AIBU to ask what you’d interpret by the phrase “Close of Play”

[CyanSnake]

Hello all.

WIBU to ask you to help settle a light hearted debate I had with a colleague over lunch today?

I’d sent an email out asking for a task to be completed “by close of play Friday”. Now what I meant by this, was that I’m going to work on the project over the weekend; so I need other staff to do their part before 5pm on Friday.

If I knew I wasn’t going to look at it until Monday I’d have said “The deadline is first thing Monday” or “Can I have it by 9am Monday.”

Now my colleague said that she would interpret the phrase “by close of play Friday” to mean “I want to work on it first thing Monday” and that if I directly set a deadline of Monday morning it sounds like I’m directing staff to work over the weekend.

I asked what she would do if she needed something to work on over the weekend and she said she’d ask for it by Friday lunch and chase over the afternoon if it wasn’t done.

So how would you take the phrase?

YANBU - “Close of play Friday” means “By end of business hours on Friday”

YABU - “Close of play Friday” means “On my desk before I start work on Monday”

Close of play Friday is 5pm Friday. Totally unambiguous.

End of the working day Friday

@anon666

At the limit, I would probably accept midnight Friday, but no later.

You’d kick up a fuss I’d the time on the email said 1am?

I had this deadline today and finished my work at 5.40pm

Note to self, specify a day and time rather than trying to be clever and talking bullshit

Before Friday ends, quite obvious.

Not later than midnight on Friday

Both TBH. I would interpret your request literally as "by the end of the working day on Friday" however, unless you absolutely always work a weekend, I would also assume that you wouldn't be looking at it until Monday morning. Therefore if I needed extra time to complete this task I'd be free to complete over the weekend.

Your colleagues suggestion of "by Friday lunch" seems a sensible one. Either that or state within your email that you plan to work on this over the weekend to avoid confusion.

How can 'close of play' mean any old time on Friday night? It is a cricketing analogy isn't it? So it isn't about individual end of working time, it is when the office shuts/phone lines go down/ formal business hours end . Otherwise say I want it by Monday , I want it so I can work on it on Saturday morning . As a manager I would think it is best to avoid ambiguities as there is always someone who will take it to the enth degree.

@UntamedWisteria

Various people emailed me their contribution throughout Friday. The latest someone sent me the work was 14:30.

As advised on this thread, I sent it a reminder email in the morning and said I was planning on working on it over the weekend. One colleague replied to this saying they’d struggle but would have it to me before Saturday morning

So it seems most people did understand it to mean “before you finish work on Friday”

I have to admit it’s not a turn of phrase I’ve ever heard but from hearing it I would infer the end of the day on Friday xXx

Before I retired I banned that term in my office. 5pm was in fact the Start of Play because that is when work stopped and we went home.

Is "most people" good enough communication if you have an important deadline to meet? Surely ensuring that everyone understands what is needed and when it is needed is necessary for the highest chance of success?

It's really a testament to English exceptionalism to assume in a world where business is routinely conducted around the globe that everyone - even in the same office - knows exactly what a parochial expression like "close of play" should mean.

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Close%20of%20Play

@UntamedWisteria

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Close%20of%20Play

Seems a fair assessment to me.

I think the expression is derived from cricket

@UntamedWisteria

I think the expression is derived from cricket

As in a load of balls ?

Sounds about right.

Before they go home on Friday.

I'd never assume someone would be working over the weekend, I think that's very bad practice, mainly because of work life balance, but also what if the contributions are incomplete or there's an error, there's no opportunity to catch up because no-one else will be working. If you have a report or presentation that needed to be ready to present on the Monday morning I'd assume you needed all contribution midweek the week before (or possibly earlier depending on the complexity of the report). If you ask for information on Friday I'd think you wanted it to start working on it on Monday morning first thing because you needed it to be ready for Tuesday at the earliest.

So, I think you are probably struggling with your work because it's leeching into your personal life, or you aren't managing your team well enough so can't set realistic milestones and so you end up having to do unpaid overtime.

End of business on Friday

@JaninaDuszejko

What a lot of assumptions you've made & rude comments.

@E17Stowmum

Before I retired I banned that term in my office. 5pm was in fact the Start of Play because that is when work stopped and we went home.

🙄🙄

[quote WitchesBritchesPumpkinPants]@JaninaDuszejko

What a lot of assumptions you've made & rude comments.[/quote]
I thought exactly the same, there's a lot of narrow minded assumptions and jumping to conclusions on this thread. People often have to work weekends in our company - it's not a personal reflection of their inefficiency or inability.

We have shift workers on plant who work weekends and nights but they are paid extra for that. In the same way that doctors or nurse or any other shift worker work at the weekend. But in all of those shift handovers would be expected and the OP wouldn't have had to explain she was working at the weekend because her shift schedule would be known by everyone she works with. This is not the situation here.

That's very different from the situation apparently described in the OP where the very confusion highlighted suggests at her work most people don't expect to work at weekends or expect others to. So yes, in a company where the people routinely don't work weekends, it is a sign of not being up to the role if you have to work weekends. Ask for people's contributions by close of play Wednesday then you'll have your two days to work on the project and have your time off. If you work in a company culture where significant unpaid overtime is required that is shit and you should not think it is normal or acceptable.