A man took to social media platform, Reddit, to share his story about how a vibrant Diwali celebration for a close-knit team at the office swiftly took a troubling turn for him when work demands encroached on the evening.
A man took to social media platform, Reddit, to share his story about how a vibrant Diwali celebration for a close-knit team at the office swiftly took a troubling turn for him when work demands encroached on the evening. What followed was a stern message from his manager about bringing work laptop to all events and a demand to "make up" for party time over the weekend that left the employee questioning the boundaries of work-life balance at the company.
The man wrote, "On Thursday my company hosted a Diwali party. My work timings are from 6 pm to 2 am. The party timings were from 6.30 pm to 10.30 pm. I went to office logged in and then went to the party venue with the rest of team. During the party I get message on teams from overseas colleague and he said that there are some unassigned tickets which need to be addressed now (SLA for tickets is 90 Hours and none of the were anywhere near breaching SLA)."
Though these requests could have waited, he received a direct message from their manager, stating he should have brought the laptop to the event as a precaution. “Consider this a warning,” the manager said, a comment that took the employee by surprise.
This cautionary warning clashed with the employee’s experience at their previous workplace, where festivals were mutually respected across time zones. During local festivals, overseas colleagues handled urgent tasks, and vice versa, fostering a sense of teamwork and support. However, this new company seemed to hold different expectations.
The situation escalated when a few last-minute tickets arrived close to the end of the shift. However, the manager insisted that the employee work over the weekend to “make up” for attending the party.
"Around 1:30 am some tickets came in and I replied to them. Usually when tickets come in at the end of shift on Friday. We are supposed to just respond and work on them on Monday. This time my manager tells me since I was at the party I should work on the weekend to make up for it," he wrote.
His story triggered work-life balance debate online with many suggesting him to set proper boundaries at his workplace.
A user wrote, "Set proper boundaries from the beginning itself. Don’t make them feel that they are doing a favour paying you."