Shocked by work colleague - take the piss Friday!

[RosieLeaLovesTea]

I was at work today and I was getting a few teams chat messages from a colleague. Basically saying she regarded it as take the loss Friday because less people were around and less meetings arranged- she was not working. She said she had order her food shop to be delivered and was going to get her nails done. But would stay logged on in case anything came up! Her Manager does not work a Friday. I feel conflicted she is a nice colleague but she is taking the pee! I feel like I should report it? But the. She would know it was me?

It’s output not hours worked and thats to her manager to manage. People like this are always found out in the end. Especially as she’s being so blatant about telling you.

OP you don’t know if she works evenings, weekends etc so let this one go.

Don't you have better things to do with your life than snitch on colleagues?

Unless her actions affected you work/deadlines mind your own business.

I work in the office 100%, and I did the bare minimum yesterday 🤣 Don’t get involved in reporting this sort of thing, unless you share a line manager AND this behaviour is (1) regular, and (2) directly impacting you/your shared team. I’ve been in that position and took examples of the poor work and patchy attendance to our manager. Anything less than that, steer clear. You won’t be thanked for grassing in this sort of situation.
But I’d make sure the colleague didn’t get me caught up in chats about slacking off, because it may all come out. Create some distance, don’t respond to any messages like that. Management will see your work ethic 👍

Ive learnt from experience to mind my own business at work. Managing staff isnt my job.
I discovered my line manager was running her side business from work locked in her office and was spending a good part of her day doing this. The photos on the business tiktok site had her modelling stuff with her office in the background.
I didn't see that it was my business. HR picked it up though and there was trouble followed by numerous emails about the use of social media at work.

This if its a one off. If it's regular, you could leave it to her manager if it doesn't actually effect you, or if there is an impact on you, discuss that with your manager.

You have no idea of the context OP.

I’m working next week, but I’m not going into the office at all, and Thursday and Friday I’ll just deal with anything that comes in urgently, and check in with my junior reports. I won’t be proactively starting anything new, and I’ll probably pop out for my nails doing/ wrap some presents etc.

Ive worked like an absolute machine for the last 12 months, put in 60+ hours a week most weeks for the last 6 months on a 40 hour contract, and have given up evenings and weekends for weeks and weeks to deliver a major project alongside my usual workload. The company hasn’t insisted I do this, and I’ve done it without any ill will, as I really want the project to succeed.. But ive given far far more than I’m taking back in this last week of the year,

My HOD will be made aware - mainly so he knows to call me if something is urgent in case I’m not looking at email- and because he trusts my judgement and knows I wouldn’t take my foot off the gas if it would be detrimental to the business, I already know he will encourage me to take a gentle wind down into the break. Who knows? Maybe your colleagues manager has said the same?

I mean I’ve had times in my work when it’s been quiet (other times very busy) so feel like it averages out. If I’ve had a full on couple of weeks and was able to take it a bit easier on a Friday I would do because that’s the only way to get some time back because we don’t do official TOIL or anything. Getting shopping delivered when WFH is pretty normal, takes 10 mins at the most to get it in the house and put away. Also nails done could take the time of a normal lunch break so don’t think that’s a big deal.
My manager wouldn’t bat an eye if I did either of those things occasionally.

The OP is not to blame here. Its her colleague that fessed up to being a lazy ass.

Thats on them. The OP wouldnt have known unless told.

And yes the OP should "snitch"....lazy workers affect everyone - and if that colleague was fucking stupid enough to post about it on Teams, the OP should screenshot it and send to her/their manager and HR and let them deal with it.

The lazy ass colleague would have no one to blame but themselves for being lazy and for being stupid enough to put it in a message that can be shared.

This is why I don’t agree with “working” from home.

She is silly telling you. I have my shopping delivered on Friday but do log on a bit earlier to make it up but literally 15 mins to sort and try and get it delivered in my lunch hour. The nails she could do it in her lunch hour. When i am in the office i am in at 7.30 and work until 4.30. I never take the mickey and if do need an hour off i ask my line manager.

But … would work consider the OP to be ‘complicit’ if they did track the message and took action? Because she didn’t pull the colleague up?

might it be worth replying along the lines of ‘Well I know you, you’ll make the time up’ or ‘So long as you make the time up I can’t see that being a problem, but of course you will’

I am so glad I don’t work with people with this attitude.

Omg is this post real ? 😂

This sort of attitude towards taking the piss out of your employer on Fridays has been going on for years and years.

Which is why a director at my previous place of work would sometimes schedule a fire drill for 2.10pm on Friday afternoons. It was amazing just how many members of staff thought they could get away with taking a long lunch on Fridays, and were still in the pub.😂

What is the issue here tho? I always order my food shop when when I’m wfh - I can still do work just in a separate browser. Obviously if it’s busy then I don’t. But if there are less meetings, and nothing to do - is there anything else she could be getting on with?

Getting her nails done is also not that bad - lots of people do it on their lunch break.

don’t report it, she obviously trusts you. Maybe you should also get out and get your nails done

People in office can also slack on Fridays. The amount of (coffee) meetings some have is making me concerned for their heart😂
Many people are generally just hattered on friday.
Big supporter of 4 day week. I did it for a while with condensed hours and it's life changing

I loathe snitches, By snitches I mean assholes who rat on a colleague for taking a long lunch, nipping home ten minutes early and similar. This is not the same thing as reporting gross misconduct which could endanger employees or the public or bring the company into disrepute or financial loss. I would probably keep quiet about this colleague if her behaviour did not affect my workload. In the unlikely event you get pulled up Its easy to say that you didnt pay much attention to the message (as you were mid task) and forgot about it later because you were concentrating on your work.

What?

Working honestly and not pandering to people who take the piss, who then send a Teams note about it to others and then expect them to stay silent?

Nah, fuck that.

You take the piss and tell me, I'm sure as hell dobbing your ass in.

I'm glad I dont work with lazy people that you seem to endorse.

I personally wouldn't snitch on her - she will know it's you and things could get nasty at work, just not worth it. However, I would be careful not to engage about what she does - you should always assume management can read Teams messages. I tend to cover myself, there is someone at work similar to your colleague so if they say something like "I'm so bored I'm getting my nails done" I may reply "Gosh, I'm a bit overloaded here, but nevermind, Xmas soon!". Someone says they are ordering groceries, just reply "I'm still slogging through the X account invoices ha ha" or whatever. Just to it's clear should anyone read it I was not tempted to also get my nails done! I'd also mention if you see her face to face that management can read Teams messages, then it's up to her what she does with that info.

Just do the same.

If this person is otherwise on top of her workload and it doesn't affect anyone then I would let it go. If you are having to pick up her work then I'm not sure what I would do. Probably nothing in the first instance - wait and see.

Surely this is a wind up? I think most people are taking the foot off the gas at this time of year. I’d saved up some TOIL for this Friday but my manager has said I just need to have my work phone on and on my person, she isn’t expecting me to be slaving away the week before Christmas. I have a lot to do in work before Friday but I will be spending Friday wrapping gifts, walking my dog and only answering urgent matters. I think she plans to do the same! We work our buts off year round so it’s ok to have a slow day. I’ve seen people turn up to work and do less while physically at their desks so it’s swings and roundabouts!

She’s working from home but in my workplace this week there was wreath making, christmas quiz, christmas jumper day and a Christmas market. I think staff working from home should be entitled to a bit of slack if office colleagues are.

Unless someone else is picking up the slack because of this you should just keep quiet.

Perhaps she had very little to do? If you're waiting for others to give input into a project and they're not responding, there's only so much chasing you can do, especially if they're on leave.