Some situations are perfectly described as “boiling frog”, where someone doesn’t realize something is doing them harm until it becomes impossible to ignore.

In this case, a man shares how a 30-year-old kept getting calls from his mom demanding to know what he was doing.

He finally snapped.

Let’s read the whole story.

My coworker’s mom called me at work because her “sweet boy” had to stay late

So this happened last week, but I still think about it sometimes and feel both secondhand rage and pity.

A new guy joined my team at the start of last month who we will call Sam.

Sam is a quiet guy, early 30s, polite to a fault, always looking over his shoulder like he’s about to get in trouble.

At first, I thought he was just shy. But within a week, I figured something was… off.

It was more serious than that.

He’d get these phone calls every 30 minutes. Like clockwork.

Eventually, I asked him if everything was okay.

That’s when he admitted it was his mother. She needed to know what he was doing at all times.

Like, literally, “where are you sitting,” “what are you eating,” “who are you talking to” type updates.

He said he was raised that way and just never broke the habit.

He was being infantilized, as everyone was about to find out.

I could see him shrink into himself every time she called, like the life got sucked out of him in real time.

Anyway, it’s the month end and we had to stay back late to wrap up some department reporting.

Everyone stayed a couple extra hours.

It was quiet, we were all working, and suddenly Sam’s phone rang again. He steps outside.

Two minutes later, he comes back inside looking white as a sheet and says, “Hey Mr. Coco, my mom wants to speak with you.”

I thought he was joking.

It was visibly stressful to him.

He was not. He looked like he was about to cry.

I took the call out of sheer disbelief. And oh boy, I wish I hadn’t. This woman unleashed on me.

“How dare you make my son work past office hours?”

“He needs to come home and rest!”

“You don’t know what he’s been through!”

“Don’t you know how dangerous the roads are!”

But then he was surprised.

I was too stunned to even respond properly. I just said, “Ma’am, I think Sam can explain the situation better,” and handed the phone back.

And that’s when something amazing happened.

Sam finally snapped. He didn’t yell, but his voice was steady.

“I need this job, Mom. You can’t keep doing this. I’m staying late because that’s my responsibility and everyone is here too. Please just stop.”

It was quiet for a second, and then he just ended the call.

It was a brave start.

Honestly, I was proud of him.

I know how hard it is to stand up to your parents, especially when they tried to control you your whole life.

We wrapped up an hour later.

I offered to take him out for a cold drink just to decompress, and he looked like someone who had finally removed a 20-year-old weight off his chest.

But when I dropped him off near his house, he gave me a small, awkward smile and just said, “Thanks… tonight’s going to be rough.”

I haven’t heard his mom’s voice since then, but he still gets those calls. Just less frequently now.

I really hope he makes it out okay.

Some cages don’t even have bars, you just carry them in your head.

He is slowly realizing he’s in a mental prison.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this.

Yup.

That’s a good idea.

A manager shares an experience.

Someone went through a very similar situation.

Another reader shares their thoughts.

Simply put.

His mom might never back off, but he needs to get out as soon as possible.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.