When you and your brother work for the same company, management may try to text one of you in order to get in touch with the other.

What would you do if it got to the point where your brother’s manager texted you first to ask if he could work or do some other task?

That is the situation that the guy in this story is in, and he is thinking about ignoring texts from his brother’s manager, or even blocking him, because he is not a messenger.

AITA for ignoring a manager’s texts (and WIBTA for blocking his number)?

Me (26F) and my brother Mike (24M) work in different areas of the same company. Each area has its own manager. My manager is great—respectful of my time and boundaries.

This seems unprofessional.

Mike’s manager, Gary (around 45–50M), is… not. He’s a fun, slightly ditzy guy, but he has a habit of texting me when he needs Mike to cover shifts. This started years ago when Mike turned off notifications for our work app and rarely answered calls.

Since I’m on my phone a lot and my brother is chronically offline, Gary started messaging me instead.

Well, Mike needs to address this issue.

Mike had to leave during COVID for family reasons, came back later, and had to fight for a wage still lower than his coworkers’. He’s also the only one in his area who knows how to do everything and ends up stuck with the worst shifts.

Eventually, he told management he’d quit unless he got a raise and a more consistent schedule. Mike asked not to be messaged about extra shifts, saying they could talk to him in person due to anxiety. They agreed.

Would they do this if they weren’t brothers?

He got a raise ($0.50 less than he asked for) but stayed because they initially respected the new schedule. That lasted two weeks. Then Gary started asking me again.

And here’s the kicker: since the rehire, Gary always messages me first, and only me, clearly assuming I’ll pass the message along in person since Mike doesn’t check his phone.

Mike and his manager need to get this figured out.

I get that now hearing about the anxiety conversation they had, but it’s so annoying. I’ve told my coworkers and Gary himself that I hate being the middleman.

I’m not Mike’s assistant. But yesterday, while I was working, Gary texted, “Can Mike work this weekend?” I said I’d pass it along, assuming he’d messaged Mike too. Then today: “So can he work?”

This really isn’t his problem.

I’ve ignored that message so far because I’m not even scheduled until next week.

What really got me was when Gary messaged me while I was on vacation 2 months ago, literally at the airport, asking about Mike. I looked back through our texts, and since Mike’s rehire, every message conversation started by Gary has been about Mike.

He should tell Gary that he won’t be the middleman anymore and see what happens.

So yes, Mike should probably just quit, but AITA for ignoring Gary? And WIBTA if I blocked Gary’s number?

I’ve already told him directly I’m not his messenger. I don’t think quoting Hermione Granger at this point (“I’m not a bloody owl!”) would work either.

AITA?

He needs to be very clear that he won’t be doing this anymore and if it doesn’t stop, go to Gary’s manager. Also, Mike should be the one putting a stop to this.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a carpenter who was shocked to find the police waiting for him after his last day of work.

Take a look at what the people in the comments had to say about this situation.

This would likely work.

This commenter says it is harassment at this point.

Involving HR is a good idea.

This commenter makes a really good point.

This couple handles the situation very well.

This is very unprofessional and he needs to put a stop to it.