About breakfast at work

[WishingILivedOnAnIsland]

Every day without fail one of our senior administrators comes in on time, gets herself settled, then spends 10 minutes in the kitchen constructing a complicated bowlful of breakfast. She takes the bowl to her desk and slowly eats in the open plan office until around 9:30am. She then signals the start of her work day by returning her bowl to the kitchen. Anyone who approaches her regarding work prior to The Bowl’s Return is met with a withering look and an ‘excuse me I am eating my breakfast’ as though they’ve walked into her own kitchen out of hours and demanded a favour.

I’m her manager and I’m starting to get complaints. Both about her commandeering an additional 30 odd minutes break, and also about the tart rebuke she gives anyone who dares interrupt her morning ritual.

Here’s the thing- I don’t really care that she does this as in every other way she is a sensational employee. She is a proud set-in-her-ways kind of person and wont respond well to negative feedback. It would be a disaster if she quit and we had to replace her with a mediocre employee whose only advantage is that they eat their breakfast at home.

So AIBU to let this breakfast nonsense play on? My colleagues seem to think so and are salty with me for my inaction thus far.

It’s also assuming that no one else loses time through fag breaks, long lunches, reading the internet, excessive gossip.

It's also assuming that she does none of these things as well as taking half an hour over breakfast.

oops! Already said above! I didn't see there was another page.

Great minds saraclara

It's also assuming that this particular employee does none of those things as well as the 30 minute breakfast

Yeah but she’s finishing up other people’s work for them, due to her own efficiency, so if she is wasting additional time she’s some kind of work machine.

OPs words: ‘ She is a proud set-in-her-ways kind of person and wont respond well to negative feedback’

This woman sounds like a fricking pain in the arse... the type who expects everyone to dance to her tune, who seriously expects to be able to ignore colleagues between 9-9:30 and who clearly will throw a hissy fit if their manager dares to actually pick them up on their poor behaviour.

OP she is really not a good employee. A good employee will do the job competently without all this ridiculous nonsense

LaurieMarlow so the OP says, but I'm a bit cynical given the OP's clear bias towards her.

Jeez, bitter much?

No adaline. Not bitter at all. I’m now very happily retired after forty years in a job that I loved. A job where I was literally sometimes the difference between life and death. Now I have the freedom to do just as I please. So I really can’t take people seriously when they can swan in and out of their workplace at will.

So she has organised herself an underhand payrise ?

She works less hours for the same money. I'd be annoyed too.

Whisky I had lazily multiplied 2.5 by 52 weeks. But you get the gist!

But in this case, one member of staff is being treated differently to everyone else, because she is given preferential treat

I can't see how she's being given preferential treatment. OP seems to be a competent, thoughtful manager who treats her team as adults. I can't recall reading that she denies her other staff similar flexibility. If I've missed that, please do reference it for me

Doing those things doesn't make you any better than any other member of staff, though. Plenty of people can't work over their contracted hours for a whole load of reasons - transport, childcare, dogs to get home to - whatever it is.

It doesn't make me better, no. It makes me useful. And available at short notice which, any way you want to play it, is useful for my manager.

People's children, dogs and other reasons for not being 'on call' are perfectly acceptable: no issue there at all

My point was that, should my manager choose to micro manage my start time, she'd lose the one person in the team whom she can call on for a favour out of hours (the rest of the team all do have childcare responsibilities).

So, how would her playing strictly by the rules benefit anyone in that respect?

Doing those things doesn't make you any better than any other member of staff, though

When deadlines need to be met, these things matter to businesses.

@LaurieMarlow Thank you. That's all I was trying to say. I wasn't holding myself out as 'better'. Just pointing out that my flexibility comes in useful at times and I appreciate the fact that I get the same in return from my manager.

It's not about wether YOU mind or not though is it?

It's about how the team feel about it (and they don't like it). You are either a good team leader and deal with this on behalf of everyone or you are a weak team leader who will allow one persons behaviour to slide because you aren't able to deal with it.

If I was in your team, and raised a problem with you that you ignored, I'd find you weak and lose respect for you.

I also wouldn't appreciate and negative feedback from you on my actions in the future as I would feel like it was favouritism.

Quite. Reading about all these office workers with all this flexibility makes me think what a cushy time they all have. A a nurse I can just imagine arriving in A&E and eating my bowl of cereal and ignoring the red phone until I’d finished. Or saying to a junior, ‘no, I won’t help you put up an IV on that haemorrhaging patient. Can’t you see I’m eating?’ Seems to me that a lot of people make out they have far more important jobs than they do if they can swan in and out with impunity

We all have important jobs. You, me, everyone. But they're not the same and require different skills, working methods and so on. It's also not the case that all 'office workers' — love the generalisation by the way — have a cushy number.

Of course you can't be eating your breakfast when a patient needs a drip. You're a nurse. That's just common sense. But I'm an accountant. If you wish to retrain as an accountant, so that you can pause for breakfast, I'd be more than happy to help with that ....

We're currently having major construction work done on our building. The construction team are sporting a natty line in high viz vests and hard hats. I 'm not. Because I simply don't need to.

The drifting off into irrelevancy is startling at times

Lots of us will have worked in a number of differing work cultures. I’ve had to ‘clock in and out’, I’ve worked in flexitime not supervised roles, and am self employed at the Bar. Even now when I’m court I am totally ruled by the court timetable/judge’s orders etc etc. When in Chambers or at home doing paperwork I’m 100% free agent.

What still strikes me about op’s dilemma is that the work culture doesn’t seem clearly defined or consistent. One member of staff is behaving in a way that other members of staff are unhappy about. Op, as manager, encourages personal time to be taken by all for personal tasks within reason (good) but is now faced with member of staff who has pushed that to an extent that others are unhappy.

It needs to be dealt with. Either by

1. redefining the culture for everyone and making it plain that everyone is able to take 30 mins during the work day ‘so long as they get their work done’ (or even more time or perhaps true flexi time etc)
2. Or the woman eating breakfast does need to be required to fall into line with a work culture that doesn’t allow this.

If 1 a staff meeting/email is sensible. If 2. Sending an all email would be infuriatingly poor management when what is required is discussion with one member of staff. Op would also need to have spoken to her in order to ensure she’s clear and then that it’s working. You can’t manage future problems if you haven’t spoken to her.

Work culture needs to be clear and consistent for all (they are a team working in open plan office) whichever way op decides to go.

The assumption that everyone else in the office is lazy and feckless, taking numerous fag breaks and using their work phones to make personal calls, is a bit of a stretch of imagination. Maybe the people who have complained are hard-working and conscientious, and they're pissed off that they come into work ready to start at 9am while Brekkie Brenda is blatantly allowed to have an extra 30 minutes when she is at liberty to refuse to help them. And their manager is allowing it to continue because she has made it obvious that she values BB above everyone else.

Also, this business about her being so efficient that she finishes all her work early and then goes looking for more - maybe she doesn't have enough to do in the first place and the others have too much! In which case, her refusal to accept work before 9.30am would be even more galling.

Is it possible that whilst eating, Brekkie Brenda (love it!!) is actually filtering through her inbox at the same time and actually working?
Any time I'm eating at my desk I'm usually doing that - only thing I can't do is answer the phone with a gob full of food.
As an administrator - I agree with a PP who said part of being a good one is being approachable and helpful.

This is fascinating to read. Ita very culture driven. But refusing to speak to people - not on anywhere I’d say

To Everyone who’s banging on about presenteesim- that ISN’T the issue here!
The issue is the unwillingness to respond to colleagues over work issues during her self appointed half hour break, and her rudeness to colleagues if they dare to approach her.

Everyone banging on about how the only thing that matters is how useful she is to the business and whether she’s getting the job done overall, is entirely missing the point.

It sounds to me like some of these posters have worked in very backward looking workplaces where everyone tiptoes around long standing set in their ways members of staff, and put up with rudeness from them.

It’s not how adults behave. A flexible culture of not clock watching to the minute is absolutely fine in a business where that’s workable (though this should be clarified by the manager to all staff) Obstructive behaviour is not fine

I work in finance and we often have long commutes during which we work (even the PAs) and so clock watching from 9-5 isn’t workable. We are often working from 6-8 either in person or via videoconferencing. Breakfast breaks are okay, long lunches are okay, but a PA or junior colleague (which an administrator is) being unapproachable to the managers they support is never okay. That is the issue here, not the break.

I wonder if these are the same people who think teachers are lazy/teaching isn't stressful etc. Because as an ex-teacher, once my working day started I had no phone access, no way could I come in late/leave early/internet shop.. and as for eating breakfast while standing in front of a class full of children and telling them not to disturb me...

I think teaching is incredibly stressful and hard work. I also think that teachers get a shit ton of holiday and are backed by a very powerful union in a way many 'office workers' aren't/don't have.

So - bit of a stupid comparison, right?

I don't think teachers are lazy, or have it easy and I'm not sure what the purpose is of the comparison, completely different working environments.
Although I did have a teacher in secondary school that would tong her hair during classes and we were not allowed to disturb her whilst she did it, back in the 80's mind.

I eat breakfast at my desk, but I also work during that time. I would tell her she starts at what time and must consider that she can and will be interrupted, otherwise you'll have to dock her half an hour's pay, or she must work later. It's totally not on that you are not considering her colleagues

If this continues it will cause additional problems, you will be accused of favouritism. Tell her she either comes in earlier and eats breakfast before her start time of 9am or starts work at 9.30 and finishes 30 mins later on the night. If she works a 5 day week she is doing 2.5 hrs less than others doing the same hours per week, this is not acceptable and being paid for it. If you don't act and stop this you are being a weak manager