to refuse to go to a work related meeting in my lunch hour when I already have a lunch arranged?

[SpringSunshine]

Just what it says really - work want me to go to a 1pm meeting. My lunch hour is 1pm - 2pm and I usually meet my mother on the days she has the children as she is not well and I like to give her a bit of a break - the kids can be a bit full on when she has them both as they bicker and fight ...

I think if you can be flexible on this occasion and go to the meeting it will act in your favour. Like others have said, flexibility cuts both ways and sometimes we just have to take the hit so to speak.

Just seen you're going to the meeting. Think it's the right decision OP!

Ha ha I must be very militant but at this short notice, and with no lunch break possible because of the meeting, I would rearrange the meeting. No way would I put my mum off, or miss my break.

Unless the boss asked me really nicely, and as he is an arsehole, I doubt that is the case.

Problem is bequick if you do that then the time that you need to leave early for an appointment, or want a day off for an emergency then the boss will also refuse or make it difficult because it is short notice. Flexibility (or lack of) works both ways!

I think people should be flexible. But on the other hand it is unreasonable to ask you to have virtually no lunch hour to make this round trip. This working lunch lark. There is no such thing as a working lunch. You should get a lunch break by law after you have worked so many hours.

If it's a one off, I would just suck it up and do the meeting to be honest. Get yourself a sandwich and eat it on the way. Being as you meet with your mum as a favour to her it's more of a 'nice to have' than an essential like a doctor's appointment, and I'm sure your mum would realise that on this one occasion you have to put work first.

As someone who's had a lot of people management responsibility, I'd always avoid holding meetings over lunch, but if it was the only time a client could manage (for example) then I would expect a reasonable amount of flexibility from my team. To be absolutely frank I might be a bit about an employee who made a big deal about missing lunch as a one off, wanted TOIL etc. unless they were on particularly low pay, had a genuine appointment planned, or their break was a statutory or contractual requirement to be had at a certain time. It's generally not worth drawing negative attention over something like this unless it's a regular occurrence and you're getting taking advantage of.

Ah cross post - agree, good decision