An employer who attempted to "guilt trip" a staffer into delaying their planned holiday has been savagely criticised after the text exchange was leaked online.
In a video uploaded to his popular TikTok last week, internet personality Ben Askins - who specialises in ️"calling out sh*t companies and bosses" - shared the text exchange with his almost 700,000 followers, branding the boss's behaviour as "pathetic".
The employee, who had anonymously submitted the texts for Askins to read, had been on approved annual leave when the boss allegedly pleaded with him to delay his trip and cover an evening shift.
"Hey man, I know you are off today, but is there anyway you can work tonight [sic]?" the manager said in the text, to which the staffer responded: "Would love to help you out, but I am heading out of town to see family and not back until Thursday."
"Are you sure you can't delay your trip just to cover tonight? I really would owe you," the manager pressed.
At this point Askins weighed in, telling the camera: "No, obviously, he can't do that... I know he's not going to say, 'I'd owe you money' or anything like that - just one of those superficial favours. I'm sure you can take that to that bank."
Refusing to back down, the worker replied: "Sorry no, we have a few things planned tomorrow so need to leave today."
"Well what do you expect me to do [sic]?" the boss hit back, a move Askins was quick to call out as "pathetic management".
"Such a basic part of your role is to deal with rota issues and your solution cannot be 'badger people who are meant to be off on holiday'. That's obviously not the solution."
The worker then asked if the manager had put a request for cover in the team's group chat, to which they responded: "Obviously, come on, I am not asking for much here, could do with you being a bit of a team player on this one."
Askins added: "The 'team player' line is such a classic, but it's always a bit of a one-way street. You notice that it [never occurs to them] they're also meant to be on said team."
The staffer then responded, "Appreciate this is tricky for you but this isn't really my issue to sort, I booked this time off a while ago."
"Good to know where your priorities are," the boss declared, before the employee ended the exchange with the inspired line: "With my family. Obviously."
It's unclear what transpired following the back-and-forth, but Askins was quick to call out the manager for being "absolutely incapable".
"This is just pathetic management - like, just absolutely incapable of doing the job. Dealing with rota issues is just such a parcel of being a manager.
"The problem with that is it then gets kicked down, so this poor guy, he's trying to pack for a holiday, just dealing with this absolute nonsense. So yeah, it's a shocker this one."
The clip, captioned, "This boss tried to guilt trip his employee into delaying his holiday #badboss", has since racked up almost a million views, 60,000 likes, and over 500 comments - most of which were unimpressed with the manager's behaviour.
"Solution: don't reply outside of working hours," one said, with a second adding: "So many managers don't understand that when nobody else can, it's their job to do it."
"'What do you expect me to do?' Well, your job, for starters," a third quipped, while a fourth commented: "I [would] read and then not respond until I get back to work."
Others shared their similar experiences, with one woman writing: "My husband and I were waiting for our plane to leave [for] our honeymoon when his work called and asked him to come in, and then said he wasn't being a 'team player'.
"His response was literally, 'We are about to pull off the tarmac. I don't think I can ask them to turn around'."
