to think all public sector workers

[ChuffinAda]

Should be chained to the job, not allowed time off for personal reasons and should pay us, the tax payers, for the privilege? That they should not be permitted lunch breaks and shouldn't be able to claim expenses?

Or am I being ever so slightly maybe possibly unreasonable in my expectation that they are robots?

Yy to buying own diaries.

We had a senior manager shadow one day. He said 'but you shouldn't need them - just update the calendar on your mobile, it should sync to your computer'.

I looked at him like and pulled out my ancient Nokia.
He had no idea we didn't all have state of the art phones. They literally live in a different world.

Yes to the equipment by hierarchy rather than need! I had a job that required me to make site visits 2-3 days per week but also to be accessible to the public 5 days a week. At my grade we were allowed an ancient Nokia. Most enquiries could be dealt with quickly by checking online files, sending a quick email etc, but I was allowed neither laptop nor smartphone so literally all I could do was spend time answering a phone to say I couldn't help then spend more time calling people back when I was in an office. It was insane. Feeling much better about giving it up for sahm-dom now!