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.

My team work completely flexibly, I don’t care what time they start or what time they finish. Their time is their own to manage and they can pick and choose when they get their work done and get paid very well for it. No one has any issue doing the odd thing in the evening or weekend if necessary. They all love their work/life balance.

But if they didn’t, they are welcome to leave and find a job with a more rigid 9-5 structure, our way of working isn’t for everyone, I know.

I think you should put it in your diary as an extended lunch break and finish later that day. You took a 50 minute class and it took 10 minutes there and again back, so that’s 70 minutes you took instead of 30. You could get away with saying it was 60 minutes and owe 30 minutes. Now you’ve been spotted you can’t keep doing it without adjusting your work schedule.

My friend kept popping to the gym while on his 30 minute break, he took an hour. I never said anything because I knew he would cover for me too. Once there was a fire alarm and the building was evacuated. I was due to finish in an hour and this friend covered for me so I could just go home earlier. Anyway he was spotted by a senior colleague who reported him to management. He pretended it was his first time and lost track of time and would work over to compensate from now on. They liked that answer and nothing more was ever said, and he was more careful.

Yeah I think you’re going to get pulled up on this, especially with the earlier incidents.

But to try to pull it back, can you talk to them about it official flexi time, with a time sheet to prove when you’ve been working or on a break etc?

I would think it’s best to proactively go to them with this suggestion and explain why it’s preferable to take time out during the day and catch up in the evening. If they say no then they say no, and you’ll have to start working the hours you’re paid for at the times you’re paid to work them.

I do struggle with how you could be working late when you talk about a school run (so primary school children) and then not being able to get out in the evening to the gym.

People like you are the reason it’s widely believed that people that work from home are lazy shirkers.
People like you are the reason that some employers are requesting workers back in the office.
I work from home, when I’m meant to be working, I’m working hard. I’m not popping to the shop or the gym or putting a wash on.
You’re taking the piss and deserve them to request you return to the office.

As someone who doesn't have the wfh option (client facing) this sort of thing really irritates me. So many of the parents in DC's classes just popping off to do school runs, shopping, go to the gym in their "work time". Getting to go to school time events without having to take annual leave. Most of whom are likely getting paid at least double what I do.

Obviously it's up to their employer how bothered they are about this, and it's quite possible that some make up the time elsewhere. But it's pretty galling for someone that doesn't have that flexibility even in an emergency to see so many people taking the piss.

If you feel you're underpaid and the working conditions are inhumane, then you should be looking for another job. You are the one who agreed to these terms and conditions; if you don't like them, the proper thing to do is quit. But if you need the job, then don't fuck around in a way that's likely to be found out.

If you clocked out the full hour and a half as your lunch break and are allowed this long without extra permission you are fine. If not then obviously you shouldn't have done it. The issue isn't that you were exercising on lunch but the time it took. If your director has to do it in her spare time then why should you get to do it in working hours?

Your card will be marked, for sure.

The fact you're worried about this suggests you know that you've been taking the piss.

If you're underpaid, and resentful, look for another job. That's irrelevant to the fact you've been caught out repeatedly now.

I certainly can't see you being fired over this, especially if your work is solid. But if I were you, I'd be the ultimate rule-stickler from now until at least the spring.

Yabu and you know you shouldn't be taking that long a lunch break or going to the supermarket when you're meant to be in a meeting FFS

You'd be on poor performance if I managed you

It was her day off.

I WFH and I go to the gym some mornings, but I work with the US so I work late quite a bit. My boss is fine with me doing stuff early in the day as she knows I more than make up the hours. Flexibility works both ways. Can you discuss with your boss? It really depends on your company culture as to whether this is ok or not.

What comes over is you don't like your job or have any real commitment to it - lots of resentment over the salary and your 30 mins for lunch, so you think you can offset that by doing what you want, when you want.

Your work appears to take second place to your fitness 'needs', family commitments and domestic stuff.

Your team may already sense this and it's not fair on them. Managers or team leaders are supposed to set a good example.

Doing your work as and when it suits you is fine if that's your contract.
If it's not, you're out of line.

Do not use a mouse jiggle. There is software available as part of normal corporate IT surveillance to detect them, and it would turn a regular attendance issue into a gross misconduct one in many workplaces.

How much you get paid is irrelevant
How senior you are is irrelevant
What others do at lunch is irrelevant
You get a 30 minute lunch and you took at least an hour and ten minute 50 min class and 10 min walk either side. That's assuming you arrived on the dot at the start

Eh? What are you doing that your workplace doesn’t notice you are gone for over an hour?
my husband also works from home. He works through his lunch break, so instead between 3:05 and 3:30 he can be doing the school run, but he always takes his phone and has meetings etc if he can. He gets an hour for lunch, but if he’s missing for longer than 10 mins, someone panics, usually his boss as there’s a whole chunk of work that no one has enough in-depth knowledge about except my husband. He’s trying to train some others to understand it but it’s a vital bit of their operation and if it goes off line, it can cause serious issues.
I honestly cannot believe that someone in a “senior role” can go missing for over an hour plus and it’s not noticed.

It's threads like this that give home workers a bad name. The fact that the 'shock went straight to your bowels' says it all and you totally know YABU.

You are lucky to get 30 mins for lunch. The job I'm in, (not wfh) I am supposed to get an hour but the various impracticalities of this mean more often than not, I get zero. That's not ok but neither is what you and so many other home workers seem to take for granted as their 'right' to get paid for stolen time.

As an aside, a mouse jiggler just takes the total piss in so much more than the stolen time aspect; that the movement of a mouse can mimic a person doing their actual job for any length of time and people expect to. and apparently do.. get away with it. Despite my lunch break grumbles I much prefer the self respect of having a meaningful enough job where my personal presence and interactions with people are needed and valued.

Where are peoples self-respect and work ethics? Many are modelling this "do as little as you can possibly get away with' ethic to their children.

Taking 1 hour 10 minutes minimum (50 minute class plus 10 minutes walk each way) is not on however much you think you are underpaid or disagree with the lunch break policy. If you want a longer lunch break you need to either negotiate it specifically or request flexible working hours. I can start late or leave early s long as I do my hours over the week but not all jobs are suited to this

Did you at least make up the time at the end of the day?

it sounds like you’re taking the piss a bit with the Pilates and other incidences mentioned.
this attitude to working at home is exactly why businesses are calling for more office time

I know the post is probably a wind up but I wfh most of the time and because of this I’m always putting in more hours as it’s so tempting to just finish that one last report or send those few emails or just start earlier as I’m up anyway. And so when I do take a bit longer on my lunch, for stuff like reformer Pilates, I’m untroubled by this. I don’t even know what’s in my contract about this but my line manager doesn’t care as they know it all evens out (actually they still get much more than my hours).

30 min lunch breaks are inhumane, bit dramatic!
You're anxious because you know you've been caught taking the piss, and that you've been caught before.

When I worked in the public sector I used to nip to the loo (not the actual loo but the room next door with sinks and seats) and eat my sandwiches in work time if I wanted to use my full lunch break for shopping. Of course it just looked like a normal loo break so no one ever clocked me.

The equivalent for you would be to eat while you are working and still logged on. Unless its a meeting no one can see that you are eating. Then you can log out for the full 30 minutes. If you boss comments on the long lunch for the gym break just remind her that you worked extra on XX to complete a project and you were taking a spot of TOIL. Or choose another gym.

I know...ops definition of inhumane is ridiculous and so entitled. They are fortunate they don't know what actual inhumane conditions look like.

Why would you not just speak to your manager about having a longer lunchbreak and making the hours up at the start and end of the day?

It does sound like you've been caught out on this, but you're also having lots of other time away during the working day - supermarket trips, school pick up, running errands?

I very much fit stuff in around work on the days I wfh but I make sure Ive done my 7.5 hours one way or the other e.g. Id rather do a daytime run/gym class but then log on for an hour in the evening.

omg, reading these replies, I'm so happy with where I work right now. They don't care about when I do work, as long as I'm putting in my hours each week. They are super flexible. I don't even have to give notice of holidays, as long as its written on the calendar so that they can keep track of it. I will often start work early, or do a bit in the weekend or evening in order to free up time to do other stuff when it suits me.

The idea of not being able to pop out and get some exercise is bizarre. Surely that refreshes you, body and mind, so that you can work even better afterwards?
I often go riding during the day, to make the most of the weather. Sometimes I pop out and get some shopping done, while its not crowded (i hate trying on clothes when the shops are busy at the weekend). I'll put the washing on, or do some gardening, or just go for a walk to stretch my legs. I hate being kept in all day.