If you’ve ever worked a job that expected you to work extra hours with little or no notice, you know that it can be a royal pain in the neck…not to mention that it’s totally unfair!

In today’s story, a remote worker has repeatedly laid out their guidelines, but others are still trying to take advantage of them.

Let’s see what’s going on here…

AITA for not responding to my coworker after hours while remote?

“Earlier this week I handed in my notice because they have been mistreating me. I felt so relieved handing in my notice because I will finally be free from this toxic work environment.

During my notice period I am tasked with training one of my coworkers (John) how to complete my tasks while wrapping up my work.

They aren’t gonna work extra hours anymore.

I work 9-5 remote and I used to work many overtime hours (it was expected of us) but I decided to no longer stay back since I resigned.

After handing in my notice, I made it clear to my coworkers that I end at 5.

During the day I remind John (who I am training) that I will be ending at 5 every day. I train him for most of the day and we take small breaks every now and then to address our other work and emails.

John always leaves all his questions until the end of our training session while I tell him I will be logging off. Last time I stayed back an extra 15 minutes to answer him. I was a bit annoyed since I gave him opportunities to ask earlier.

Now I end our training sessions at 4:50 pm to leave room for questions or to address other work for the remaining 10 minutes. But John doesn’t have any questions until after 5.

This sounds pretty annoying…

At 5:01 pm or later John would message me on Teams “I have a question” or try calling straight away as I’m trying to log off. The way John asks questions on Teams is he tells you he has a question and then waits for you to respond before elaborating.

At that point I continue to log off because I can respond the next day.

On Thursday John tried calling me on Teams after 5 again. When I logged off John texted my personal phone an hour later “I have a question” and “It’s an emergency” (it was not) and I ignored it.

Friday morning I asked John what his question was but John was angry that I didn’t respond to him on Thursday.

This guy just doesn’t get it.

He said that since I’m working remote, it’s no big deal for me to stay back a couple of minutes or even log back on since it’s not like I’m driving my way back to office.

I told John that I’m firm with leaving at 5 and his questions will have to wait for the next day but I do feel bad because my work laptop is right there.

I can just log back on but I’ve been overworked for so long and even had a breakdown in a team meeting.

AITA for ignoring my coworker’s messages and calls after 5 pm even though I’m remote?”

Check out what folks had to say about this on Reddit.

This person said they’re NTA.

Another individual chimed in.

This reader shared their thoughts.

Another individual had a lot to say.

And this person spoke up.

They were clear about where they stand and they refuse to put in any extra hours!

Good job setting clear boundaries!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.