AIBU to resign?

[Ameliel]

I would love to hear your opinion; AIBU to resign? I have a pretty good job but my boss is driving me mad. I work as a designer for a consultancy. I realise I'm very lucky as I work 4 day week; money is pretty good, the office is 10 minutes from my house . I get a bonus, private health insurance, have allocated parking, nice desk and I like my job and feel that I'm totally on top of it... but it's just one thing that brings it all down...my boss is a total control freak. We need to sign in every morning and in and out even for lunch. If you're one minute late you are in trouble. My boss doesn't like microwave ovens so we haven't got one - I hear he actually threw the last microwave out after someone cooked "too smelly " food. Today I was told of for taking too many personal calls at work time. I have nanny who sometimes calls for advise, I feel that I need to take these calls. Few weeks ago my daughter was poorly,so I stayed home with her while the nanny took my other two to school. Then went to work for about an hour, then took my daughter to doctors (that was the only appointment available), then worked from home until nanny was back home with the other two children, then went to office and worked until late to make my hours up. I got told off , my boss said I should have not worked from home but should have taken a holiday instead. He is basically very set in his ways; quite chauvinist (and I'm the only female engineer in the company of 25 , I often feel he looks down on me because of my sex). he doesn't approve flexible hours or working from home ( even in emergencies). I have plenty of experience and used to have a lot more responsibility in my last job, but in this job I have to run everything past the boss. I have been there for 2.5years and was hoping it would have been my "forever " job, but I'm not sure anymore.. it seems like a dead end. There's no trust or communication, my boss doesn't include me in any decisions. I have been looking around and could find another job fairly easily...But I don't think I will find anything as good in terms of location or remuneration if I leave, but the constant controlling of every little thing is eroding my confidence and making me feel really down... am I overreacting or should I just keep my head down and appreciate the good points of the job? WWYD?

In my job (education) we have to check in and out, even to pop to the co-op to get lunch.
No phones allowed in the classroom..they have to stay on silent in the cupboard... in an emergency you are (reluctantly) allowed to keep it with you on silent.
We do have a microwave in teh staff room but also a ton of passive agressive notes about keeping it clean !

TBH your hours and perks sound pretty good... I'd be wary of jumping ship only to find that somewhere else is no different!

I worked as an engineer.
We had to swipe a card to go in and out for security reasons as well as pay.

Using holiday to care for a sick child was expected.
The site manager used to review the site phone records to see who was making personal calls.
Cooking smelly food in the microwave was not appreciated.

So even if you leave, you could find the above at another workplace.

I agree with you about the micromanagement though. I have worked for a manager who was mentally ill, another was a bully, and one had no idea what I did and used to assign completely unrealistic time constraints. Although annoying to various degrees they were nowhere near as frustrating, confidence destroying, and flat out insulting as the one micro-manager I had to work for briefly.

Signing in and out could be for safety reasons. It was mentioned in a recent fire safety training course. In a building evacuation everyone can be accounted for.

I'm in the same situation but I've been tgere 4 years and it's literally destroyed my soul, it's taken a mental breakdown and therapy to see it's not me, my confidence was so worn down and I was made to feel so useless.
I'm currently on mat leave and in the process of plotting my escape, unfortunately I'll have to return for a while but now I know it's them not me so hopefully I'll be stronger.

Don't let them grind you down it's not worth your health.

Is this a wind up ? I'd love to see you work in a warehouse for one day and see how you get on. There is millions out there that would love to be in your position. Toughen up and get on with it.

Have a talk with your boss. Explain that in previous roles you had flexibility and felt trusted to deliver. You appreciate that there has to be discipline in the office, but that you would like him to manage you by results not timekeeping. he has probably had piss takers previously, and is now strict and a bit old fashioned as a result. If he's not receptive then you know where you stand, but in lots of ways your job is ideal, and you'd be losing a lot by moving.

Yes but once you leave the warehouse - that's it, your time is your time.
There are a lot of jobs with "perks" when you are also expected to either be available or you do spend an awful amount of your personal time thinking and solving work problems. If you added up all this time the pay would go down considerably and the perks not worth the pressure

Why should it be a wind up? If she cannot get another job then yes, she will have to suck it up. If she can find another job without an evil boss then it's surely worth it. Life's not a race to the bottom.

God yes. Retail, warehouse, anything like that. Most hospitals have stricter rules than this

But then.. If you're not happy, you're not happy. The risk is getting another job and finding it's no different

I can empathise with what you are saying about micro-management. It's like a slow drip, drip effect. Other people can just ignore it but it really effects others.
I had a change of manager from one with a 'your a highly qualified individual and I trust you' attitude to a 'clock-watching micro-manager'. Respect has to be mutual. It's soul destroying and I'm planning my exit even though I love my job.

Teatime . Same position here.

Rainbow sorry you've got the same

The time thing could also be for billing. I worked for a division of my old employer where I was rented out to other departments who needed an engineer for a few hours a week. I had to keep careful track of my time and what I did for billing purposes.

I had to do the same when I was self employed too, for my own peace of mind that I wasn't billing customers for non-productive hours.