Since once in a blue moon I actually discover a decent rule for adulting, and since I know I have followers a few years younger than me who are just entering the workforce, I want to tell you about a very important phrase.Â
âI wonât be available.â
Imagine youâre at work and your boss asks you to come in on Saturday. Saturday is usually your day offâcoming in Saturdays is not an obligation to keep your job. Maybe you were going to watch a movie with a friend, or maybe you were just going to lie in bed and eat ice cream for eight hours, but either way you really, really donât want to give up your day off.
If you consider yourself a millennial youâve probably been raised to believe you need to justify not being constantly at work. And if youâre a gen-Z kid youâre likely getting the same toxic messages that we did. So in a situation like that, you might be inclined to do one of three things:
Tell your boss youâd rather not give up your day off. Cave when they pressure you to come in anyway, since youâre not doing anything important.
Tell your boss youâd rather not give up your day off. Over-apologize and worry that you looked bad/unprofessional.
Lie and say youâve got a doctorâs appointment or some other activity that feels like an adequate justification for not working.
The fact is, it doesnât matter to your boss whether youâre having open heart surgery or watching anime in your underwear on Saturday. The only thing that affects them is the fact that you wonât be at work. So telling them why you wonât be at work only gives them reason to try and pressure you to come in anyway.
If you say âI wonât be available,â giving no further information, youâd be surprised how often thatâs enough. Be polite and sympathetic in your tone, maybe even say âsorry, but I wonât be available.â But donât make an excuse. If your boss is a professional individual, theyâll accept that as a ânoâ and try to find someone else.Â
But bosses arenât always professional. Sometimes theyâre whiny little tyrants. So, what if they pressure you further? The answer isâpolitely and sympathetically give them no further information.
âAre you sure youâre not available?â âSorry, but yes.â
âWhy wonât you be available?â âI have a prior commitment.â (Which you do, even if itâs only to yourself.)
âWhatâs your prior commitment?â âSorry, but thatâs kind of personal.â
âCan you reschedule it?â âIâm afraid not. Maybe someone else can come in?â
If you donât give them anything to work with, they canât pressure you into going beyond your obligations as an employee. And when they realize that, theyâll also realize they have to find someone else to come in and move on.
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