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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:
Starseeking · 16/03/2023 22:33

*boss

Talkwhilstyouwalk · 16/03/2023 22:34

Tell them to jog on. You got there as requested. How you did this is absolutely none of their business.....

lipstickwoman · 16/03/2023 22:34

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

But this is not the employers problem is it.

Tinybrother · 16/03/2023 22:34

I do look forward to a point in my life where I will have time to choose to do an hour’s walk before work each day. With school and nursery runs there just isn’t time before I’m scheduled to start work. It must be lovely to be able to choose to do that.

Talkwhilstyouwalk · 16/03/2023 22:35

It's a waste of everybody's time....a huge commute, especially both ways, for a day in the office....

AdoraBell · 16/03/2023 22:35

Personally I would have walked but I think your boss was unreasonable with that comment.

Leftbutcameback · 16/03/2023 22:36

It’s fine if you have the right shoes, and a bit of a nightmare if you don’t. That’s what would have stopped me if I hadn’t been expecting it (I used to walk 30 min each way to walk and my soles got very sore in smart boots).

PenCreed · 16/03/2023 22:37

Talkwhilstyouwalk · 16/03/2023 22:35

It's a waste of everybody's time....a huge commute, especially both ways, for a day in the office....

My commute is an hour each way every day anyway (and 40 minutes of that is walking). I have one of the easier commutes in my office. An hour is not a huge commute in London.

PinkSyCo · 16/03/2023 22:38

You’re a grown adult. it is your responsibility to make sure you get to work in time to do the job that you are paid for. You have no mobility issues. You should have walked.

WinterMusings · 16/03/2023 22:39

@Summering23 was there actually any need for you to be in the office? Could you have WFH as effectively?

IF there was a genuine need to be in, I'd have walked if it wasn't peeing with rain. IF he was just power tripping, I'd be looking for a new job. I can't abide little power tripping idiots.

TiaraBoo · 16/03/2023 22:40

An hours walk on top of a train commute is stupid when you can work from home. Unless everyone was coming in for a specific meeting or training or something.
Your boss just proved it when he worked from home instead of travelling to the office.

GyozaGuiting · 16/03/2023 22:40

I regularly walk an hour in London, it’s actually quite nice! Can’t see the issue to be honest.

kezzieliza · 16/03/2023 22:43

I enjoy walking and don't get sweaty walking so would happily do this. I like to listen to podcasts which I don't normally have time to do while I walk. Rude of them to make comments though as it's just a one off.

Dibbydoos · 16/03/2023 22:44

I feel your dilemma. I completely support the right to strike but on 3 ocassions my employer has arranged events in London. This has meant a 5.30am start for me, a 2 hour drive and then long tube journeys (thankfully tfl services were still running). Tomorrow I can't get into London before 10am on the train, so glad they moved the start time back to 10am from 8.30am.

So if I was you, would I walk an hour to get into the office, no. I'd probably work out where I could walk in 20mins that would give me a quicker route into work, if that's possible.

The wider question for me is why is your employer insisting you go into the office during a transport strike esp ifiyou could work from home.

Hawkins003 · 16/03/2023 22:46

Summering23 · 16/03/2023 21:57

Maybe I’m just lazy then! If it was just the walk it might be more palatable but it was on top of my commute. Plus walking through London on a strike day with thousands of protestors/ picketers wouldn’t have been the nice stroll I think some of you are imagining.

I can understand your perspectives, it would of been an interesting walk, but after a bit unless you keep your self walking at a good speed, it's easy to get into a steady pace, but then it uses up more time

ActDottie · 16/03/2023 22:48

I’d have quite happily walked an hour to work for one day

Tinybrother · 16/03/2023 22:50

lipstickwoman · 16/03/2023 22:34

But this is not the employers problem is it.

Show quote history

It may well be.

Bumply · 16/03/2023 22:54

I go to the office two days a week.
In the summer I sometimes walk back which takes just over an hour.
I don't walk in as it would leave me sweaty and I'd have to start out much earlier to still be there for 9am.
At the moment the weather is still dreich and cold and I've yet to do the walk back this year.

Hotvimto3 · 16/03/2023 22:55

lipstickwoman · 16/03/2023 22:34

But this is not the employers problem is it.

Show quote history

Its the employers problem to be reasonable when circumstances are not the employees problem either.

Original poster
Summering23 · 16/03/2023 22:55

It was a power trip thing I’m sure as I regularly wfh and we all usually do when there’s a train strike but the tube strikes don’t affect him!

I could easily do an hours walk if not dressed for work. But in work clothes and work shoes laden down with my laptop and the other stuff I have to lug in yes I’d be sweaty and my feet would hurt.

Dead leg may not have been the right term but I get this thing where the muscles in my leg feel like they go hard like a plank of wood and then I’m struggling to walk. Like one of those dreams where you are running but getting nowhere. Anyway it tends to happen when I’m rushing because I need/want to get somewhere in time. I’m a naturally fast paced walker anyway but I need to try not to rush too much.

OP posts:
lipstickwoman · 16/03/2023 22:57

How is it unreasonable to expect someone to turn up for work when it's a bus journey, or a taxi. Or a lift share? Has that option been explored. An hours walk is about 4 miles for me.. it could be 3 maybe. Hardly a big ask.

Original poster
Summering23 · 16/03/2023 23:02

I feel there’s quite a lot of people commenting that they’d enjoy the walk but I wonder if they’d enjoy it on top of having got up and got kids fed and ready, animals sorted, self ready, walk to station, 45 minute train commute etc. plus there’s a big difference between a nice hour long walk through London for pleasure with no time constraints than an hour long walk trying to get to work for a certain time following a map on your phone when the streets are literally full of thousands of people.

OP posts:
lipstickwoman · 16/03/2023 23:03

The reasonable adjustment should be perhaps starting 30 mins later. Not not turning up at all.

mrstiggywinklesapron · 16/03/2023 23:05

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.

I walk up to 6 hours a day as part of my job and do lots of other exercise too, and I would get sweaty walking an hour across London. Some people are just sweatier than others, this is not a reflection on fitness!!

I think it's a bit disingenuous all these people saying they'd love an hours walk. I love an hours walk with my dog, but I don't think I'd be thrilled at an unexpected extra hours walk thrust upon me, particularly when in office clothes and trying to get somewhere on time!

Original poster
Summering23 · 16/03/2023 23:06

lipstickwoman · 16/03/2023 22:57

How is it unreasonable to expect someone to turn up for work when it's a bus journey, or a taxi. Or a lift share? Has that option been explored. An hours walk is about 4 miles for me.. it could be 3 maybe. Hardly a big ask.

A lift share might work in a town outside of London but not when everyone is commuting in from different places and nobody is driving. In any case driving wouldn’t have got me there on time either as the traffic was the reason for my bus journey taking so much longer. And have you tried getting a taxi on a tube strike day?!

OP posts: