Was I unreasonable to go to Pilates in the middle of the day? Feel sick....

[SisterJude7]

I work from home and am allocated 30 minutes for lunch. I am chronically underpaid for my level of seniority (I manage a small team). In my view, it is inhumane to expect human beings to only take a mere 30 minutes to recuperate, although many of my colleagues relish missing their lunch breaks and wear their lack of lunch as a badge of honour. I admittedly sometimes go for a run, attend a gym class or run some errands before school pick up which is beneficial for my own wellbeing. No issues with my performance, I work my hours and I have finished late on numerous occasions anyway. The daytime classes tend to be cheaper and use less of my Class Pass points and besides, I have zero time in the evening.

Anyway, on Friday, I attended a 50 minute Pilates class. I don't usually pay much attention to the other attendees, but during the warm-up, I was absolutely blindsided to see a director on the carriage opposite (she has Fridays off). My stomach absolutely dropped-she definitely clocked me and looked stony-faced but briefly nodded. To make matters worse, the shock went straight to my bowels, so I needed to dash to the loo 😭😭. I had no choice but to complete the class which felt like the longest 50 minutes of my life with a churning stomach. She scuttled out at the end of the class.

Do you think I will be in trouble? I have spent all weekend ruminating. I don't want recent minor transgressions to be put under the microscope- I've been spoken to informally about my dogs barking in a client meeting and once I also forgot a teams meeting and popped to the supermarket. I don't want to be forced to go back to the London office as my dogs have separation anxiety and I need to be around to pick up my DCs. Should I say something and get in there first? My DH thinks I am overreacting, it will be fine and that I should just buy a mouse jiggler from Amazon which I don't agree with.

I go to a 45 min class on my office days. With a shower after I'm out 1h 15. They reckon we have an hour for lunch but frankly I'm bloody good at my job, my CEO does similar and supports me doing anything for my wellbeing and I don't work in a stasi culture.

OP hate to say it but it depends on your seniority and level of trust they have in you awhether you get away with this

Only if that is a permitted way of working at her work. If not it will have zero affect on the outcome of any disciplinary or whatever.

Take these responses with a pinch of salt OP. Mumsnet is weird about wfh and being in charge of your own time.

It's pretty easy! I run my department and afford the same flexibility to my team. Depends on your role. No one will die if marketing isn't available for an hour.

Does he take the pee too?

It would appear that her own employer thinks differently

Did you log as unavailable and work later? If you want take an hour for lunch then either work 30min earlier or later.

Do you count pick up times in your working day? Whats company policy about not being avaliable online during working day

Tbh it doesn’t really matter if you think your lunch break is too short, that’s the time allotted. Shirking off like that put WFH at risk.

Id have stayed late that day and if asked said I thought the class was a shorter one but when it wasn’t you stayed late to make up the time.

If it was a 50 min class and you took the train there how long was your lunch? 90 mins c

But she’s not in charge of her own time that’s the point. My husbands work was flexible so he could do this. I had to log when I signed in, out for lunch, to go and everything in between.

Yes, you are being unreasonable. Worse than that though is that your attitude towards WFH fucks it up for the rest us

How nice for you. That’s not usual. Most people are expected to be working during work hours.

Yeah. Piss take. To be honest, you took over double your lunch break and also seem to pop to the shops and pick up the kids etc.
your perception is that you are underpaid. I think that’s probably subjective.
I think you’ve overstepped.
Either that or it’s a bait fake thread.

It appears to be a mismatch between what you’d like from a working culture and conditions and your employer’s expectations. Neither are wrong but they’re not compatible in the long term.

It may well lead to a conversation where you are recalled to the office as trust has been broken. It doesn’t help that it’s the latest in a series of incidents - missing meetings to run errands, dogs affecting client calls, and now the extended lunch break.

As others have suggested, probably good to start looking for a new job that’s better suited to the flexibility you’d like

Hi OP 👋
I haven't RTFT just your replies and I must say, I think you know you have royally taken the pee, and you are right to be worried. 💯

You are entitled to a 30 min lunch break (is that paid or unpaid?). 🤔
You traveled 10 minutes each-way and took a 50 minute class.
That's a 70 minute break away from work.
That's over double your standard 30 min lunch break. 😬
Did you make up the lost time that same evening?
Or will you drop a lunch break next week, to give that time back?

Have you spoken to your employer regarding possible flexible lunch arrangements?
For instance:
You could make the time up in the early evening if you take a longer lunch break? 🤔

Or propose that you have shorter lunches of 20 minutes Mon-Thurs, therefore banking (4 × 10 =) 40 minutes to use instead on a friday for this 70 minutes needed for this class (50 for class & 10 minutes travel there and 10 mins travel back). 🤷‍♀️

Or would it be possible to ask for Friday afternoons off and work those surplus hours on the Mon-Thurs?

I do not wfh, and our lunches are within our work environment, so have no skin in this WFH game.
But if you are unhappy, could you try and negotiate some flexibility?
Failing that, maybe a new job hunt is on the cards?

Hope you get it sorted OP.

also I googled 'mouse jiggler' as I originally thought it was a toy for a cat! 😹 and I was surprised it wasn't!
@SisterJude7

Surely it depends on terms of your contract, if you are paid to work 9-4 with a 30 minute and you started at 9 and finished at 4 despite taking more than an hour for lunch, then clearly that is not OK. If you are paid to work 6.5 hours and you took more than an hour for lunch and finished after 4:30 then it's surely a none issue. I often take an hour or more for lunch, we tend to do a 45+ minute walk and I still need to eat afterwards, or on occasions I go to the dentist at lunchtime. However I am paid for 30 hours and as long as I still work my full 30 hours (or more), they are flexible with me.

If you think you're underpaid, look for a new job. It's not an excuse for skiving work. You've gone to an exercise class in work time whilst getting paid, which is taking the mick. Things like this are the reason wfh has a bad reputation for people skiving and ruin it for the majority of us who are honest. Yes, you work late on occasion but if your contract doesn't provide for you to take back time in lieu then it's irrelevant

Once a week is fine if you’re making up the time. If you log off on time every day and on that day also took time to eat that’s a fair chunk of the working day if you get there 5m before class and leave 5m after including travel that’s 1hr20 if you ate lunch too you’ve trebled your break. You also mention the supermarket in the middle of the day 😐

If you’re underpaid and don’t like the culture then I’d suggest job hunting.

If any of this is really true, you are right to be concerned. And have some explaining to do.

Yeah I guess things like marketing just aren’t that vital at every second of the day. I honestly never worked corporate so my only experience of this is through my husband. I just think it’s weird that no one has noticed she was gone for ages!

You’ve taken the piss and I’d bet my bottom dollar that this wasn’t the first time.
If you don’t like the lunch break timings, then you should look for a different job.

Quite!

I don't know whether it's unreasonable, but based on what you've told us, it's definitely unwise.

Say nothing. Work later today to make up for it. If you get reported, hold your hands up and say you wanted to go to the class and made the time up. Then work like a saint from now on.

Agree. Plus all the 'it's inhumane' to only take a half hour break.

You wfh for what sounds like a fairly short working day if you also do school pick up. You're not down the mines for 12 hours in the pitch black. How much recuperation do you need?

Both things can be true - your job sounds a bit OTT in terms of strict timetabling. Many would be a bit more flexible. However equally true is YOU decided to apply for and then stay in said job knowing the expectations, so if you are repeatedly breaking them then you are in the wrong. It's open to you to apply to jobs with more flexibility if you want them, or to speak to your manager and ask for more, but just doing your own thing, like a gym class when you are being paid for working, is clearly not on and absolutely a disciplinary offence.

Meet this head on and look like a grown up.

Speak to your manager.
Say you did take a longer lunch break to try out Pilates and would like to:
Make up the hours between xpm and ypm on xx day
and
Would it be possible to take an extended lunch once a week with hours made up as suggested.

All of this is very good advice. Particularly the bit about asking if you could arrange to work slightly later on a particular day in order to take a class. That would restore faith that you were keen to put it all on a proper footing and would be less stressful for you.

I was going to say re the importance of keeping a record of your hours, when you work late/when you take longer lunch to show you make it up. In case you do get hauled up.

You need to make a point of being around and illustrating that you are only taking 30 mins lunch times.

You are taking things a bit far. You said the daytime class was cheaper and cost less points.. but its not worth it if doing that causes you to lose your job? If for example redundancies were being considered. It would count against you.