In business, people will push for all they can get. That includes you, after all, I presume you negotiated a good salary and conditions? Two examples from my

In business, people will push for all they can get. That includes you, after all, I presume you negotiated a good salary and conditions? Two examples from my past: The law here in Victoria changed, and I (as a contractor) became a payroll tax liability to the company that hired me. So their CFO scheduled a meeting with me and informed me that he expected me to lower my rate to take into account the payroll tax. I said, "no - the legislation clearly states that the liability is incumbent upon the employer." He said, "yes, that's true" and dropped the matter. I continued there amicably for another year or so before my contract expired. Another example: I joined a company as a permanent employee (not a contractor) with clearly specified business hours in my employment contract, and no mention whatsoever of on-call work. Then a few weeks after joining, it was announced that there was a requirement for 24 hour support from the dev team, and we'd all be expected to participate. My response was: I'm happy to keep an eye out for problems if I'm at my computer and not busy, but on-call was never part of the deal, and I'm not doing it. Nothing bad came from my refusal in either case; in fact, I suspect my dealings with the first company was smoother afterwards, once it became apparent that I was not a push-over. Some caveats: - in neither case were the people involved assholes; rather the contrary in fact - I was in my thirties when both things happened; had I been in my early twenties I almost certainly would have caved to both requests (self-respect and confidence both lacking back then) - I remained calm and polite at all times