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.

Does she work flexi hours and if so does she note her start time as the time she gets in or the time she finishes breakfast? If the latter, and she’s not otherwise down on her hours, then there’s no reason she HAS to be available to colleagues, if the latter she’s taking the piss.

Your colleague is not setting a good example to other colleagues whether junior or not by being rude and making others wary of approaching her whilst she carries out the sacred breakfast ritual. Neither are you setting a good example Wishing by being dismissive of the complaints you have received and your unwillingness to deal with them for fear of upsetting your favourite, your fan-girling over her is somewhat nauseous.

I hope you do stop indulging her but I doubt it.

If she's employed for, say 40 hours a week, but manages to do an incredible job in 36 and a half, wouldn't it be more cost effective and better business sense to offer her these new working hours?
If you are melted for a set amount of hours, these hours are to be worked. And I bloody hate people eating at desks anyway! Just eat your breakfast at home ffs

Melted = employed!

If she has a long commute, she probably has to get up too early to be able to face breakfast at home and so has it when she gets to work. Asking her to come in earlier to eat her breakfast might result in her resigning, as her long commute would have to start even earlier than it does now, and the OP doesn't want to lose her. It's the rudeness to colleagues rather than the eating breakfast which is the problem. I don't think the OP is a poor manager because she doesn't behave like an old-fashioned school teacher who's a disciplinarian, but rather treats her staff like the adult professionals they are.

Hmm. Very tricky.

If she were just eating breakfast at her desk whilst she 'warmed up' for the day, responded to chat, and then was great after, then fine.

But she's actually hindering the ability of other staff to perform better, and setting herself further above them as a result.

It never does to let people get too big for their boots, OP.

I have inherited the management of a man who was allowed to get away with EVERYTHING - bullying staff, yelling at his own manager, swearing at the CEO! He thinks he bloody runs the place, but he drags everyone down. Since he was so poorly 'brought up' management wise, I've been giving him a chance to improve, but it's so much harder to reset his expectations that being a douche ISN'T actually acceptable, and he is actually highly replaceable, and for less money to boot.

If she has a long commute, she probably has to get up too early to be able to face breakfast at home and so has it when she gets to work.

That's fine. But she can't be expected to be paid for an extra thirty minutes a day while she eats her breakfast and refuses to work and engage with her colleagues.

It's not the act of eating breakfast that takes the piss, it's her attitude of refusing to do any work at the same time!

Monielove:

"It's a tough one. I once asked someone to stop taking 30 min breakfast breaks and was informed that another colleague called the nanny 3 times a day for 5-10 mins, another was constantly responding to Air BnB bookings in her side business, and one man took a 30 minute shit every morning at 10.30am. I would monitor other colleagues productivity before saying anything then maybe refresh the 'rules' with everyone rather than target her."

All employees taking an extra 1/2 hour.

Including the 1/2 hour shit man!!

This really made me laugh out loud!!

She is paid for doing her job professionally and to a high standard, not for presenteeism.

Given the last update I’d probably opt for the frank adult talk:

‘Jill, you know how much we value you, and how much I respect you and your work. But we need to sort out your breakfasts. I don’t clock watch so you know I’m perfectly happy for you to eat your breakfast during that first half hour of the day - it’s a non-issue for me. But you must be receptive to work stuff whilst you’re eating, you can’t be telling people off for interrupting you - they don’t like it and you wouldn’t either.’

I’d then say to your team that they know their working hours and they know what needs to be done. You aren’t going to police breaks and schedule provided the work is done well and to time. But you do expect everyone to be courteous to everyone else at all times and to be available to each other during working hours.

My ‘team’ is only me and my assistant but she’s flawless in her work too and I’d go a fair old way to keep her happy but it’s a different situation.

I do wonder what sort of work environments people here are employed in to get so worked up about this! Micro managing people who know what they are doing and are good at their jobs, Getting angry about minor infractions by colleagues, the huge insistence that everything has to be 'fair' - it sounds like primary school.

I work in the city for a tech company - no one gives a shit about the odd 30 minutes here and there as long as the job gets done. If this lady is spending 30 minutes eating her breakfast and reading her emails and is raring to go at 9:30 I'd tell my other employees to concentrate on their own issues and keep their beaks out...

If she is doing no work for 30 minutes of the company’s core hours then you are paying her not to work. Conversely, if she doesn’t take any breaks for the rest of the day then she isn’t having any more down time than someone who takes 3 x 10 minute cigarette breaks, it’s just more obvious (and I’m finding totally hilarious the idea that someone who’s gone off for a cigarette is actually working during that time). Let’s face it, even in the busiest jobs people find time for a social chat or similar (probably half the posters currently on this thread are at work).

The issues are more her rudeness to colleagues and the fact that her breakfast has become some sort of religious ritual rather than just eating on the job, and you need to address that.
And people who say: I don’t care what she does as long as she gets the job done - you have no idea what the type of work, requirements or culture of the company are, so not really helpful.

Merryoldgoat has put it perfectly for you.

I think the point is that she isn’t working while eating her breakfast. It’s her insistence that she eats her breakfast uninterrupted.

She is paid for doing her job professionally and to a high standard, not for presenteeism.

She's not doing her job to a high standard or being especially professional if she's taking 2.5 hours a week to eat her breakfast and ignore her colleagues while she's being paid, is she?

Tell BrekiZilla to stop being a fuckin CF and get to work at 9 and eat at home or before 9. Be a manager and stop pandering to this CF and pissing everyone else off.

Actually, I’d be interested to know whether her colleagues absolutely HAVE to speak to her then, or whether they’re trying to make a point.

Why should colleagues, who this employee’s job is to support, put off asking for assistance until she’s finished her breakfast? And also put up with rudeness on her part? I’m an administrator and my role is to support my senior colleague during work hours. If someone needs a document typed or scanned or whatever, it’s my job to undertake those tasks so that they can get on with other matters.

The problem you have OP is that financially she doesn’t need to work, so probably would give up the long commute if challenged. However, I have learnt to my cost that no one is indispensable. It isn’t fair on others if her unwillingness to be available before 9.30am isn’t addressed.

quantunbaby I agree BUT her colleagues are unhappy about it so they clearly work somewhere where this does matter (many workplaces are like this) - hence suggestions for managing it.
In have to dubious bliss of being self employed - currently on mn and doing some paperwork. Answerable to no one (other than self and bills). Bliss.

OP!, big girl pants on and MANAGE them even if it means the prima donna has to go which i very much doubt she will but if she gets away with this total pisstake then it looks very bad on you!

If you have a half hour shit man then get lav doors which auto open after a more reasonable time or change his job contract so that he has to take the appropriate laxitives during the time he's there;)

What this boils down to is an argument between people working in very different cultures. On the one hand there’s the rigid, rule keeping disciplinarian workplace where presenteeism is a given. On the other, there’s the culture that treats staff like adults, trusts them to manage their own workload and focuses on results.

Totally this.
If this woman is everything OP has described, then her colleagues should learn to recognise and accept her eccentricities.

I couldn't bear to work somewhere where you weren't able to go and make a cup of tea.... ask someone if they had a nice holiday.

Most posters sound like their workplaces aren't pleasant and that guidelines are do tight, they are expected to account for every minute of their working day.

The only aspect of her behaviour I would take issue with and would agree is unprofessional is being rude to her colleagues and refusing to talk to them whilst she eats her breakfast. The rest is irrelevant, in her particular workplace, as the OP has explained several times.

I tend to eat breakfast at my desk - either bought brioches from Pret or blueberry, yogurt and granola in a bowl at my desk - however I spend less than 5 minutes putting it together and eat and work - usually whilst checking emails etc. I'm also a temp.

How long has she been working there? You could go down the 'if this doesn't improve as it's during paid work time' e.g. she should work and eat at the same time and colleagues should be able to speak to her then you could discipline her.

@RedDogsBeg ' fan girling' ? Really? Because I recognise the strengths and contributions of my staff despite them not being perfect? if you've never had a manager who would do the same, you've probably worked in some unpleasant places.

If I worked in your office I’d be organising a silent protest. 9am would roll around and we’d all produce bowls of cereal at our desks. No work would be done, no telephone calls would be answered, until our revered leader returned The Original Bowl and then we’d all follow suit in one orderly uniformed line, and then finally the day could commence. This would be repeated every day until the office breakfast policy was overhauled.