To be so angry and think I've been treated unfairly at work?!?

[Justholdthesmile]

So a couple of months back I had a disciplinary for lateness, which happens when you are late on 3 occasions within 3 months.

It takes me an hour and half minimum to drive to work.

First instance - 5 minutes late due to traffic,
Second instance - I logged onto my computer 1 minute late.
Third instance - a water pipe burst so half a busy road was closed so very slow moving traffic resulting in me being about half an hour late.

I did call to explain the situation and was told by the senior manager that it was ok. But I still ended up late logged.

Had my disciplinary and got a written warning. Which ok fair enough, dealt with it and since then have had no more lates.

Today quite a large number of people were late due to again a burst water pipe. Nothing has happened and these people have not been late logged.

Aibu to be very angry?! I don't want my colleagues to get disciplined or punished at all but surely the same rules should apply to everyone.

I think it was only me who was affected the first time with the water pipe as I travel from a completely different city to the vast majority. But surely that shouldn't be relevant.

how do you know nobody else's late arrival was logged? it wouldn't bedone publically, surely.

traffic etc should be allowed for in your journey time. i routinely plan to arrive 15 minutes before the time i am due.

if you really feel you have a grievance you should discuss it privately with your line manager. were you not given an opportunity to speak during your disciplinary?

in any case, what's done is done. lateness affects the whole team, not just one person.

I think you need to look for a job closer to home.

Presumably re the water pipe incident today, it affected so many people that discretion is being used in this particular case.

3 hours commuting a day isn't great and you will end up being late unless you allow even more time for the journey to cover events like burst pipes

YANBU. I would be pretty pee'd off with that too.

Would a quiet word in the ear of your supervisor/team leader work? Obviously, if they were one of the ones who was late I would bypass them and go higher.

It's really not on that they "get away with it" when you have been penalised and sucked it up. Alternatively, could you ask for your disciplinary and written warning to be removed from your file, if burst water mains are an acceptable reason for lateness?

I got a ten minute bollocking for being one whole minute late this week. I'm usually 20 minutes early. There was a van blocking the entrance to the car park and I had to go and find a set of keys from another office. I'm the only one there at that time, I told my boss so she didn't have see it on the logs and I still got ranted at. Begs belief. I think some managers get a little bit of power and it goes to their head.

I don't understand these offices where lateness is so harshly punished? Surely they'd rather you did well and worked hard...

I make a point of working in offices where 5/10 minutes late isn't the end of the world as long as you are performing well. Because tbh I am either half-an-hour early, or 5 minutes late depending on how much poo DS gets everywhere

If you can, find somewhere less totalitarian to work!

Would I terribly wide of the mark if I guessed you work in a call centre Smile?

The reason I ask is that I used to, and on one notable occasion a colleague whose time keeping was usually faultless afaik arrived 10 minutes late due to traffic. Anyway, they made her stay ten minutes late: fair enough you might say but the lines closed at midday, so she had to sit there for ten minutes just so that a point could be made.

It wasn't me honest, but I was thirty eight at the time and I thought fuck this for a game of soldiers, I left school 20 years ago, I don't do detentions and I don't expect my collegaues to either, and I left pretty damn sharpish after that.

Slightly off the point I know, but it does seem that you have been treated a bit unequally....

traffic etc should be allowed for in your journey time. i routinely plan to arrive 15 minutes before the time i am due.

Honestly I do account for traffic. In non rush hour traffic it takes 50minutes. In rush hour can take an 1hour30 or sometimes 40. Sometimes it can be shorter, it's very unpredictable.

I leave at 7am to get there for 9am. Giving me enough time to get there without rushing.

I would hate to work anywhere like that. Is it a call centre? I would find another job as it must be really soul destroying.

I agree that if you had a late log due to a water pipe, your colleagues should too. I agree with the poster who said that you should ask to have yours removed if the same isn't applied to your colleagues.

Yes, perhaps better to ask if you can be treated same as the others, rather than have them punished with you.

How do you know they haven't please?

But you were called in on the third time of being late, not the first. And I'm assuming that they didn't announce round the office "Smile's got to come and have a meeting about a written warning for being late"?
So you don't know whether it was logged for them or not.

There is also a difference between one person saying "oh there was a burst pipe that made the traffic slow"-which could be an excuse (I was great on excuses at school. Choose a true aspect, that no one can prove effected you or not.) and a lot of the company being late for the same reason.

It may well be that there were others from your city (you say vast majority, not none from the other direction) who arrived on time, thus making your excuse looking a bit suspect.

As far as I know only 2 colleagues would travel in the same direction as me (we have a map at work so you can see if you live near someone so car share) the nearest person to me is half an hour away. I don't know if they would use the same road as me as there is a motorway nearby - but I avoid it as there seems to be constantly standstill traffic.

I asked one woman (sits opposite) if she got late logged and she said she hadn't.

I know I had two lates before (I do think the 1 minute is harsh but ok still a late) but that third late was difference between a verbal and written warning which goes on my record. I've had no more lates since so by now my other two lates would be invalid.

full disclosure: lateness drives me bonkers.

and 5 minutes here or there really adds up and can cause division in a team. in the team i used to manage, one colleague would shut her computer down at 16.50, and be stood with her coat on and her bag in her hand from five-to. i had to address it, which is what your manager has done, in line with your company policy. your working hours will be in your contract, and it really isn't just a guideline - them's the rules.

as i said, if you have an official grievance, ask for a meeting with your line manager and HR. mumsnet isn't going to get your warning removed from your file. in any case, it would usually be expunged after a year?

Thems the rules?

Pretty wrote my OP agreeing this. I accepted my disciplinary.

What I don't accept is other people being late for the same reason and it being overlooked.

Thems the rules? Exactly. Should not be one rule for me and a different one for other people.

then ask for a meeting with your line manager and HR to discuss your grievance. it's really the only option open to you at this point.

no point in impotent rage at strangers on the internet.

Perhaps call centres and the like would get better results from employees if they stopped treating grown men and women like children.

WTAF?

YANBU

Are you new to Mumsnet?

Totally agree withexWife's post.

Also I am a line manager in a call centre and yes the 1 minute might seem petty to you, but the question I always ask my staff in these situations is what would happen if everyone did the same thing? It might not seem like much to you but I've had weekend shifts before when everyone took their time logging in so we had no one available to take calls. We are targeted on all manner of things so this can really have an impact.

barbarianmum - i'm a fast learner!!

The th

Da

Bollocks sorry - stupid phone!

The thing I think with lateness is that if there is flexibility, it needs to work both ways. So I am sometimes 5 or 10 minutes late for work. However I work hard and will often work through my unpaid lunch break, or stay late if things get busy.

If I was pulled up on lateness I would accept it. However, I would also be a lot less willing to put in the extra time, make sure I got my break, and clock watch at the end of the day to make sure I was walking out of the office exactly on time. I think if you treat people like adults, the vast majority respond well and don't take advantage.

it really isn't a case of treating people like adults. a contract has been issued and signed. working hours are set. an adult would understand that, surely?

situations beyond anyone's control are a separate issue and the OP has the opportunity of recourse through her HR dept.

Agree again with exWife.