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.

life happens. I don’t clockwatch, nor do my employers. They know I work what’s necessary to get my job done.
if I clock off early to go and watch a movie or take a 3 hour lunch they know they’ll get the hours back at some point.
if you are senior and underpaid then the flexibility is making up for your shitty salary.

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.

So, you have dogs that interrupt meetings, you're unreliable regarding your scheduled meetings, and you work in the afternoon with your kids at home. Now you've been caught out by senior management taking an extra 40 minutes on top of your lunch break.

You need wraparound childcare, doggy daycare and I would expect my arse handing to me for the pilates class. Any of that would mean a return to the office at the very least. You're distracted and not able to give 100% to the job you're paid to do when you're WFH as well as taking the piss.

It very much sounds like your work ethic is poor and the job that pays for your life is an afterthought. You are very much taking the piss and give people who WFH a bad rep. Give your head a wobble and stop finger pointing at everyone else. Either you agree with your work conditions or you change jobs. And yes, I think you’ve got your cards marked now.

I like an expression I've seen on another forum - FAFO.

Sadly, I'm guessing after the OP reads the majority of comments on here, we won't be getting an update on Monday

So you were on a 1h 10 mins break when it was supposed to be 30 minutes?

More than that, let’s be honest

She may have been stony-faced because an employee was invading her mental relaxation space.

this wouldn’t be an issue at my work because we bill our time instead of having set hours. I can take as many breaks as I want, I just have to stay later to make my total hours for the day.

Yes, you were.

What is your employers flexible working policy? Are you in breach? Has your manager agreed that you can take longer for lunch if you make it up? Have you core hours you must be and are available for work?

Do you let your team when you are off work? Can they contact you if they need to, or do you just head off? Do you make it clear eg booking time out on your diary, or are you hiding this? The fact your stomach dropped and your reaction suggests you have been caught out. A short run, exercise class could be well-being- but supermarket run?!! Nah.

I would look at all the above and speak to a union, or join one asap for advice, before coughing for it all. You may need help here OP, depending on your employer. But be prepared, I suspect this is all grounds for gross misconduct immediate dismissal.

I cannot work from work due the nature of my job. I commute in each way.

I get a 30 minute lunch break, and no, it’s not enough. It’s worth even less than a 30 minute lunch at home would be as preparing my lunch takes longer away from my own kitchen.

My dog is elderly and I miss her greatly. I pay a dog sitter to come in.

You have majorly taken the piss extensively and yes, there should be repercussions.

I have to limit my Pilates classes to the evening, like lots of people 🤷🏻‍♀️

@SisterJude7 basically shat herself because she knows more than anyone on this thread that her employer does not allow this amount of flexibility and, no doubt, there’s a bit of history with the Op taking the piss.

If you wanted a more flexible working pattern you should have requested it, formally, in writing. You accepted the job on the salary paid for the hours worked - you are in breach of your contract.

If you worked for me you would no longer be working from home! What an absolute abuse of the the privilege

Made up rage bait. Try harder.

Obviously YABU.

This can't be true - surely most people would realise that, as there was no prior agreement, this would be a disciplinary in any normal workplace.

It worked quite well though 11 pages of people getting annoyed by the made up situation, and barely a peep from OP maybe they are working today to make up time

You sound like you chronically take the piss..

Spot on!

You were out of the house for about 45 minutes longer than your statutory lunch break.

Yes, yes you WERE unreasonable.

I skipped straight to the last page after reading the 2 OP updates and lo and behold, it is indeed one of those threads 🤭 we all need to go outside and touch grass before it snows.

You are not suitable for WFH.

my boss has just agreed that I can start an hour later one day a week to do a Pilates class before work. But I do a clinic once a week that runs until 17.00 and I am paid until 16.00. So I think that's fair enough. I wouldn't have asked for it otherwise.
do you make up the time if you go to the supermarket etc during working hours and "forget" team meetings? I'm wondering if this is yet another rage bait thread.

You're taking the piss. People like you are the reason why so many employers would like to get people back in the office.

If your job was office-based, which it likely would have been before COVID and WFH became common, you'd have needed to do your gym class in the evening or weekend, found dog care and child care and would be taking half hour lunches, unless you had made specific arrangements with the employer.

WFH should not be an excuse to get paid for doing less work for the same pay.

I find it hard to believe this is real. It reads more and more like rage bait the further you go on

God aren't people rule-following goodie two-shoes on here? I wonder what the French would think of you lot? Utterly pathetic I would imagine (I didn't say that - I'm just imagining what a French person would say).

Obviously no-one can say whether you will get into trouble OP. Just be more careful next time you skive off😁

"You're lucky your streets don't smell of burning?"