Was my reply unreasonable?

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I was pulled up by my manager yesterday about something I said a few weeks ago (along with other things).

For a few months we've had a temporary manager for one day a week when our regular manager is off. She knows that everyone is entitled to an hours lunch break.

On this one occasion I was about 2 minutes 'late' coming back from lunch as my mum called me just as I was going back to work (I answered just in case it was about DS who she looks after). The temp. manager asked me, in front of other staff, on my return what time I gone on lunch. I was a bit taken aback and replied without thinking 'about an hour ago' and another member of staff started laughing (it wasn't meant to be funny).

It bothered me a bit at the time that she had asked me, as I am the most senior member of staff, apart from her and thought she was out of order for asking - like she thought I was going to take longer than I was supposed to.

I've put 'late' in quote marks above as we don't have a clocking in/out system, to my knowledge no-one has ever been asked this question before and we rarely leave work on time (and are not paid for this) due to certain aspects of the work that means we cannot leave in the middle of it.

My boss said that my reply was unprofessional and I should have replied saying that I had taken an hour and two minutes due to the phone call. The temp. manager has admitted that she genuinely did not know what time I went on lunch but as I said above, I have never heard her or my boss ask anyone else this.

I was awake for an hour this morning, before my alarm went off with this going over in my head. Was my reply unreasonable and unprofessional?

(As an aside, I do believe that my boss is trying to 'manage' me out of there and after a few off the record comments yesterday, have even more reason to believe she is)

I don't think your reply was unreasonable. An occasional 2 minutes can be caused by clocks being slightly out. Presumably you sometimes had 58 minutes for lunch.

I think what you said was perfectly fine. If the temp manager is going to discuss stuff like that in front of the whole office others are going to listen and giggle or raise eyebrows. If they were that bothered they should have pulled you to one side and asked how long you'd been rather than putting you on the spot and you could have explained.

Seems rather minor to making a big deal to me but then I pick my fights.

I don’t think what you said was unprofessional, as long as you didn't say it sarcastically.

She's a twat. Stop worrying about it. Good managers don't clock watch or micro manage.

An hour for lunch? Luxury...

Your reply was perfectly reasonable but I would watch this woman very carefully, and watch every remark you make in her hearing; make sure you don't take a minute more than you are entitled to; she is clearly out to get you. Something similar happened to me years ago; we had an hour for lunch then it was announced that we couldn't leave the premises until five minutes after start of break, and must return five minutes before end; she watched until she caught me returning three minutes before end instead of five and it was used as a complaint. The reason I, and many others, left the premises every day was because of her habit of sitting mute in the corner of the staffroom, then reporting back on everyone's conversations to a paranoid Head.Needless to say, she was speedily promoted.

First, she should have spoken to you privately about this and not in front of other staff; that's unprofessional.

Your boss is being unreasonable too. Like you I don't clock watch and often stay later than my finishing time unpaid to finish a task. I would be extremely unhappy if I had been publicly spoken to about the extra 2 minutes I had allegedly taken for lunch and would have listed all the extra time I had given to the company that week and previous months and years if really pee'd off.

If this is bothering you OP, have a quiet word with manager pointing out all the extras you do for the company unpaid and obviously unappreciated and explain that you feel that this member of staff was unreasonable to speak to you in public like that and that in future he/she should have a private word if there is a problem like you are doing with manager.

Good luck.

Your reply was perfectly accurate. An hour and two minutes is "about an hour". And anyway, if you don't check in and out, how does anyone know precisely when you left? You have have been two minutes late at that stage.

I really hate this micro managing. In my last job i worked shifts on a 3 week rotation (7.30-4.15, 9.30-6.15 and 8.45-5.30). I used to get the train to work, and on the early shift my train was an hour later than my shift finish. So i used to work an extra 45 mins 5 days out of 15. I never really thought about it - id rather do that than hang around a station. One day i was late back from lunch by 7 mins. My boss hadn't seen me leave but out of courtesy (as she sat next to me) i said 'sorry, i'm a bit late' on my return. She said 'how late are you' and i said '7 mins'. She said loudly 'well you'll have to make it up tonight'. Then at 5.25 when my colleagues started packing up she said loudly 'remember Koala, you owe us 7 minutes' . I never was late again but i also never worked late and instead read my book in the communal lounge. What a total berk. 7 fucking minutes!

Anyway, if i were you i would mention that you would prefer that kind of comment to be made in private if at all