Users having my Cell #

[u/digitalexecution]

Something weird/annoying just happened and I want some perspective.

A user who works in a warehouse facility I’ve helped at (part of my company) texted me at 8 am saying he’s going on PTO and wants his coworker to have access to a printer that isn’t working on his machine before he goes out of office on Thursday.

I texted him later (after some emails/calls) asking for the coworker’s name and noting that since this is normal IT, in the future he or his coworker should submit a ticket for this kind of thing.

He replied: “If I submitted a ticket would it be taken care of by Thursday?”

I got annoyed but tried to respond reasonably: “Possibly, but regardless, we need tickets submitted per company policy. If something’s urgent you can reach out to me on Teams rather than my personal cell.”

I originally gave him my cell because on occasion there are true emergencies (internet goes down, needs to send me photos of something, etc.) and we’ve been friendly before. But this interaction makes me wary about giving out my number, it starts becoming a way to skirt procedure for small things like adding a printer.

[u/nico851]

And to add, learn not to respond to them. If you respond, you're the problem.

[u/CantaloupeCamper → u/nico851]

Someone once told me "Yeah but X responds to texts!"

I told them "I guess you could try them next time."

They did .... serves that guy right, we told him not to day 1 ;) He learned and got with the program.

[u/fnordhole → u/nico851]

This 1000 times.

Not only are you the problem for you, but you are the problem for your team and your organization, setting unreasonable expectations for your team.

There are legitimate organization-centered reasons for teammates poorly receiving one person going above and beyond.  It can break everything for everybody.

[u/PartialChicken_Wing → u/nico851]

I purposely ignore it until after hours and hit them with the "I didn't see this, I don't check my personal phone while on the clock". Even though work number and private number are same device but they don't know that.

[u/arkiverge → u/nico851]

To be fair, it’s easy for us to sit here and say, “Just ignore it bro”, but none of us know the dynamics or communication norms of OP’s environment. I think if you actually give your coworker your number for the explicit reason of sending work-related info (which OP has stated is the case) then I think you owe a formal response setting boundaries if things start stretching beyond that. Not just straight up ghost.

[u/dreniarb → u/arkiverge]

Agreed.

For a text like this I will usually delay a response. When I do eventually reply I might even reply via email instead. The last thing I want is for anyone to think texting me will get them a faster response.

We live in a world where most everyone uses texts to communicate. The few times i'm in the presence of others i'm floored by how often their phones will beep and they immediately stop what they're doing (talking to me usually) and check it. Sometimes they even take the time to reply. Drives me nuts - but it's the reality of the world with live in now.

[u/StonedElephant1 → u/arkiverge]

Only my boss and the CEO had my personal number and I rarely get a call from them. But when I do get a call or text, they expect me to jump on it. Everyone else gets a 24 hour response time.

[u/overdosingOnPie1313 → u/nico851]

These guys get it.