Aibu. ahhh boss quibbling over 1 minute.

[Peterbear]

IWork for a council in E England. NEw boss has just emailed to say that she has checked my time sheets - on a couple of days last month i have written start time as 8am. ( work from home since covid) I did not however send in my 'log on' email till 8.01. I am being asked to go back and amend my time sheet.
Wtf?? Do I say don't be ridiculous that is a complete waste of taxpayer money or do I just play along? Worth saying that I often work a bit over and don't log this as feel it's petty to put for example 5.07 on a time sheet. Wwyd? Aibu to think jesus get a bloody life??

@MysteriesOfTheOrganism it really does make me feel like dong that! I just resent working for people I find childish/unintelligent.

Log on 10 mins early, then go and hang the washing out, empty the dishwasher for 10 minutes....it will feel soooooo good.

Hold on - surely it depends on the time setting on both PCs? Not sure whether the email system logs the time as on your PC or on your manager's but it's certainly something I would be looking into. Our PCs at work are always a couple of minutes out. I work in a school and you always get some classes turfing out early and the kids tell me they think Mr such and such's computer is 5 mins out.

@Celticdawn5 that does make me feel strangely better. I know I will still remember this for the next ten years/forever. Sort of madness that sticks in your head.

thanks all for replies feel better and less like i'm going mad. :)

I've always arrived early for work and left late without expecting extra pay. I just find it less stressful than worrying about being late.

At one job, I always arrived at 8.30 to start at 9am, as only the early bus would get me there by 9. One day, I arrived at 8.45am to be told by the supervisor, "You're late."

"No, I'm not," I said. "I start at 9."

"No, you don't," she said angrily, and went to check with the manager... Oh.

I can confirm that throughout my working life, my willingness to work longer hours has NOT benefited me in any way!

I use to work somewhere that went down this route. It’s miserable. They used to say swings and roundabouts but it wasn’t. You could work hours extra for free then get petty all user emails about making up time. They had a clock in about machine (we were a professional office not a factory) and set it 5 mins fast.
I’d probably ignore, correct timesheet both ways so log out 5.07 etc. Mentally note not to do a minute more or any favours for manager.

A relative of mine worked at a council and the it system tracked when they logged on and off. His locked him out after lunch one day so had to wait while IT got him back online and a few weeks later he got pulled about it and told there was nothing the line manager could do even though she knew the reason. They also wouldn't let people swap arrange to swap shifts to attend things like dental appointments and kids Xmas shows etc, even if both parties were in agreement. Needless to say they had a ridiculously high turnover and staff and "sick" days.

Dh (works in computers) is saying that you can look at the extended email header or something and see the different times that the email goes through the chain (or something - I switched off after a couple of seconds of him talking technical stuff)

@Livelovebehappy

A lot of companies have to ask staff to log on to show they are working minesabottle because tbh some workers will start and finish whenever they feel like it, leaving others to pick up the slack. We’ve had to introduce similar at our place.

and are you also getting upset over 1 minute, and sending emails to staff logging in at 8.01 on your computer, which may be 7.56 on theirs, 7.57 somewhere else, 7.58 somewhere else? are you seriously defending such ridiculous practice as a manager?

How completely fucking pathetic, although I have to say I’m not surprised as I had the misfortune once of working for someone equally as petty.
Just play the game, nod and log every single minute, i.e 5.07.
Would a recipient know if it’s an automatic email at7.59am?

ps. i'd be looking for another job (although maybe now isn't the time).... unbelievable

@TenShortStories

I'd just say "Oops, thanks for the heads up - will change it now" and then do a massive eye roll to myself and be glad that they've let me know they're one to watch for pettiness in the future.

This! But I’d add something to the effect of “I guess I had better add on all the minutes I’ve worked past 5pm too so that the integrity of the system is maintained”. 🤣

Mail and say, “you’re slightly due east of me. 08:00 here but 08:01 with you. Do we adjust for time zone then?”

Let her wonder is she should argue with stupid

I think this might just be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.

It’s right out of a workplace comedy.

Just adjust the clock on your device before you send the email.

@CurlyhairedAssassin thankyou :)
@MrsR87 hmm I like that response- ta!

Thanks all for responses actually feel like laughing rather than crying for the first time all day :)

That is petty, but defining work starting can get tricky. I once took over a team in a large public sector organisation, where it quickly came to light that a staff member was cycling in, then having a shower, drying and getting ready for the day. They started their timesheet not from when they arrived at their desk and switched on their PC, but 40 mins earlier when they cycled through the gates!!! They said that was when they viewed they started work and were most put out when I made them start from pc turn on!!!

I would say you're glad that she has noticed the the email system is slow at times and perhaps she can get onto IT to sort it out.

We also have a system in place where it tells your boss if you are away from your laptop. Staff regularly receive calls from our managers with ‘.. you’ve been away from your laptop for 12 minutes.
Tell him in geat detail about your visit to the loo and describe the process of changing you tampon
Seriously i'd be looking for another job if I had to put up with that.
It reminds me of the old aphorism : "You can't do too much for a good boss; and you'll never do enough fo a bad one."

Reply 'lol'.

Jeez, sometimes I don't remember to email my boss until i've been working for an hour. I also count my start time from when I've sat at my seat and started logging in. Some of my team have issues getting logged on on can take up to an hour to get to their email. We usually discuss issues on the team WhatsApp while it's happening.

My regular hours are supposed to be 08:30 till 17:30. I am always at work before 08:00 as I like to avoid the traffic and hate to be rushed. I work in healthcare. I log on as soon as I arrive because NHS IT is pretty dreadful and slow.

I start picking up admin stuff just after 08:00 so come 17:10, if there's not much happening, I leave, unless I'm on-call, in which case I'm there till 18:00 anyway.

My manager is not so petty as to moan about it.

@THisbackwithavengeance I did wonder to say 'phew - thought you were serious for a minute ' or similar but not sure it would end well for either of us. :)

My previous boss kept moaning at me about my admin assistant who rolled in a couple of minutes before 9 and rolled out a couple of minutes after 5. She just did not get it when I said you only pay her from 9-5 why should she give up her time for free. But then boss lady was one who worked from 7 in the morning until 8 at night and thought anyone who did not do that wasn't committed enough!

When I worked in the corporate world I used to call working from home 'moving the mouse', because I would read a novel and just nudge my mouse every few minutes so my little outlook activity button stayed green.