To not want to walk for an hour?

[Summering23]

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?

Surely its just a throw away comment meaning it would have probably been less of a faff. Not a dig for being late.

You can't do an hours walk as a one off to get to work...

It seems that many people in this thread don't value their time. I certainly wouldn't want to be walking an hour each way to work, or even driving for that long. That's a fairly long commute! No thank you.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect you to walk in. If there was no transport at all I probably would take this job but as long as i didnt have much more to take in each day than myself and my lunch, then yeah, I think it's reasonable.
The other alternative is they may consider you taking AL if you know its gonna come up again. Are you able to download and app and book your bus tickets in advance?

Wednesday was tube strike, Thursday was the train strike, so they affected different people/routes.

I wouldn’t have wanted an hour walk after a 45 minute train journey when WFH was a possibility.

I would rather walk especially this weather when you're walking your moving around generating body heat. Plus a morning walks set's you up for the day. Especially if you're stuck in an office all day.

Those of you walking - are your jobs 'seated' for the day?
Is your route flat?

Mine would involve walking up a steep hill - and I am on my feet all day too - no way would I walk .

I think it does sound like your boss is on a power trip

I wouldn't have minded walking if it wasn't raining, in terms of dodging protestors, that's usually easy enough if you know the back roads. But I prefer to walk than deal with a crowded bus that can't go more than 3mph. It's just personal choice.

it sounds like your boss was U to expect you to come in. I'd have an 11 mile walk if I tried it in a strike day. One time it took me 3 hours to get in on the bus during a strike and the minute I got in, I told my boss - never again!

OP is in London, hence the Tube strike and impossibility of getting on a bus.

A one off or occasionally no issues

An hour's walk isn't that much, and will be good for your heart and brain and mood.

I wouldn't find walking an hour to work as a one off a big deal. It's just putting one foot in front of the other.

But it's easy for smug know it alls to say 'you should have walked' because you don't know from the outset how long the bus is going to take.

People usually complain about having to drive for an hour to work and here everyone is saying, "An hour of walking is fine! No problem at all. My one-year-old does that thrice a day!"

I'm like you, though, OP. My calf muscles seize up and I get shin pains. Then lower back and hips start. By the end of the day I'm contemplating peeing in the garden rather than trying to walk up the stairs to go to the bathroom.

Pure BS. You are foolish not to have brought a pair of trainers with you. Unless you are a twig with the body strength of a three month old baby an hour’s stroll (I doubt it would be an hour, for most people tbh as another poster has said I would walk 3.5 - 4 miles in an hour without breaking a sweat) carrying a laptop would not be taxing. Plus who in their right mind stands around at a packed bus stop instead of putting their earphones in and walking even a few stops on. You resent being asked to come in because you prefer working from home and I think it’s clear your boss knows this as they insisted you came in.

I wouldn't like that and don't see why they couldn't have swapped your in-office days over to let you work from home during the strike.

I'd ignore the comment. It was unusual circumstances and shouldn't be a regular occurrence.

I think I know what you mean about the leg, btw. I can walk long distances without trouble, but if I try to 'speedwalk' beyond a certain speed for long enough, part of my leg can cramp and need a rest. It's always been this way, my entire life, so I don't think it's a sign of a serious condition. It only happens if I push myself to walk at too quick a pace. If I walk at a normal speed, I'm fine. I can also run without difficulty and used to be fairly fast at sprinting distance, though to be honest I rarely run if I don't have to, because I don't enjoy it.

I think if your boss is wfh it's quite hypocritical to ask his staff to come on those days if they can work from home too.
Having said that I always prefer to walk or run on the tube strike days as I feel more in control - I know roughly how long it will take whereas if I wait for a bus I don't know how long I'll wait before I can get on/ whether it will be stuck in traffic etc. I also take the train and then have a 3 mile journey across London. On Wednesday I ran my journey. I saw probably 100 people queuing at an empty taxi rank at the station and thought by the time they have got to the front of the queue some of the ppl could probably have walked where they were going! Especially as the traffic was very slow in the morning and mostly at gridlock in the evening .
The evening run was not especially nice - raining and crowded with people in parts where I just had to stop and walk . But on foot was definitely quicker than the traffic.

I love a good walk. An hour isn't a long walk at a weekend, when you're relaxing and taking in the view.

I certainly wouldn't want to walk for an hour before I got to work in my work clothes and work shoes etc! I think an hour is really quite long to walk to work!

I'd get a right sweat on

NANBU

I could walk to work, a similar distance away. I would struggle with carrying work laptop, class sets of books etc over that distance.

Walking an hour in suitable clothes and shoes not carrying anything heavy is fine. Walking an hour unplanned in work clothes and shoes carrying my laptop and work bag no way. and with the same in reverse after a full day at work? No chance I would do that.

Was it a comment with the expectation you should walk in future to avoid being late.

Or an off the cuff comment along the lines of "it would have been quicker to walk" ?

Because the 2nd is true and doesn't sound like they are suggesting it.

If it's the first perhaps you could suggest you swap a wfh and office day if there's further strikes or ask around if a colleague comes near you and you can walk to a mutually convenient meeting place.

Lots of drip feed, but in the end I think you're not unreasonable because your boss didn't go in but wouldn't let you work from home. Also I get that if you're wearing uncomfortable shoes an hour walk is like torture.
Otherwise if I lived an hour walk away from my office in London, I'd walk that distance often, but I can wear trainers to work.

You can't be bothered to walk for an hour?

Yeah I think the issue is that if you work from home sometimes anyway, what difference does another day make due to strikes. It seems stupid to make you go in at great inconvenience when you can do the job at home.

I love the competitive distance walking to work posts though 😂

leave earlier
Pure laziness