How do you deal with the self importance and entitlement of higher-ups?

I would encourage you to keep all of the communications and have a discussion with your boss and human resources together, as to what your job expectations are, what are your normal working hours versus expected availability, and what is acceptable behavior as defined by the conduct of your company leadership. Depending on your state laws, expected availability and being oncall may be regulated. Obviously use tact in pressing about the conduct of leadership. An executive who fails to show gratitude for you giving up your time on a weekend over a broken iPhone should be made to apologize to you in person in front of you, your boss, and HR. They especially should be made to understand most employees wouldn't have the option to receive such service.

I don't say this lightly, or as some anonymous opinion that hasn't had to face such a situation. I served in the Marine Corps and was party to several instances where leadership had to cede their mistake to Jr. enlisted. Most notably while on a live fire exercise with foreign observers. Our Battalion Commander wanted to change standard operating procedure related to how we loaded and fired our weapons system. My squad leader, with less than 2yrs service told the Annapolis graduate with 20 years of service that he is refusing the order on the grounds of violating multiple USMC protocols and safety. This effectively reduced the credibility of our commander to the foreigners. My squad leader was initially chewed out but stood his ground. Our commander made an apology later on in front of all who were present, including the foreign observers, and all company leadership. This of course was done in an organization that had a clear protocol, has a culture that champions people who are right but respectful, and usually only validates actions with valid purpose. An executive being disrespectful after breaking an iPhone hours before an international departure is not action with valid purpose, rather the conduct of a spoiled child.

Finally my sister-in-law is an executive for a national bank. Her entire department is spread across the country. They have face to face 4-6 times a year. Her boss sends my wife and I an annual thank you card and gift recognizing our sacrifice to accommodate the single-parent sister-in-law. We usually watch our nephew and the 2 dogs while she is out of town for the week. This was after I said no to the second time my sister-in-law had two days notice to fly across the country. She told her boss no because of our concerns about this being a habit and he asked to talk to us directly, and reassured us in the future he would take care to give better notice. How many people can say they have spoken to a division president of a national bank. While the guy was condescending, he was making an effort to not be.

/r/sysadmin Thread