Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To arrive at work and make a cup of coffee?

254 replies

FunnysInLaJardin · 07/02/2014 22:20

I have been criticised today for arriving at work and after logging on etc making a cup of coffee. Doesn't everyone do this? Or am I living in the dark ages and I should arrive and start work straight away? Maybe I should delay my first cup of coffee for a half an hour or some such?

OP posts:
OhTheDrama · 09/02/2014 10:42

I do this too! Log on, make a coffee then come back and check my emails. Never had anything said to me but it is quite laid back where I work.

maddening · 09/02/2014 12:01

we all make rounds in our office - sometimes I have one made for me sometimes I do it -it works well and is nice for the team atmosphere

daisychain01 · 09/02/2014 12:59

Funnys, I'm glad you have something to compare, between the manager who trusted you (and how very dare he retire!!), how it felt to be respected, versus the "gain a Fiver and lose a Tenner" brigade. I know this day and age its such a tough environment out there its difficult to pick and choose jobs and working conditions, but I guess the only advice I can give FWIW, is keep your antennae up when you go for job interviews, sometimes it can be revealing to observe the people, do they look happy, motivated, and positive.?

It can be a good indicator of whether its a company you will enjoy working in, so you dont jump out of the frying pan into the fire

I had a lovely boss who used to make me a cuppa! Now everyone makes for themselves ( yuk instant powdered rubbish ) I demand Lavazza as a minimum Grin

Mosschopz · 09/02/2014 13:27

I don't/wouldn't do this as I don't have time to get everything done in the working day as it is. I eat my lunch standing up most of the time too. Living the dream, eh?

susiedaisy · 09/02/2014 13:35

I work in a hospital on a ward and you have to arrive before your shift starts to make a drink. shift then starts with a verbal handover you can drink your coffee during that but then it's on the ward and you aren't allowed any food or drink until the nurse in charge says when we can start breaks that's if we get them. You also have to inform another team member when you pop to the toilet so that they know you are off the ward. It's hard to be told when you are allowed to have a break especially as my job is physically hard work. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to pass out where I'm so hungry or tired. Late shifts aren't so bad as you can eat at home before work but an early shift can be tough.

TiredFeet · 09/02/2014 14:15

I always start the day at work with a cup of coffee, and sometimes a second breakfast as well. That said I will also use that time to be planning my day ahead/thinking about a difficult case/ gossiping with getting updates from colleagues.

MyNameIsKenAdams · 09/02/2014 14:22

I have a pc and phone in front of me and a kettle sat on top of a fridge begind me. I can nake the brews without leaving my seat.

I tend to get in ten mins early, fill the kettle and get the milk and mugs.

We brew up regularly in my dept. but tend not to go for 'proper breaks'. I have been known to not once leave my office on a shift, even not needing the loo.

starfishmummy · 09/02/2014 15:13

I work part time and get enough "comments" about my short hours as it is. As drink have to be taken in the staff room I make sure that, if I have a coffee on arrival it is in my own time.

AdventColander · 09/02/2014 15:14

YANBU. I once had my boss say to me, "Haven't you got any work to do? Why are you just sitting there?" While I was waiting for my pc to boot up. Booting up took about 10 minutes in those days. So now I always go and make a drink once I've logged on. It makes be look busy is a more productive use of my time thsn just sitting there. Most of my work is on the pc so its not as if i can do anything else while I'm waiting. Your manager sounds like a control freak OP.

chocolatemademefat · 10/02/2014 00:00

Its lovely for all you folk in offices to have your tea and coffee when you get to the office. Not so lovely for your employers who pay you to work and presumably give you a morning tea break. Bet you wouldnt be so laid back about it if you had to go shopping before you went to work and whoever was on the checkout told you to wait at the till while she popped off to make a quick cuppa. Its typical of todays selfish attitudes and workers believing the world owes them a living. You're there to work your allotted hours so get on with it and stop guzzling at your work stations and talking as if its the norm. My arse - maybe if you worked in the caring profession as I do you wouldnt be so used to putting yourself first. So yes - YABVU. Do what youre being paid to do!

LoveSewingBee · 10/02/2014 00:07

Your boss sounds like an obsessed micro-manager ... You can't win, I would take a thermos flask for a week or so. See what she has to say to that. If she complains about that as well then she is wholly unreasonable and trying to get rid of you. Time to make a note of every little incident I think.

LoveSewingBee · 10/02/2014 00:10

Chocolate - most people I know work far more hours than they are paid for. Most people in offices don't get overtime you know.

What matters for employers is to get the best out of people and this is certainly not the way to do it!

Lighthousekeeping · 10/02/2014 00:15

Maybe it depends on the job. I get to work extra early and have a coffee before I start and then wait until my official break for my next one. Seems fair to me.

LCHammer · 10/02/2014 00:21

Chocolate - you work in the caring professions, do you? It's definitely hardened you. What's it to you if someone takes 5 min for a coffee and that doesn't affect you? Just because you don't get a break doesn't make it right. It's not a race to the bottom. We're talking about people, not robots. Many surprises that turnover and burnout is so high on some sectors?

EBearhug · 10/02/2014 00:24

Its lovely for all you folk in offices to have your tea and coffee when you get to the office. Not so lovely for your employers who pay you to work and presumably give you a morning tea break.

No set breaks. We're expected to be capable of managing our own time, get to meetings on time and so on. I can't remember the last time I worked only the 40 hours a week I'm contracted to work.

ShadowFall · 10/02/2014 01:57

Chocolate - we don't have set tea breaks at my office. We get a lunch break, but aside from that, most people are taking their drinks straight back to their desks / into meetings and getting on with their work.

And believe it or not, in some jobs, including mine, it is possible to work effectively at a computer while drinking a cup of tea.

Artandco · 10/02/2014 07:06

Chocolate- today I will work 8am-7pm, no set breaks. Therefore if I have a quiet 10 mins I will use for drink/ food/ toilet

DumSpiroSpero · 10/02/2014 07:20

Chocolate...

I have worked in offices for 17 years, I haven't, and don't know any other office worker who has ever had an allocated tea break in that time.

I've been lucky that most of the offices I've worked in have been very laid back, but in return those bosses get staff who are happy to 'go the extra mile' when it's needed.

Southeastdweller · 10/02/2014 08:09

chocolate Allocated tea breaks never happen in the offices me and my friends have worked in - what industry is your experience in? It can't really be caring, can it?

I'll be thinking about you in half an hour shortly after I log in when I take a leisurely walk to get my breakfast Wink.

SirChenjin · 10/02/2014 08:13

Yeah, that's exactly it Chocolate - nearly 25 years in the NHS and it's just one long tea break here (interspersed by lunch breaks and trips to the shops).

Trills · 10/02/2014 08:52

I don't have an official start time or end time.

So if I arrive and make a coffee, my "start time" can be once I've done that, if you want to clock-watch.

rumbleinthrjungle · 10/02/2014 09:51

Chocolate, I've never walked away from the phone or been unavailable during contact hours because I was getting a drink, but yes working in an office IS different to face to face delivery and I've done both. Thinking of the days when I developed a cast iron bladder and kidney infections because I couldn't leave to get to the loo for 5 hours. There are plusses and minuses to every job, and you to the possible extent get to pick what kind of job you want to do.

In both fields, I worked with people who arrived well before their paid start time and often worked past the end of it, and if they made tea for themselves usually made it for anyone else around at the time.

CaptainGrinch · 10/02/2014 10:08

Get to work, log on, make brew #1, have cereal whilst checking mail & waiting for PC to finish booting.

Once that's done, it's time for brew #2, quickly followed by morning loo trip while it cools down.

Several more brews & before you know it, it's lunch time!! We're only a few brews away from home time then....

On a serious note, at our place it only takes a couple of minutes to make a brew & it's actually quite nice to talk to people from other departments while you're doing it - often leads to more formal meetings to discuss what was raised.

I should imagine it's different in a call centre type environment, but even then you're meant to have a "screen break" every so often which is the ideal time to put the kettle on...

Original poster
FunnysInLaJardin · 10/02/2014 20:33

oh dear chocolate are you quite OK? FWIW I emailed and asked about this today and got some fudged reply about how it wasn't me and they know I work hard but if other saw it well they might just turn into almighty slackers by following my example. Bollocks it was!

BTW no tea break here and IMO the last time any office worker enjoyed them was in the 1980's when I started work. 10.45 - 11am every day!

OP posts:
stayanotherday · 10/02/2014 21:25

I have tea as soon as I arrive, offer to make everybody else tea and drink it while working as we have no tea breaks. We are adults in 2014 not prisoners in the salt mines.