A woman worked for her cousin and was currently on maternity leave, but when she didn’t answer her work calls her cousin was furious with her.

Her Maternity was Ending

Emily had been working for her cousin’s business for five years and had worked her way up to second or third in command at the fairly small company. She had taken nine months of maternity leave, starting two weeks before her due date, and was currently in her seventh month of leave, with only ten weeks left before she returned to work.

She Shouldn’t Have Been Working

During the last seven months, there had been a few crises at work, and Emily had been called to fix them. She knew that she shouldn’t have been working during her maternity leave, but she didn’t mention it because they were legitimate crises, and most of the time, it was her cousin asking for help.

She Turned Her Phone Off

As she approached the end of her leave, Emily wanted some time completely free of work to recharge before diving back in. So, starting two weeks ago, she stopped answering her phone and put it in a drawer when it died. She had a landline for emergencies, a laptop to keep in touch with people, and a TV for entertainment, so she was enjoying the break from the phone without issue.

The Client Was Lost

However, a week ago, Emily’s cousin tried to call her to get help with a client she used to handle. Emily had passed this client on to someone else, but something went wrong, and her cousin called her to help. Emily didn’t answer her phone, and they lost the client. Emily knew that the client’s contract was up for renewal, but she didn’t think there would be any issues, so she saw no reason to check her phone.

The Cousin Was Furious

Emily’s cousin was furious with her for not having her phone turned on when she knew that the client would be up for renewal. He also said that Emily should have warned someone that she would be uncontactable. Emily tried to fix the situation by calling the client, but they had already signed on with someone else.

She Refused

Emily’s cousin wanted to prevent this from happening again, as several more clients were up for renewal in the next couple of months. He said that Emily had to be available for the next couple of months so he could call her if there was another issue. Emily refused, saying that she was on maternity leave and should be left alone. She said that it was bad of him to ask otherwise.

She was Accused

Emily’s cousin accused her of being selfish and trying to purposely “do him over.” Emily’s mother and aunt agreed with him, saying that if Emily didn’t answer her phone, there might not be a company for her to come back to.

She Felt Torn

Emily was left feeling so torn by the whole situation and left feeling like she wanted other opinions on the situation so she heads to the internet and asks a popular online forum.

The Internet Responds

One person writes, “Omg the audacity of this man. Maternity leave means you take time off AWAY from the job. In my country, once someone goes on maternity leave, they are uncontactable, and it’s not an option to call them to ask them favours or even advice.”

Another Person Comments

A second comment reads, “Would he do it to you? He’s cutting into your leave because he can’t do his job and needs you to do it for him. You have this time off to take care of the immediate first needs of your baby, and to rest after the rather huge deal that pregnancy and birth is.

You’re not the jerk here. They all are, for calling you selfish when you appear to singlehandedly be holding the company up, and he can’t even give you the time to relax and recharge a bit after you gave birth and have leave. Leave means leave me alone. Leave means unreachable. You were kind enough to help in a crisis, but man, he needs to handle his own work. If he loses a client and may lose more just because you’re not there to renegotiate contracts, that is HIS problem, being the one in command, no? He needs to get better at his job then. Not call you on your time off to do it for him. Honestly, if you can, go somewhere you are appreciated for all that you do and not bullied and gaslighted when you’re not around to do everyone else’s job for them. He does not sound like the type that would hesitate if roles were reversed and he got a better offer.”

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