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”

End of day Friday BUT. Big but.

I would never say this to my team without being very clear about planning to work on it on the weekend. It isn't the norm to work on weekends in my line of work, is it in yours? So if I planned to do so I would usually say something like "I've got to get the final report to Jane by 11 on Monday, so I'll be working on the draft over the weekend, thanks."

5pm Friday but quite an outdated turn of phrase. I’d have put by 5pm Friday to avoid confusion

Very clear, OP. I usually say 'by COB on Xday' and have never had any issues. At least, with those who usually play nice. there are always the few I need to chase with a stick.

Close of Play Friday. End of day. Close of business. Or CoP, EoD or CoB.

All used interchangeably in my work and it's perfectly clear what they mean!

I think this shows why you need to be specific in language.

I'd assume any time before opening on Monday would be fine unless you'd said you were going to work over the weekend.

I often ask for things by end of day so they're ready for me in the AM. I would never ask for it by opening the next day as it implies someone should work after hours.

I haven’t heard the term “close of play” before but it’s pretty obvious what it means. End of business hours on Friday.

Friday

I think you’d have to be really dim to not understand what by close of play Friday means.

However, the bit I don’t understand is when your colleague says “if I directly set a deadline of Monday morning it sounds like I’m directing staff to work over the weekend.”

WTF?

@Imohsotired

I'd assume any time before opening on Monday would be fine unless you'd said you were going to work over the weekend.

I often ask for things by end of day so they're ready for me in the AM. I would never ask for it by opening the next day as it implies someone should work after hours.

That doesn't make any sense to me, I'm afraid. It implies nothing of the sort.

I would say that using the phrase "close of play" means you are giving a bit more time than saying "by 5pm." If your personal working hours end at 5pm, you are acknowledging that some people work till 5.30pm or 6pm depending on their working hours, the term "close of play" means that you want it done by the end of the day, whenever that may be for that individual.

It’s by 5.30 Friday here,

But I do agree that her approach of a noon deadline to have the afternoon to chase us better and completely clear.

Yab a little u: CoP on a particular day is when you finish work so unreasonable to expect 5pm on Fri. I would expect it by midnight on Fri if I set a CoP deadline, and that’s how I would respond to such a deadline.

Friday at 5pm. If I'm not going to do anything with it til Monday I'd usually say, ideally I'd like it Friday, but last resort I need it by first thing Monday.

I'd be aiming to get it to you before I finished on the Friday (which could be 8-9pm given currently flexible working). Having said that I'm with your colleague in that I'd assume you were going to pick it all up on Monday morning so if I was struggling with my workload that week I'd finish it off over the weekend so it was in your inbox by 8am Monday.

YANBU, your colleague knows they are in the wrong and are looking for a plausible explanation for you being at fault rather than them. It's a cheap shot and the are tardy.

End of Day Friday but I work in financial services so that would definitely mean later than 5pm. Maybe 7/8pm or so.

I'd interpret as 'before you go home on Friday', & would expect to be able to work on everything on Saturday morning. With that wording, I would expect people to interpret as 'before I head to the pub' not 'by 5pm' so realistically, any time before midnight that was still technically Friday, & meant it was available Saturday morning.

Having said that, & knowing what people, myself included, are like about end of week deadlines, I'd have probably specifically said '...because I'm intending to work on this over the weekend.'

If I definitely needed it in so I could work on it, ie it really couldn't wait from my POV until Monday, then I'd set a Friday deadline of lunchtime. Because I know exactly who I always need to chase, & they won't be receptive on Saturday morning. So if I'm working on it over the weekend, I'd rather pin the buggers down at work on Friday than chase them outside of work.

I think you need a more precise 'by 4pm Friday' or whatever deadline. Works much better for me, as both a setter & meeter of deadlines.

End of normal working day Friday (5pm). No way would I think it was Monday, colleague is taking the piss!

I realised I was too proletarian for the Civil Service when my boss told me he needed my piece of work by “stumps.”

Which apparently is the same as Close of Play - the time a game of cricket ends. And they pull the stumps up.

@SquigglePigs

I'd be aiming to get it to you before I finished on the Friday (which could be 8-9pm given currently flexible working). Having said that I'm with your colleague in that I'd assume you were going to pick it all up on Monday morning so if I was struggling with my workload that week I'd finish it off over the weekend so it was in your inbox by 8am Monday.

I’d do the same - aim for Friday but put it in the ‘do at the weekend if I have to’ pile, assuming you needed it for Monday morning.

I would assume I could get it to you by 9am Monday. But my colleagues don't generally work at the weekend so that's why.

If you do work weekends then I would have assumed the deadline was before I left work on Friday.

It definitely means 5 "ish" on Friday.

In my team, lots of people work in the evenings and some at the weekends, but if someone wanted something by 'close of play' or even 'end of' any day, then it would be obvious they want it by "the end of what 90% of the population would know as a 'working day' , yes, even those that work shifts".
It wouldn't surprise me, if the person that usually needs to gather information from us for a data dump wanted it by 5pm / 5.30 / even 6, because she was then going to work on it that evening. Whether she does or not is neither here nor there to me, but it is pretty clear when it is needed by.

Colleague is winding you up

5pm Friday