Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not want to walk for an hour?

208 replies

Summering23 · 16/03/2023 21:44

This is a question regarding travel to work during public transport strikes. One of my in office days fell on a tube strike day but my boss insisted that I still go in via bus.
As expected I couldn’t get on a bus for ages due to overcrowding and then the actual bus itself took three times longer than it should have. This meant I was over an hour late in.

I wasn’t in trouble but a comment was made that I should’ve just walked. The walk would have been around an hour according to Google and I don’t know the route at all. Plus to be perfectly honest I’m not up for an hour long walk after getting kids up and fed, walking to the station and a train commute.

AIBU?

OP posts:
Original poster
Summering23 · 16/03/2023 22:11

I knew about the strikes it was the protests I hadn’t factored in.
Funnily enough despite insisting I go in when I could just as easily have wfh my boss didn’t go in today due to the train strike. He didn’t fancy a bus ride or a long walk himself.

OP posts:
gazpachosoupday · 16/03/2023 22:12

Is it possible that your boss thought you were trying to make a point about coming in when you didnt want to?

NuffSaidSam · 16/03/2023 22:13

I don't think you're unreasonable. If you prefer the bus then that's fine.

Personally, I probably would have walked in the morning (weather was lovely in London) and then for the bus home as.by then it was raining and miserable.

Your boss should have let you swap days if it was possible.

Cheltenbacon · 16/03/2023 22:14

If you get sweaty and painful feet from that then you probably should be walking more. It’s not an unusual amount to walk.

lipstickwoman · 16/03/2023 22:14

The bottom line is you are required to be in work. How you get there is your problem, not your employers. Personally I'd have walked.. not knowing the route is a lame excuse.. how did you know it would be an hour if you hadn't worked out the route

Original poster
Summering23 · 16/03/2023 22:15

I do and could have wfh yesterday which is what makes it so annoying.
I don’t enjoy walking particularly as I always want to get where I’m going quickly and so end up rushing and getting a dead leg.

OP posts:
Lcb123 · 16/03/2023 22:17

I regularly walk an hour to get somewhere ( in London). And google maps??

KingHungDong · 16/03/2023 22:19

I would choose, and have often chosen, to do that walk twice a day. Though I like walking. I couldn't have WFH, though, because I'd have gone crazy after half an hour without having been for a walk, so we are all different.

Cupofteaaa5 · 16/03/2023 22:20

I'm with you OP. An hours walk before and after work sounds grim. Yes walking is lovely when it's a nice stroll around a park on a Sunday afternoon, but when it's early in the morning, potentially cold/raining and you're in a rush, it's crap.

carriedout · 16/03/2023 22:21

I don’t enjoy walking particularly as I always want to get where I’m going quickly and so end up rushing and getting a dead leg

This is unusual!

Regarding the walk, I'd be fine with it on a dry day. Good exercise, good for mood.

emmathedilemma · 16/03/2023 22:25

A dead leg?!?

FawnFrenchieMum · 16/03/2023 22:26

I must be lazy too as I wouldn’t want to do an hours walk before work. I’d be sweaty and have sore feet in my work shoes.

Loving the people saying cycle like everyone has a spare bike, helmet and cycle clothes hanging around just waiting for the train strikes.

MintJulia · 16/03/2023 22:27

Why would you get sweaty or a dead leg or sore feet? Maybe you should walk more.

I'd have walked too. Trainers on, breathable fibres and get your exercise. It's probably not even 10,000 steps. 😊

MyMumsOnMN · 16/03/2023 22:29

A dead leg from walking?

Hotvimto3 · 16/03/2023 22:30

There isnt a hope in hell i would walk an hour to work. Not a hope in hell my employer would ask this of me. Only in london i suppose. Absolutely unreasonable

SallyWD · 16/03/2023 22:30

I walk almost an hour to work every day (then the same back again!). Its great, gives me time to unwind, helps me to feel fit. You seem to think that walking for an hour is some epic mission.

Hotvimto3 · 16/03/2023 22:31

Cheltenbacon · 16/03/2023 22:14

If you get sweaty and painful feet from that then you probably should be walking more. It’s not an unusual amount to walk.

Its a very unusual amount to walk.. to WORK. It wasnt an afternoon out.

Siepie · 16/03/2023 22:31

I used to sometimes do an hour's walk to work. But it was a planned walk, with plenty of time and good trainers. I wouldn't have wanted to walk an unfamiliar route through protestors either.

Hotvimto3 · 16/03/2023 22:31

SallyWD · 16/03/2023 22:30

I walk almost an hour to work every day (then the same back again!). Its great, gives me time to unwind, helps me to feel fit. You seem to think that walking for an hour is some epic mission.

It is when you have kids to care for.

Viviennemary · 16/03/2023 22:32

No I wouldnt have walked. I might have got a taxi depending on cost or tried to arrange a lift with a colleague. Failing that I would have done what you did got the bus. Maybe left earlier before the traffic built up.

lipstickwoman · 16/03/2023 22:32

Whether or not OP wants to walk isn't the point imo. The point is she is required to be in work.

snitzelvoncrumb · 16/03/2023 22:32

If you could have done your job at home, and there was no other reason to be in the office other than your boss wanted you to, then you did the right thing being late. They knew if would be crowded and difficult, so they can lose an hour of you working. Don’t even think about making up the time!!!

Hotvimto3 · 16/03/2023 22:32

Are people not understanding the extra time out of the day. When you have kids its impossible to lose that time

Starseeking · 16/03/2023 22:32

Although I could walk for an hour (no mobility issues), I would absolutely not want to do that each way going to, and going home from, work.

I'd have told my boss I'd swap next week's WfH day with this one. Sounds like an awful boos to force you in, then not be in himself.

coloursquare · 16/03/2023 22:33

Is this a joke?!

  1. you're (presumably) being paid to go to work

  2. an hour's walk is just a reasonable amount of exercise and should set you up for the day

Swipe left for the next trending thread