Source: Reddit
I work for my cousin. We’re in the same field, but he owns a business. I started working for him 5 years ago and worked my way up to second or third in command at his fairly small company.
I took 9 months of maternity leave, starting 2 weeks before my due date. My child is now 6 months old, meaning I am currently in my 7th month of leave, and go back to work in about 10 weeks.
During the last 7 months, there’s been a few crises at work. They called me and I fixed it. They should not have been doing this, due to my maternity leave, but I didn’t mention it because these were legitimate crises, and most of the time it was my cousin asking.
However, because I’m entering the end of my leave, I want some time completely free of work, to recharge before I have to dive back in. So, starting 2 weeks ago, I stopped answering my phone. At some point it died so I put it in a drawer, and haven’t plugged it in since. I have a landline for emergencies, a laptop to keep in touch with people, and a TV for entertainment, so I’m enjoying the break from the phone without issue.
However, my cousin tried to call me about a week ago to get help with a client I handle. I had passed this client on to someone else, but something went wrong, my cousin called me to help, and because I didn’t answer, we lost the client. I knew their contract was up for renewal, but I didn’t think there would be any issues, so I saw no reason to check my phone.
My cousin has told our family what happened. He’s furious with me for not having my phone turned on when I knew that client would be up for renewal. He also says that as I had been answering my phone this whole time, I should have warned someone that I would be uncontactable. I have called the client and tried to fix it, but they’ve already signed on with someone else.
My cousin, wanting to stop this from happening again as several more clients are up for renewal in the next couple months, has said I have to be available for the next couple months, so he can call me if there is another issue. I’ve said that I am on maternity leave, and therefore I should be left alone, so I will be leaving my phone off, and it’s shi**y of him to ask otherwise. My cousin said that I was being selfish and accused me of trying to f**k him over, and my mother and aunt agree with him, saying if I don’t answer my phone, there may not be a company to come back to, and accused me of taking advantage of him because he’s my cousin, as anyone else would have fired me over this. I’ve responded that if my cousin can’t run his own business without me, then he’s incompetent and shouldn’t be in charge of an omelette, let alone a company. They said that was uncalled for, and told me to switch my mobile on now so he can call me if he needs to, but I’m still refusing.
Am I acting entitled ? What should I Do ?
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