The 9 PM email that killed my Sunday reset

Last month I got a message from my boss in Tulsa at 9 PM asking for a report I thought was due Monday, and I spent three hours redoing it. Has anyone else noticed that setting a firm boundary just makes people push harder, or is that just my office?

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1 Comment

aaroncampbell14d ago

...but honestly, maybe that's the whole point. You set a boundary, you basically told them what time you're "off limits," and now they know exactly when to hit you if they want a quick answer. It's like putting a sign on your desk that says "I check email at 9 PM." I know it feels unfair, but what did you think was gonna happen? You train people to expect a response at a certain time, and they're gonna use that. The report was due Monday, but you answered at 9 PM, so now it's due at 9 PM. That's on you, not your boss. You could have just ignored it until Monday morning and said you didn't see it. Emails don't have to be read the second they come in. That's the real boundary, not telling people when you won't work, but actually not working then. If you keep jumping every time they toss a request late at night, they'll keep tossing. It's not about them pushing harder, it's about you showing them that the push still works. So yeah, maybe your Sunday reset died, but you're the one who brought it back to life with that reply.