The impact of abusive supervision on subordinates is devastating, but research on the mechanisms and mitigating factors in this relationship remains scarce. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we argue that the depletion of energy and the subsequent reduced work absorption caused by abusive supervision are contingent upon the frequency of interactions with the supervisor and the preferences of subordinates for keeping work and private life domains apart. We applied an experience sampling methodology and surveyed 132 employees in Germany twice per day over 14 workdays. Our results show that more frequent interactions with their leaders prevent employees from suffering in their work absorption through prework energy the following day despite leader abuse. Moreover, we found that these supervisor interactions are particularly important for subordinates who hold stronger preferences for separating their work and private life domains. With these findings, we contribute to an understanding of the conditions under which the consequences of supervisor abuse on subordinates may be alleviated.