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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu. ahhh boss quibbling over 1 minute.

340 replies

Peterbear · 09/07/2020 16:59

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??

OP posts:
PinkyBrain · 09/07/2020 19:00

I also had these fun and games working for a council and tbh it was the beginning of the end for me in that role and I moved on pretty quickly when it started. Fwiw I’m now that manager’s senior so that particular style of management didn’t get her far. Grin

Original poster
Peterbear · 09/07/2020 19:01

@YorkshireParentalPerson so ridiculous- the presenteism of it drives me nuts.

OP posts:
BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 09/07/2020 19:02

Surely even a fairly straightforward email takes time to write, like perhaps up to 60 seconds? Lets assume that you are a super-quick typer and you do your email in 25 seconds. Can your manager tell how many seconds past 8.01 that your email was sent, because if it was 8.01.24 or earlier then you had started your email at 8.00.

Original poster
Peterbear · 09/07/2020 19:04

@SkyDragon exactly it's so easy to do that - makes no sense. Cd get one of my kids to move it every 5 mins whilst they watch tv!

OP posts:
PapsofJura · 09/07/2020 19:06

I would update the timesheet start and end times as requested.

I wouldn’t say anything in the email, but keep it up your sleeve as at some point they may need you to work extra.

Don’t try to reclaim overtime as you’ll look like a dick as it’s not pre-approved and then they could play the, “can’t you get all your work done in normal working hours,” scenario, not something to get into just now.

So play exactly by the rules and sit tight.

As an aside, we always say a remote hello once we are all logged in. The team know that their times aren’t getting checked as the focus is getting the work done. The reason behind this is steeped in tragedy which is why everyone is absolutely fine doing it.

evilharpy · 09/07/2020 19:06

I don't know if this is a public sector thing or a shithead boss thing. A friend works in the public sector, fairly senior position, and told me recently about having to fill in a timesheet every week. She works the same hours every single week (9-5). I couldn't get my head around this.

I'm private sector. My boss has literally said "I couldn't give less of a shit when you work, as long as the work gets done". Which it does, and it gets done well, and I work well over and above my contracted hours although not always during the hours I'm actually contracted to work. But if I had a petty jobsworth boss who watched the minutes I would log on at 8 on the dot, log off at 5 on the dot and do as little as possible in between.

Cornishbelle · 09/07/2020 19:07

I work for an LA too OP and the management would quibble over this I believe it's some of the reason they struggle to keep afloat financially. Just wanted to say I feel and share your pain!

SpongeBobJudgeyPants · 09/07/2020 19:07

I have two quotes for you.

Don't try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

And, Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig enjoys it. :)

Original poster
Peterbear · 09/07/2020 19:12

@Cornishbelle thankyou.not just us then? X
@SpongeBobJudgeyPants - ha thankyou brilliant sayings - the dalai lama couldn't have been more philosophical.xx

OP posts:
BanjoStarz · 09/07/2020 19:12

I hate petty shit like this.

I actually left a job over it - I got disciplined by my manager (the MD) over the lateness of my assistant.

She was persistently exactly 3 mins late due to public transport...but she persistently stayed at least 20 minutes over most days...so I had no issues with it, the company wasn’t losing out.

Our MD started working out of our site more often so noticed she was late, didn’t like my reasoning so moaned at me and said I had to enforce a 9am start time, so I did, assistant started arriving for 9am but basically ran out the door at 5 and left for good soon after - same as I did as I wasn’t happy with the interference and micromanagement.

complaining about those 3 Mins of minimum wage assistants time at 9am cost them min 15k in HR/Advertising/recruitment and on boarding costs for two new starters.

CatBatCat · 09/07/2020 19:12

Draft your email the night before and schedule it to send at 7:59 the next day

octobersky19 · 09/07/2020 19:14

Wow, bite your tongue OP and play the game. How petty is your boss?!

Moopoohootoo · 09/07/2020 19:17

I would avoid the automated email. Boss sounds a dick and if you were late an automated email might be misconduct. Just start working to rule. In at exactly 8am and out exactly 5pm.

Ellie56 · 09/07/2020 19:17

Wow she sounds a complete tit. Hmm

Original poster
Peterbear · 09/07/2020 19:18

@BanjoStarz - madness!
@octobersky19 - answer: very! I hear yer but I'm shockingly bad at biting my tongue if i feel wronged.x

OP posts:
FloreanFortescue · 09/07/2020 19:22

"Dear _,
Thank you kindly for pointing out the errors on my time sheet. I will now back fill my overtime since March."

SkinnyChicky · 09/07/2020 19:22

@evilharpy

"I don't know if this is a public sector thing or a shithead boss thing. A friend works in the public sector, fairly senior position, and told me recently about having to fill in a timesheet every week. She works the same hours every single week (9-5). I couldn't get my head around this."

Yes I have a couple of friends who work public and they both have to complete timesheets. I think its about being transparant on how they are working because its from the public purse. Neither say their bosses are particulary anal about it though as long as nobody takes the piss.

thenightsky · 09/07/2020 19:22

My work laptop shows my emails as one full hour earlier for some weird reason. So if I send my last email at 5pm it would show it as 4pm. However, my boss signs my timesheets off whatever I put on them as she trust me to not take the piss and knows I will do over and above if needed. Its a two-way street.

thenightsky · 09/07/2020 19:23

Oh.. and I am public sector.

dooratheexplorer · 09/07/2020 19:25

What a complete and utter arse! What other shit does she come out with?!

This would be the beginning of the end for me. She wouldn't be getting a minute overtime from me.

Get an automated email set up starting from tomorrow. If you can't be 'em join 'em!

Sneakyfox · 09/07/2020 19:25

Play them at their own game, log every minute.

I once had a situation like this, I worked full time in a flexi-time job. My commute was 1.5 hours, everyone knew (including my direct reports, my line manager and the big boss) that depending on the traffic I would arrive between 8:45 and 9:15. I never arranged meetings at the beginning of the day and always put in the time at the end of the day - all of my bosses were fine with this and knew this when they hired me.

Another manager who was completely unrelated to my work decided to have a problem with this and stated that I needed to put on the shared calendar the exact time I would arrive for every single day (quite difficult to do when the commute was 1.5 hours give or take 30 mins depending on if they had been an accident or poor weather).

So for every single day, for the next two years, I wrote on the calendar 'between 8:45 and 9:15'. He asked me to remove it eventually as I think it annoyed him every time it popped up.

I am a firm believer in 'fair' give and take from both sides, and my job often demanded that I gave a lot more than I took. Pettyness from employers will lead to people working to rule which would cause serious problems. I think many employers will have had time over recent months to realise that presenteeism is not as important as getting the work done.

Iverunoutofnames · 09/07/2020 19:34

I once had a temping job. It was 9-5, but due to the nature of the job it was very quiet until about 11am.
A few of us got a bus that got us in at 9.05am. An earlier bus would actually get us in at 8.20am. We were threatened with the sack unless we were at our desks for 9am on the dot.
So I got the earlier bus. I also left at 5pm on the dot. The post wasn’t ready to be taken to the box until about 5.20 and I used to take it, it wasn’t even on my way. It had to go out and they were all so lazy they didn’t want to take it myself.
They gave in and stopped being silly but I left anyway, pathetic behaviour

Sneakyfox · 09/07/2020 19:38

I also think that those managers that quibble over a minute here or a minute there are not able to mange workloads and monitor the amount of work getting done, so they use the time stamp to manage people rather than being able/bothered to assess the workload completed.

MagentaRocks · 09/07/2020 19:43

I have staff that work from home at the moment and I do not expect an email from them to say they are logged on. When we are in the office our system shows if someone is persistently and significantly late in, or late back from breaks and I will deal with that if it’s a taking the piss situation. I don’t have a problem with people being late on occasion, as long as they have the decency to come and tell me. It is the ones who try and sneak in without being seen that annoy me. Our job is public sector emergency services and we need to know what staff we have at what time. But the odd car break down, or another emergency isn’t the end of the world.

chomalungma · 09/07/2020 19:46

I remember a manager from ages ago who expected us to turn up for breakfast meetings and to stay late - but wouldn't return flexibility back when we wanted to leave a bit earlier.