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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:
MILLYmo0se · 17/03/2023 10:50

I certainly wouldnt want to be doing it everyday, but its my responsibilty to be in work on time if if walking would have gotten me there on time of course i would have walked for that one morning.

BabyTa · 17/03/2023 11:31

What on earth are these comments? I would have waited for the bus, you were only a bit late but you still went in (I hope it was necessary). Passive aggressive from your boss

BlossomOfOrange · 17/03/2023 12:05

It’s up to you how you get to work. You’ve taken a job that you can reach/do in good time under normal conditions. Under these abnormal conditions, you do your best and only you can decide what that looks like.

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 17/03/2023 14:40

Previously I would have agreed with you. But now I'm walking 10000 steps a day to lose weight an hour is pretty standard every day

Nimbostratus100 · 17/03/2023 14:41

lobeliasb · 17/03/2023 10:19

Uphill each way too, I'm sure.

Show quote history

again, why the mockery?

You are trying to make your self feel better by putting me down, rather than address the issues in your own life, which I am guessing are physical laziness, over reliance on polluting transport, and self justification

LucieLemon · 17/03/2023 14:53

Nimbostratus100 · 16/03/2023 22:00

good grief! My children chose to walk that to school most days instead of getting the bus- during the pandemic I walked 2 hours to work. and 2 hours back. During previous tube strikes I have walked 3 hours

3 miles is nothing at all, it is quite shocking that anyone thinks it is a big deal for a one off strike day

4 hours out of your day! That's crazy!!

I'm with the previous poster who classes the commute as part of my work day, no way would I be happy for it to take hours of my precious free time.

Pubesofsoberness · 17/03/2023 14:55

I walk more than that each day but no, I wouldn't fancy walking an hour before my working in the office day

Hartlebury · 17/03/2023 14:55

Probably because what you saying sounds utterly pious @Nimbostratus100, and your implication that it's totally beyond the pale for someone to not want to walk 6+ miles a day on top of a shift at work.

You're entirely unwilling to see it from anyone else's perspective, instead choosing to regale us with "I walked 11 miles each way to work" as if that's normal, and everyone has the time for that. If you do, great, but not everybody does and you don't need to be a martyr about it.

thelongroad · 17/03/2023 15:36

These responses are utterly insane.
No, OP YANBU to not want to walk for an hour to get to work.

OneTC · 17/03/2023 15:42

I enjoy walking so it wouldn't be a problem for me but I don't imagine your view OP would be unpopular

Buddythecat1 · 17/03/2023 17:23

Hotvimto3 · 16/03/2023 22:31

It is when you have kids to care for.

Show quote history

I have four kids, one being a year old that doesn't sleep for more than two hours
I'd leave my house at 6.45, and get to work with about 3 mins to spare to clock in
I don't drive and transport is crap (not in london)

Twinsforthewin · 17/03/2023 18:15

YANBU, love all the ultra marathoners here... absolutely not at the end of a working day, along urban streets, after getting kids ready.

limitedperiodonly · 17/03/2023 18:58

As far as I can tell someone said to the OP: "I'd have walked instead of waiting for the bus and she said: 'I had a heavy laptop and heels" and they went: "Oh, fair enough."

She didn't get told off for being late which is fair and is also expected to be in the office which is also fair. The tube strikes are not going to last forever, are they?

Movinghouseatlast · 17/03/2023 19:07

I always used to walk rather than get the tube, after a 40 Minute train journey. I found it much more relaxing than the stress of the tube.

Molkomad · 17/03/2023 19:55

I wouldn't have done an hours walk into work and I'm surprised by the amount of people who think this is fine!! Why couldn't you just swap your office and WFH day instead of being forced into the office when the strikes were on?

lobeliasb · 17/03/2023 20:01

Nimbostratus100 · 17/03/2023 14:41

again, why the mockery?

You are trying to make your self feel better by putting me down, rather than address the issues in your own life, which I am guessing are physical laziness, over reliance on polluting transport, and self justification

Show quote history

Oh, come on now! The vast vast majority of people wouldn't walk 11 miles to work each way, that's absurd. You must know you're an outlier with your eagerness to commute great distances on foot?

I value my free time and don't want to spend it traipsing to and from work. Is that an "issue" or laziness? I do in fact walk to work, but it's 20 minutes each way, not 3 hours!

bizzywiththefizzy · 17/03/2023 20:30

I used to do an hrs walk back and from work , there was no public transport from where I lived (quite rural) to where I worked . I continued while pregnant too . I could have given up work but I needed the money .
If you're fit young and healthy there is really no reason not to walk to get into work .

LucyLeave · 17/03/2023 20:31

Not a chance I'd walk for an hour to get to work.

LlynTegid · 17/03/2023 21:11

The unreasonableness is from a manager expecting you to come into work when working from home is an option, on a strike day.

Presumably he is OK with those who have to go to a place of work being late because a bus is full and someone had little option to walk. A person who would be happy for someone working in a medical setting, or an emergency service support role, not being able to get to work on time.

Tontostitis · 17/03/2023 21:14

I've walked an hour to work when there's been a strike not sure why you wouldn't

Codlingmoths · 17/03/2023 21:23

given he didn’t come in for next time I’d wfh and act naive and say to your boss when you dial in from home. I’m glad we’ve changed approach, you saw sense last time and worked from home

purplehair1 · 17/03/2023 22:45

All these commenters saying an hour’s walk isn’t unreasonable- that’s fine but once you’ve already been trying to get there by bus unaware it would take so long - yes it’s all very well in HINDSIGHT (such a wonderful skill) to say maybe you should have planned for an hour of walking as a commute- but if you are struggling in on the bus it’s already too late for that?

LucyLeave · 17/03/2023 22:50

Tontostitis · 17/03/2023 21:14

I've walked an hour to work when there's been a strike not sure why you wouldn't

I'm not sure why you would.

SophiaSW1 · 17/03/2023 23:00

I'd walk it as my first option. No one wants to get on a strike day bus!

ThinWomansBrain · 17/03/2023 23:09

Not currently, but one job in London there were TFL strikes, left lots of time, and was rather embarrassed to find it was quicker walking than getting the bus.
I wouldn't necessarily want to do it every day, but an hour walking is nothing.
Unpleasant to walk through thousands of protesters?
WHo? Where? - you might get half a dozen people or so outsit a tube station, but not exactly a big deal - do you imagine they're going to gang up on you to stop you daring to walk and break their strike?