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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

330 replies

CyanSnake · 18/03/2021 19:24

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”

OP posts:
Nacreous · 18/03/2021 22:06

In my usual job (mainly finishing by 4-6pm) I would treat it as around 5pm. In my current role I regularly don't finish til 8ish and COP means before I log off that day. This seems to be fairly widely accepted.

If someone wants it for 5pm to work on that evening it needs to be specified.

namechange63524 · 18/03/2021 22:08

YANBU - totally agree

InkyOctopus · 18/03/2021 22:08

I would interpret as midnight on Friday! That’s always what we mean - NHS management thigh so tend to work all hours.

Iwillgotothegym · 18/03/2021 22:09

At my work would be end of business day Friday 4.30pm. In previous job would have been 7pm as there were flexi hours.

In normal times if your organisation has a long hours culture maybe midnight Friday.

If your organisation work patterns have changed due to Covid I think it’s a good idea to state you want by X o’clock as you will be working on it over the weekend. A lot of people are adjusting hours to fit in with childcare/other caring responsibilities and tempted to push a deadline unless it is specific.

MerylStropp · 18/03/2021 22:10

End of the working day on Friday. But as a freelancer who occasionally works over the weekend, I have been known to ask if the client is really intending to work on it over the weekend and if I can actually have more time to do it if needed - the answer is usually yes!

poorremus · 18/03/2021 22:18

End of the working day on Friday

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 18/03/2021 22:22

I know it means end of the day on Friday (I tend to interpret as 4 pm to a. Be on the safe side and b. This tends to be when courts expect things filed and that’s the area I work in)

But I hate the phrase because

  1. It’s unclear exactly what it means - could be 4 or 5 or 6.
  2. I don’t like it when people use sporting language to discuss work - it really annoys me! We’re not playing a game, we’re working!
GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 18/03/2021 22:22

(Used a and b and then 1 and 2 for variety’s sake!)

CorianderBee · 18/03/2021 22:36

We say 'end of play' so usually means end of Friday - 5/6pm

Veterinari · 18/03/2021 22:38

You literally say Friday, why would she think that's a Monday deadline? Confused

Feelingconfusedtonight · 18/03/2021 22:40

COB Friday

MrsD28 · 18/03/2021 22:42

End of the day on Friday - I would accept anything up until midnight (but I work in an industry where late hours happen pretty frequently).

NoseinBook3 · 18/03/2021 22:44

End of play to me would be no later than 5pm. I know that and I work in healthcare. Not sure what your colleague is playing at

PeterPomegranate · 18/03/2021 22:44

I said YABU but what I meant was ‘this is clearly a request to do this by the end of the working week but I won’t actually look at it until Monday morning so if you’d prefer to work on Saturday that’s up to you’.

eurochick · 18/03/2021 22:45

Whenever that person finishes work on the Friday, not necessarily 5pm. But definitely not Monday morning.

Blueskyredcloud · 18/03/2021 22:46

For beginning of next day usually - at weekend you should have clarified if you needed it Sat morning

Ingridla · 18/03/2021 22:53

Obviously means 5pm on the Friday, how can you conceivably misinterpret that.

She's either stupid or being an intentional pain in the arse.

WitchDancer · 18/03/2021 22:57

I would interpret it as 'before I leave work on Friday'. I would have probably put that I need it Friday in the email though, to save any misunderstandings.

SmallPrawnEnergy · 18/03/2021 23:00

It’s screamingly obvious to the most obtuse office whinge that it means by the end of operational business hours on friday, but this is why I always state a timed deadline. Because there will always be one pleb who plays the pedant / naive card.

At least with a deadline you can officially omit them on account of not sticking to it, no excuses.

cornflakegirl · 18/03/2021 23:22

When I issue a deadline of cop on a given day, what I mean is that I want to be able to work on it first thing the next business day. As a PP said, I would expect that a deadline of 9am Monday would be interpreted as 10-11.

Raaaaaaarr · 18/03/2021 23:31

End of day Friday but I am careful of using this if emailing an international team - then it becomes whose end of play? The UK or other countries...?

GreyhoundG1rl · 18/03/2021 23:34

@Raaaaaaarr

End of day Friday but I am careful of using this if emailing an international team - then it becomes whose end of play? The UK or other countries...?
Well yes, obviously 🤣
PhatPhanny · 18/03/2021 23:44

To me it means before the end of the working day on Friday.

Tommika · 19/03/2021 00:39

This shows that there isn’t a right interpretation

‘Close of play’ means end of the day, and is not time specific. It could finish at 5:00 but could also mean continuing until finished

Unless it’s clear that the recipient works on beyond that time point then it can be interpreted to be ‘before my next working day’
So if your hours are longer, then a clarification would add ‘by 5:00’

As you required the work to allow you to do further work across the weekend then adding that as a qualifier that it must be submitted on Friday

I had a regular monthly piece that the deadline was COP of a particular Friday each month. However I knew that the recipient wasn’t working at that time and needed it to start off their Monday
My staff needed to gather and input information, plus anything they had not received then needed the gaps filled via modelling
I set the deadline for them to gather, input and try to chase anything missing by the time they leave on Friday - for me to complete at the weekend
I would then knock off early, or often not work Friday due to extra hours in the week, having a long weekend.
On Sunday afternoon or evening I would check their info, run the model and submit - ready for ‘first thing Monday’

If the real need was COP Friday then my staffs gathering deadline would be early afternoon Friday, allowing for modelling and submission

Rookie93 · 19/03/2021 00:54

To me it means before I go home on Friday, be that 5pm or 10pm, and that someone was going to work on the information over the weekend for Monday. Always helps if you spell that out though. Usually at least one person can't send in the required details and would mean they should let you know theres a delay.