Colleague reported me for phone usage - awkward!!

Is your phone on silent or is the Ring Door bell audible?
Only ask because I have a friend whose audible alerts drive me mildly nuts and I wouldn’t like it in the office. Although to be fair, I would speak to them myself and not involve a manager.

Once worked for a very toxic workplace. The head of department would pass on things like this through the managers just around bonus time and say a co worker said this and caused team members not to trust each other.

Regardless of if your manager cross about it and using an “anonymous” person instead of just addressing it directly.

or someone in your team is that petty to report this type of thing and your boss forgot the previous directive over phone usage, didn’t tell the snitch to wind their neck in (because they are a bad manager and Lilly livered and told you instead.

Both scenarios signal something about your workplace culture is off and your manager isn’t an especially effective manager. Either you have a Lilly livered boss without a spine to say stop doing x to you or you have a boss who would openly put team mate against team mate rather than engage their brain and act like a decent manager.

Good managers don’t need to say I have hear from an anonymous source your doing x on your phone, because it’s lazy, gaslighting, harmful to teams dynamics and ineffective.

I strongly suspect this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of dysfunction in your work place.

speak to co workers - I suspect this type of thing is a “method” your manager has used before.

Yes, this.

I worked for 18 months in an all female office and found out that my "friend" at work had complained that I never locked up at the end of the day. What she didn't realize was that I was always first in, to unlock the office and put everything on quite early at the start of the day for everyone else. Fucker. I never saw her in the same light again.

Because they're an arse?

Why would a colleague report one off phone usage if that was the case?

Your manager is fine with it, and that's the only thing that matters. The person who reported you is a fucking snake. At least you know this in advance now.

Unless the manager heard the conversation they won't know about it.

It may be their way of highlighting watch your back?

I think perhaps it's useful to know if someone has reported you just so you can be more aware going forward (that someone notices such things), but it doesn't sound as though you've done anything wrong.

Your manager has an issue. If they didn’t they wouldn’t have raised it.

Christ no let’s not escalate this into she said , I said. It is disproportionate to the event. Decrease the phone use

That's what I thought. And this way you'll be looking at everyone but your manager...

How did she communicate that it wasn't an issue? How did she raise it and then say it wasn't worth raising? If there's no issue with it then all she had to do was shut it down with whoever supposedly reported it.

Absolutely pathetic. This person sounds so petty and your manager didn't have to bother telling you but could have instead told that person it was a non-issue and to mind they own business.

Hope some sleuthing can lead you to the culprit.

It maybe that this is on the cusp of not being acceptable. Be honest- how many times does it happen? And do you spend time tracking them whilst they are on their way to your house too?

If you are absolutely clear that the level is minimal then don't worry. If it could be that you were starting to push it a bit then rein it in now something has been said.

Easy solution.

OP, tell your manager you want to launch a grievance on whoever reported it.

Either your manager will fess up the asshole that complained, and if they do not, well, we know then that its your managercunt that has the issue.

Ergo, do the grievance on your manager for bullying and harassment.

Must it? I was sitting next to someone who had literally a 30 second phone call with a plumber today, just to confirm that yes, they’d be in at 6 for the plumber to come round. I noticed it. I didn’t care, but I don’t think it follows that just because someone notices something, it is therefore excessive.

The manager has to raise it if a complaint was made. Justifiable to do so

Your manager is using the old “someone has reported you, I can’t say who” because they’re a shit manager who for whatever reason won’t just come out with it and tell you to stop using your phone so much in work.

If it wasn’t an issue for your manager they should have shut down the “anonymous reporter” and not mentioned it to you at all.

How often are you doing this @AmyRuby?

Are you sure it’s just using the phone for deliveries that’s being raised - phones are addictive and sometimes people are picking them up on and on them much more than they realise during the workday.

Yep, this!

I agree that the manager wouldn’t have said something unless it really was an issue.

Clearly not a harmonious group then if a complaint has been raised

This is the kind of thing my manager would say if it was bugging him. He'd make out that someone had complained.

Blimey. What kind of person would even notice?

I manage a large team and I would not give a flying fuck about this. Your manager should have told the petty colleague to wind their neck in.

I imagine that your boss does have an issue with it or why would it be mentioned in your one to one?

It's bad management and very gutless. If she does have an issue with it, she should've talked to you about it. If she doesn't, she should've told the colleague (perhaps in more professional terms) to keep their beak out.