Comment from director at work

[Karting1967]

Yesterday evening one of the directors at work emailed me to do something. Clearly it could have waited till today but it only took 10 minutes, I had my laptop out anyway plus it was more convenient to do it there and then as I’ll be out of the office most of today.

His reply (copied to the other 3 directors) was “Watch TV and do this tomorrow! Thanks anyway you nutter!”

Am I overreacting to think that was an unnecessary comment?

I would actually be quite chuffed.
It acknowledges that I am going above and beyond,
It acknowledges that you have a good working relationship

It’s the kind of thing I would send out of hours to one of my colleagues or direct line reports.
I am horrified you are horrified.
And I am going to make sure that they understand my sense of humour today!!
(And they will probably think that I am the “nutter” when I explain why)

If this was all I had to worry about in my job I’d be a happy chicken.

Stop trying to find issues where there are none, surely no-ones short of real problems?

Shame there's no snowflake icon. Have a instead

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe

That's damn good advice, which I'm going to take, even though it wasn't for me.

*Would this response have been appropriate if the OP had emailed her director with that when he first sent her the work request?

If she had said “What are you doing working at this time of night, you nutter?!” Or something to that effect?*

No, that response wouldn't have been appropriate because it's from employee to boss rather than the other way round. The OP's boss is telling her that he doesn't expect her to work out of hours to get a task done and he's done it a light-hearted and jovial way. The reaction is absurd.

But this is my point - if it’s such a jovial work environment surely this banter would be appropriate in both directions??

You're overreacting. Seriously.

"Would this response have been appropriate if the OP had emailed her director with that when he first sent her the work request? "

Probably not appropriate to reply to a work request with a "why are you sending me this email outside of work hours, you nutter", no

Different context though imo, so not the same at all.

I'm glad it's helpful for you, RoboticSealPup, as I said, I wish I'd cottoned on much much earlier than I did, it would have saved a lot of anguish.

I'm much happier with these boundaries and people don't attempt to take advantage because everything about me-at-work now gives off the 'don't mess with me' vibe. :)

In my opinion, the email comes across as quite patronising but may not have been intended as such.

But this is my point - if it’s such a jovial work environment surely this banter would be appropriate in both directions

No it wouldn't be appropriate in both directions, and it doesn't need to be. There are a shit load of things that a boss can say to an employee that the employee shouldn't say to their boss.

When I left work on Monday my linemanager said to me "Go home and dont think about work for 2 days and do NOT answer your emails" (I told her yes mum - she is a few years younger than me) She was being nice. Wanting me to have some time off as I have had a stressful few weeks and I am working at least 1 day each weekend over 4 this will be my only 2 days off in a row.. for those 4 weeks.

She was being nice and I think your boss was trying to be nice too.. the nutter part to me was an attempt of being friendly too.

I have done a bit of work as I had a woman contact me over a issue she had (I am her line manager) so i dealt with it a little bit in as far as I got her passed on to a manager at work who is in at the moment and they are sorting her situation. (Not something that can be left until Thursday)

I have not however even looked at my email

@somerford why does this apply to “jokes” though.

@enko but you obviously have that kind of relationship with your boss if you felt comfortable to jokingly say “yes mum”

Things are appropriate if everybody is ok with it only and it seems as though OP is not (but happy to stand corrected if she states otherwise)

Patronising how?

@Fivelittleduckies I believe sometimes we should see the best in people. In the case of op and her boss here I think he was worried she had felt he had made her work when she was off and wanted to make sure she got when he emailed in the future he was not trying to make her do so right now. To me " you nutter" is something you say to someone you like and are friendly with. I would not feel offended if any co worker I had a friendly relationship with said it to me.

I think he was being over familiar, it would be appropriate if he was a friend as well as a colleague and you regularly bantered with him, but from what you've shared on here, that clearly isn't the case. But the word 'nutter' in that context is not meant to suggest you have MH issues, he was basically saying that you should have left some time ago. He wasn't expecting you to even see the email before tomorrow.

I also think he copied the other directors in because he didn't want them to think he had told you it had to be done right then.

I really wouldn't worry about it. Say nothing about it and move on.

He should have said:

"Thanks for doing that so quickly. I didn't intend to disturb your evening just wanted to send the request while it was in my mind."

That said I think its clear his response is meant to be a joke and I really wouldn't think anything of it. If you want you could reply that you wanted to do it straightaway as you are out of the office most of tomorrow.

That said I think its clear his response is meant to be a joke and I really wouldn't think anything of it.

I completely agree.

I think that OP has a right to feel put off or offended by what her director said, it certainly wasn’t the most considerately worded response (and I disagree with the many comments suggesting what an overreaction it’s been on OPs behalf)

But I do think the director had no ill intention and this was perhaps a very backhanded way of even complimenting the OP (but very poorly worded imo)

I’m with you because another senor manage did the same thing ans got a thanks.
The ‘nutter’ wasn’t nice, even if it was meant to be.

But for me, worse was the fact he is not expecting you to be able to do that sort of thing and that he expects you to be busy with the house/dcs/watching tv!!! rather than doing something he would see as professional for a man.
as well as the patronising tone where he has to explain to the poor woman when she is supposed to work because she can’t possibly know that herself.

I think it very much depends on the kind of working relationship you have with this person. I work with lots of people who would send me that kind of email, and I wouldn't be offended at all because it's the sort of tone we use regularly (and they all know I definitely WOULD be watching the telly usually ). But if you don't have quite that kind of relationship, it maybe is a bit to send an email like that out of the blue iyswim.

You need a chill pill - a big one.

Bye, ime, if it feels patronising to you then it’s probably patronising.

Just like, when a man tells you something that is, on paper, innocent, but feels like freaky/an opening to see if they could have a ‘banter’ etc..
Then it probably is too,

I’m with you because another senor manage did the same thing ans got a thanks.

The person who got just 'thanks' was a director, so the same level as the sender, though.

It might be that the sender is also a massive misogynist or that there's something else going on, but the OP hasn't mentioned that so on the face of it, I'd think that directors in the OP's company are expected to put in extra hours whereas managers aren't.

My boss sends me the exact same message if I do something at a time she expects me to be offline.

It’s her way of telling me she loves me