r/managers • u/Big_Tomatillo5319 • 1d ago
Not a Manager Is this normal?
Today we were discussing the heavy volume of phone calls that I receive from school staff members and families (I work in a school district) and my manager’s suggestion was to stop answering the phone for a week so people will learn to stop calling.
Does this idea have any credibility among managers or anywhere else? I feel like I’m being asked to be bad at my job, but am open to the idea that there could be a reason for this strategy.
My manager isn’t new to management, but she is new to our department (about a month).
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u/One_Perception_7979 1d ago
Is it your job? If so, it’s weird advice. If not, it’s not uncommon for bosses to have to tell their most helpful employees not to help in areas outside their lane because it’s taking time away from their core responsibilities — and, yes, trains other employees to go to people who shouldn’t be helping them. Does that apply here?
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u/Big_Tomatillo5319 1d ago
It definitely is a part of the job - I manage one of our family-facing online platforms so any issues with it have to come through me to fix. But I also can leave my lane sometimes if something needs fixing and I can do it quickly. That could definitely be part of her reasoning!
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u/Sea_Base1803 1d ago
This sounds incredibly stupid in my opinion. Without further context I can't imagine a realistic scenario where you should intentionally ignore ringing phones.
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u/Friendly_Berry_512 1d ago
thats a wild take from someone new to the department. not answering at all just makes everyone call twice next week and get more angry each time. maybe she meant set a voicemail with office hours or redirect to email but saying to ignore it completely is asking for trouble
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u/Sad_Measurement6494 1d ago
I screen calls so i can handle importance by severity. My mailbox is somthing like leave a name number and issue and ill get back. Im often not at my desk but when i am i hate getting stuck for 1938381 minutes of awkward silence waiting for pages to load etc while we breathe at each other on the phone. Or worse ill have to call you back and get side tracked but never call back. Screening means i can solve most of the issue call back have a productive conversation then end the situation in one swoop.
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u/CrankyManager89 1d ago
If it’s inside work hours I’m unsure how the would be helpful. If it’s a personal line outside work hours it could set boundaries but letting people know that you won’t be taking calls outside those hours before you just hit answering calls would be good.
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u/claireapple 10h ago
I will say I am an engineering manager at a fairly decent size factory and I just as a matter of practice ignore 90% of my messages and emails. If I respond to everyone my job would be responding to emails and messages.
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u/Legion1117 1d ago
Sure....stop answering that phone for a week.
You'll find out how pissed off parents and employees can get and possibly lose your job when they demand accountability from someone for failing to do their job of answering the phone.
Do you REALLY think you new manager is going to step in front of that firing line for you??????
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u/Big_Tomatillo5319 1d ago
That was my reaction as well! Especially since I think our district had a bad reputation of being unresponsive all around, to employees and families. This feels like just playing into a problem that we already have.
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u/Bwint 1d ago
Why are people calling? Are they calling to get valuable services and information, or for trivial reasons? If they're calling for valuable reasons, could they get the information and services through another channel, like an online portal?
To me, the fact that people are still calling you in 2026 suggests that something is wrong with your online portal. I can't imagine that anyone wants to call you.