Is your boss this annoying? How to deal with.

[Peterbear]

I work for a local authority in the east of uk. My boss has been seconded to another team for a few months. New boss is insisting we complete time sheets whilst working at home. No probs at all with the at. the only thing is she wants us to email in each day and this is the start of our working day. she just checked my sheets for last month and has emailed to say ' on 24/3 you have put 8am start on time sheet however we did not receive your log in email until 8.01. Please rectify'
how do I respond/deal with ??!!Just play the game and don't react ?or tell her she's got too much time on her hands and really needs to get a life? Worth saying I sometimes do bits but dont log as can't be bothered/looks petty. Just cant believe we are being treated like children.

That's just crazy but if you old boss will be back in a few months I'd just play along and log every detail with pinpoint accuracy.

Don't react. If she wants to take it further or higher no one is going to give a monkeys.

If your local authority lap top is as slow as mine, it’ll have taken longer than a minute to start up and log on!
What an idiot 🙈

I would simply reply that it takes around 1 minute for the laptop to power up in order to send the email.

She gets the time back as you probably email before end of day and then take the time to close down.

Just set up a scheduled/automated email to send at 7.59 every day.

Are you in a union? Honestly, the whole thing scream unreasonable controlling behaviour. Frankly, if you didn't fill in timesheets before lockdown there is no reason to do so now and unless it is organisational policy I would say she is way overstepping her boundaries.

Wow, with updates, my laptop sometimes takes 20 minutes to actually have allowed me to log in fully (we have multiple times needing passwords before showing on the system!)

If 801 is questioned, I hope you're logging your minutes over!

Fucking hell!!!

That's ridiculous. I wouldn't respond about boot up time as they'll just say you should be ready to work at 8am but perhaps say that you didn't realise the time had to be that specific but you'll ensure you record this going forward and also any overtime and then in white text tell her to get a bloody life!

What a shit Manager.

That is crazy!!

Did you write two threads on this?

@Autumnchill yes that is a good way of putting it - 'specific' rather than 'anal. '
@HollowTalk yes i put in work then decided it was more aibu. Is that bad?

@TooTrueToBeGood yes was thinking same . I'm going to keep a close eye for a while and hope she gets over herself as I can't be bothered with the faff.

Thanks for replies all- feel less cross /crazy about the whole thing.

@doadeer I know !

God how did this Muppet get into a management role?

@topcat2014 god knows - talks the talk I guess.

I agree with pp send an automated email. Or say you were having login issues. I hate micromanagers, one of the worst types.

Someone i was chatting to at work, young man whose partner was pregnant, told me his new line manager wouldn't allow him to take 1/2 day holidays (for his dp anti natal appointments) as it caused him more work to enter the holidays and think about backup for just 1/2 days.

I had a 15 min chat to his line manager (same level at me) about the bigger picture - hours and commitment the man had put in, how he was flexible, goodwill, retaining good employees, loyalty, manager disgression, etc, after which he agreed he would let them use flexi-time to attend appointments.

To many managers get put into roles because they are good at their job with no training, support or mentoring to ensure they are up to managing people, a totally different skill set.

I previously worked for a local authority with a start time of 8.30am. It used to take up to 10 minutes to log in to our PCs, we were told we had to be ready to work at 8.30 which meant we had to start work at 8.20, I asked if we would be paid for the extra 10 minutes each day or have TOIL. I got a flat no to either we were expected to give them our time for free. I logged in at my start time, and there were no repercussions.

OP Just play the game. Log into your computer early - ie allowing for slow booting up, software updates etc. Maybe 10-15mins?

Whilst this is going on prepare/eat breakfast, look at MN etc in front of your laptop so you can check progress.

When your laptop has booted up, go into your email DRAFTS folder and copy/paste the contents of a previously prepared Login email into a new email to send to your idiot micro-managing manager. Hit send a couple of minutes before your start time.

When you are logging OUT at the end of the day, again just paste in a pre-prepared Logout email from your Drafts folder and send exactly at the time you are due to finish- or a minute after if you feel generous.

You could just send automated emails, which I've often done, but I've have sometimes found these have NOT been sent for whatever reason, so wouldn't 100% rely on those.

Deep breath! 🌹

@Happynow001 yes that's the conclusion i've come to - play the game -least stressful option.x

Check the time your computer says you sent the email. Chances are that was 8am. Send a copy of the log to her and say nothing else.