the exchange “a kind of medal of honor”.
He notified his staff member Noel before creating the TikTok and made sure the staff was okay with sharing the text.
The first message was from her boss, telling Noel that her holiday booked for the following week had been canceled due to another member of staff, Jenny, leaving the company, and the boss insisted that “everyone is fully committed”. . to find a replacement.
“It is possible to postpone it for a few months. I have told Human Resources to make the change. Thank you for your understanding,” the boss wrote.
While reading a message in the video, Sanz says what everyone is thinking at this point: He automatically cancels the vacation without any conversation. ”
Noel then emailed back to say that she understood how “frustrating” this situation would be for the company, but that she could not cancel her vacation due to her brother’s wedding in Bali.
“All flights have been paid for and the children are in the wedding party,” he wrote.
“I booked it seven months in advance so I can’t cancel it. If it helps, I can help you more until I retire, but I can’t change the date of your vacation.”
Boss Nick then asked employees to reduce their vacation from three weeks to three days, boldly adding: “I don’t know what he can do for three weeks in Bali, haha.”
Mr. Sanz questioned why his boss treated this behavior as a “joke,” noting that if he were an employee, he “would be furious at this point.”
Mr Noel responded that he felt “terrible” that the company was in this position, but reiterated that he could not cancel or change the trip.
“It’s a family holiday, but we haven’t been together in years, and I haven’t taken annual leave in three years. It doesn’t matter,” he said, suggesting temporary staff be hired to cover the period until a permanent replacement is found.
He then said he could help with extra work until he retired.
The next reply from his boss, branded “terrible” by Sanz, read as follows: sorry. “
This appeared to be the last straw for Noel, with the employee no longer wanting to return to the office and claiming to be “shocked” by the interaction.
He told Nick that he would reschedule his vacation to start “today” and that during his time off he would consider “whether a company that doesn’t encourage boundaries is really a place I want to work.”
Noel added that he would be sending this “totally irrational” interaction to human resources.
Mr Sanz praised Mr Noel’s handling of the situation and said no worker should have to justify taking annual leave.
“His vacation should be postponed, the management should be left in charge of running the business, and a temp or virtual assistant should be hired,” he said.
The video has received more than 667,000 views and hundreds of comments since it was posted, with people left stunned by the boss’ demands.
“Such an idiot! It’s not his problem and he handled it well,” one person wrote.
“Business owners, this is it. Not acceptable to your boss. It’s not about your employees. Enjoy Bali to the fullest!” said another.
One claimed he would have “quit after the first text message.”
After the video went viral, Noel thanked Sands and his followers for their support and updated them on the situation.
He said he attended a wedding in Bali, turned off his cell phone for three weeks and enjoyed spending time with his family.
Shockingly, his wife received numerous missed calls from the office, presumably because she couldn’t reach him.
“I returned to work after a break, but I felt a bit estranged from management. I decided to take time off to find another job, but I didn’t want to disappoint my clients.” said Noel.
“So I came back, gave notice, updated my clients, and found a new (better paying) job.”
In an interview with news.com.au, Mr Sanz revealed that after posting the video, he received dozens of messages from people with similar experiences in Australia, the UK, New Zealand and across the US.
In situations where there is a more “relaxed” relationship between employer and employee, one party often becomes dependent on it and crosses work boundaries, Sanz said.
“People may be used to it at work, but when leaders try to invade their personal space or time, staff often bite,” he said.
“They are only paid to perform specific tasks and often already feel undervalued and underpaid.”
He said workers in similar situations need to have clear work boundaries.
“Staff need to remain resolute, plan with confidence and always include HR in the conversation,” he said.
“Companies need to provide better education to managers and staff about taking leave to avoid subjecting those who take it to the level of guilt that often exists.”
