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”

I'd say it means befire you leave work on Friday. But if I need something for time X I'd ask for it to be with me 48 hours before, as there's always a hitch that delays stuff. If you need for the weekend, you need to set the deadline as Wednesday 1pm IME.

End of working day on Friday, if people regularly worked in evenings I wouldn’t say 5pm but I’d expect it to have been submitted Friday at some stage, so available Saturday.

Every normal person, apart from your colleague it would seem, knows it means by end of day Friday

Depends on the office though, I work with tech people so frequently COP means to be completed before you log off which at times has meant they send work at 4am.

End of working day Friday, I don't think it's ambiguous at all. It seems your friend is attaching all sorts of meaning to a simple instruction.

It means exactly what you said.

Your colleague is being irritating by making stuff up about what she imagines you might want to do with the work, instead of taking your request at face value. It's none of her business when you do your work. Friday does not mean Monday.

There might be a difference between 'I need this by COP on Friday please' and 'I'd like it by...' though. Her 'chasing time' approach is quite canny.

Ah, close of play, that takes me back to my days in the civil service! I'd have it with you by 5pm-ish Friday.

It means end of Friday BUT I agree with your colleague that I’d think you were going to work on it first thing Monday

Your original post and your voting options don’t add up and that makes me slightly tetchy when it happens

COP would be Friday (but could be later than 5pm), COB would be Friday end of business hours, eg 5pm

Yes, very civil service! I did used to think 'are we playing cricket, then?'

End of the working day on Friday. Otherwise it would be ‘by first thing Monday’

Depends on the working hours culture but I'd assume end of business day on Friday. If it made a difference to me I'd check whether the receiver was planning to work on it over the weekend or I could do so and send by 8am Monday.

Better to specify X pm on Friday

End of Friday, although if I specifically wanted to work on it over the weekend, I would emphasise that too.

I try to ask for something by a particular time, eg noon on Friday. That way you remove any risk of differing interpretation / misinterpretation. I assume “close of play” comes from cricket - and there it can mean 6pm, after 90 overs, or any number of other things. It isn’t a fixed time.

It means end of business on Friday but I’ve definitely pushed it myself before when I’ve been asked to finish something by then and ended up sending it over at 9pm or something. I probably would assume you weren’t going to look at it until Monday so I think it’s worth specifying you will work on it over the weekend.

You want it end of day Friday. If you'd wanted it by 9am Monday, then I presume that's what you would have asked for

Is your colleague always this hard work? Everyone knows what it means.

End of the working day on Friday. No question.

End of working day Friday...

They need to have sent it in before they go home/ log off on Friday.

The end of Friday. But I’d also clarify that I intended to work on it over the weekend just in case anyone thought they could stretch the deadline to Monday. I agree with your friend though, a lunchtime deadline is better so you can chase people in the afternoon!

Last thing on Friday, with an extra half hour if the over rate has been slow.

Before someone finishes on a Friday - my manager likes to give me this deadline because I finish at 3, and him 5

I’d clarify that I was going to work over the weekend, but without that clarification I wouldn’t begrudge someone getting it to me pre 9am Monday.

To me that's 5pm Friday.

But in my job it's 4.30pm because that's what our boss has set as end if emails and none to be sent until 7.30am Monday.