Boss calls 23-year-old employee at 8 PM, he replies that he works 9-5 - others fault him

A 23-year old employee ranted on Reddit and spilled some corporate tea after mentioning an incident with his boss. He said that he got a text from his boss, at about 8 pm, asking about status update on their work. But in his reply, the employee ended up reminding his boss that his work ends at 5 pm and he isn’t available to him after that.

What was off putting however was that the boss reacted with a laughing emoji, which the employee took as sign of disrespect. The employee said he usually completes his tasks on time and does not ignore work, but felt unfairly labelled as “toxic” just for sticking to his work boundaries.

Work Boundaries At Job

The worker further said he is willing to work hard at his job but does not want to be mocked for simply following official work hours. Some Reddit users responded that he actually broke his own boundary by replying to the boss at 8 PM instead of waiting until the next day. One commenter explained that real boundaries are about controlling your own actions, so the smarter move would have been to ignore the message until office hours.


Another user advised that the employee should have simply replied at 9 AM the next day without mentioning work hours unless asked. Some commenters also said the boss had the right to send a message anytime, while the employee had the right to respond only during work hours.

Boss Employee Work Rules

A few people felt the employee’s immediate response sounded awkward or immature, which could be why the boss reacted with a laughing emoji. Overall, the discussion turned into a debate about workplace culture, boundaries, and whether employees today should stay available after office hours.

FAQs

Q1. Was the employee wrong for not replying after work hours?

No, many people said he had the right to reply only during his official 9–5 work time.

Q2. Why did people criticise the employee online?

Some users felt he should have ignored the message at night and replied the next morning instead.