Awkward Work Moment 🙄

[Movinbaby]

I am getting really tired of my work colleague. She is always talking about her personal life and her husband who she makes sound awful. She has been with the company for 3 years and it's all she talks about. She seems to need the attention. What is worse is she takes liberties all the time. Currently it's taking well over her 30 minute lunch. She goes out of the office, which is her choice but spends around 45 minutes. She goes to the GP, the supermarkets all at a distance and then comes back and eats her lunch whilst working but she likes to chat so isn't really working and this disturbs everyone else who are working. Well today she was gone for an hour and the receptionist called me as she was truly concerned about her. She didn't sign out of the building. The colleague walked back in having been home (some distance) made a sandwich etc. I was on the call to the receptionist as she walked in so when I ended the call I told her that she was worried as she had been gone so long. Before I knew what I was saying, I had told her that it really was unfair that she keeps taking so long for lunch when everyone only gets 30 minutes. There was no reason other than "I went home to get some money and then decided to make a sandwich" I told her that she did this every day and that she only gets 30 minutes like I do. I just could not stop myself. Its not just that but she comes to work and does her makeup for 10 minutes every morning. I did tell her that people are noticing and it's only a matter of Time before they report it to the boss. What she doesn't know is the receptionist had to tell the boss as she didn't sign out of the building and they need to know this.

Anyways, it was very uncomfortable after and she sulked all afternoon and kept making snide comments about working her time back etc.

Whoops 🤭

[keeptheaspidistra]

@Movinbaby do we work with the same person?!

[SamW98]

I managed a team of 20 in my last job and there was one whose timekeeping was appalling both in terms of arriving late and taking longer breaks plus just vanishing from his desk

In my role myself and the TL were very rarely at our desks due to meetings, client visits etc and so we wouldn't always notice how bad a situation was - we did rely on the more experienced and mature staff to let us know about situations. Once we were made aware, we would take it forward with getting door records, checking productivity logs (all the laptops went into idle mode after 10 minutes so we could see how long someone wasn't logged in).

Having just one person in a team like this causes such bad feeling and if not dealt with can make others think 'well he/she gets away with it why should I bother'

[Mikki77]

Any normal person would be mortified. They would keep there head down and make sure their times are on point, not make snide remarks. She's a piss taker!

[Alcemeg]

30 minutes is rubbish for lunch though, isn't it?

[BettyBurntBuns]

@LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow

I'd imagine the receptionist is well aware of this person's foibles and has just been given enough rope to do something about it with the not signing out of the building.

I predict HR involvement soon!

Exactly. I don’t agree with the hr thing but yes, well done receptionist

[Supergirl1958]

@Groovee omg I think I had about 30 seconds for my lunch today! If anyone works in a school it’s impossible to eat!!

[Fluffy40]

I used to get 54 mins for lunch, it was great. But most jobs now it’s half an hour.

[CharityDingle]

Worked with someone like that. It drags a team down, if not managed. The senior manager who should have taken her aside, instead would say, in general, at staff meetings, something about timekeeping which then pissed everyone else off, because it only applied to her. And we all knew that.
I expect she is still out there somewhere, coming in late, and leaving early, 'working' through lunch, which meant being gone from her desk for at least 30 minutes while buying a sandwich, then surfing the net for another hour.
Make up had to be fully refreshed before leaving work in the evening, so that was another long diversion from work. Numerous phone calls, to her mother throughout the day. Ah she really was too busy to work!

[bigmumsymcgraw]

She needed telling. Dont beat urself up. She wont take advantage of your good nature in future now she knows your on to her. Life is full of takers

[Bella43]

You have a management issue here OP. I've worked with people like this in the past. It's not nice, especially when different rules apply to different people. It's definitely down to management though. Where is your supervisor/team leader. Who's in charge?

[StrictlyAFemaleFemale]

I think you handled it perfectly. Make a note or copy your OP in case she slacks off again and you need to report it to her LM.

[BettyBurntBuns]

Why would anyone want more than 30 mins on a lunch break. Can leave earlier.xxz

[Anonwoman]

So what!? It’s none of your business how long she takes for lunch. Unless it’s affecting your actual work, stop being so petty and monitoring her time.

Oh and if she’s distracting you I talking just say “sorry I really need to focus on xyz now or I won’t get it done in time”.

Sounds like you’re just itching to tell tales on her.

[Frankola]

Piss takers annoy absolutely everyone in the office and tend to cause long term resentments amongst other colleagues. I'd suggest outlining her actions to your manager.

The receptionist sounds like a bit of a nosey bugger though! Although I suppose if she didn't sign out and it's a company requirement then she needed to get involved

[Anonwoman]

Ah, just read the part where you said her time off is affecting your actual work. In that case, I think you’re right to address it with her.

Not under the false pretence of you or the receptionist being “concerned”. And. It because it’s unfair - it’s up to her whether she takes long lunches and really as long naps gets her work done and doesn’t affect you who cares?

But if you’re being left to pick up the slack while she’s gone you should totally call her out on it.

[BeckyWithTheGoodHair5629456]

Does she report into you? I wouldn't get involved in petty work dramas, just tell your (mutual?) manager?

[BeaLola]

It is the little things that get you down

I completely get where you're coming from and hopefully she will learn from your comments

I work as a member of a small team and we have one person who on average is late three out of five days, When she does get in she spends ages making a tea and then eating breakfast that she has brought with her from home, has more tea breaks than anyone I think I've ever met in my working career, and without fail is always ready to leave about 10 minutes before we close up for the day- needless to say the rest of us are really peed off with her!

[Beastieboys]

She has to sign out for fire regs and she hadnt

[purplebunny2012]

@Mumofferalkids

Can’t believe someone is shocked at people having 30 min lunches, in 20 years I have never worked anywhere that people regularly have longer

It's the opposite for me, we had to fight to keep our 30 mins break when we got merged to the Finance Office as their rule is 1 hour. But I prefer to have a shorter lunch in order to finish earlier

[NeverDropYourMoonCup]

@Haffiana

She would be in massive trouble for taking it on herself to monitor how long people are out of the building and then telephoning random colleagues and gossiping with them about how long people were out of the building. Thereby wasting not only her own time but also OPs who took the call and also gossiped. Instead of doing her job.

That would be a disciplinary in many work environments.

No, she wouldn't.


If there had been a bomb threat, fire or other emergency, the failure to sign out and disappear for an extended period of time could result in emergency services putting themselves in danger searching for her when she's at home with her sandwich and catching up on Facebook. Furthermore, if somebody were to be taken ill or involved in an accident whilst on their sneaky jolly, if nobody knows they're not there, they're at risk.


It's absolutely the responsibility of the receptionist in this case to report refusals to sign out. And I'm saying this as a person who has been pulled up before now for forgetting or coming back five minutes late occasionally - if it only affected me, I'd just take the bollocking, but upon finding out that it could cause problems for somebody else, I sorted my shit out and followed the rules.

[BettyBurntBuns]

Why would they want that long of a break?

[Cartwheelroll]

Without being rude, why is her timekeeping your business to monitor? Agree it’s annoying that she gets away with it, but that’s for your boss to pick up with her.

[Lifethroughlenses]

I think this post epitomises what is wrong with office culture in this country. If she gets her work done, that is what is really relevant. Some people can do in one hour what others do in three. I’d personally rather timesheets were abandoned and people were judged on productivity. Time at a desk is a terrible measure of a person’s economic worth to a company in most situations.

[Movinbaby]

@Lifethroughlenses I agree but she wasn't getting her work done cause I was picking it up whilst she was out for longer than she is contracted to be. We are not on flexible working contracts. We have set times to be in, out and lunch. We can't have that due to the nature if the business.

[Movinbaby]

@Cartwheelroll Her taking the hour for her lunch did affect me and I wasn't monitoring her at all. Its a very small office and trust me, you can't help but notice when she is out for a while on an almost daily occurance.