It's Time to Stop Living the American Scam

[Sympthsical]

35. I don't accept calls after 6pm

And I told the employees I oversee that I will never call them after 6pm. That's the deal. If my phone is going off in the evening because of work, there'd better be a dead body involved.

In the two and a half years I've been at my current job, I've only had three calls at weird hours, and they've all been justified.

Otherwise everything goes in an e-mail - not a text. A text creates a kind of illusory urgency of response. People my age (Millennial) get a bit anxious about responding to texts when they come in. I learned when I text someone, they'd think I'm expecting an answer soon-ish.

The nice thing about e-mail is that people generally won't see it unless they're actively looking at their work account. It doesn't create that off-hours anxiety. I totally read and respond to e-mails late at night due to boredom, desire to have the next day be easier, etc. However, I do not expect any kind of reply before 8a or so.

Work is work. Not work is not work. In my experience, most things will keep until the next morning. And if they can't, well, that's why my check is bigger.