workplace punctuality - classic or dud

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do you get annoyed if your co-workers come in late?

or perhaps you always come in late and your co-workers get annoyed with you.

does it matter when people get in as long as they do their work? or does a lack of punctuality just a symptom of chronics malingering and unprofessional attitude?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 13:32 (twenty-two years ago)

EMMA TO THREAD.

The final question is very dependant on the nature of the work that you do.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

more important if you fight fires than work in publishing, for example.

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 13:41 (twenty-two years ago)

If you have a colleague who almost always saunters in after 10:00 (starting time for the rest of us = 9:00) then it is BLOODY ANNOYING. Especially as you know that if you were even 1 minute late you'd get into trouble. grr. For this reason it does matter as unpunctuality creates ill feeling among other people in the office who can be bothered to be there when they are expected to be.

― Emma, Tuesday, 10 June 2003 13:43 (twenty-two years ago)

is the 10:00 colleague the boss's son?

― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 13:46 (twenty-two years ago)

i get annoyed when my manager gets snotty about me being late (we're on flexitime...there isn't supposed to be any such thing as late!) when i'm in earlier than her almost every day...

― colette (a2lette), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 14:01 (twenty-two years ago)

but would it be better for everyone if your bosses said "Come and go whenever you like, so long as you meet your work targets"?

that's assuming you aren't doing work that requires your being available to other people at fixed times.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 14:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I always come in late, but since my boss starts work much later than I do and I don't really have any other coworkers I somehow get away with it.

― Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 14:04 (twenty-two years ago)

All depends on the work, as noted -- and yer boss. In my case, I'm actually the first one in every morning because in case one of my student workers is out then I can be a backup. The flipside is that I always get to leave early, which is nice -- these days I'm usually home by 5 pm.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 14:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned's right, attitude about this kind of thing flows directly from the top. For instance, my boss often decides just not to show up at all, so I'm still within the zone of reasonability. Also I never actually was told what time is "late" or not, so it's easy to justify as I lie snug under the duvet. (Notice and Nicole and I neglect to mention what time we actually do show up.)

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 14:16 (twenty-two years ago)

For instance, my boss often decides just not to show up at all, so I'm still within the zone of reasonability.

Yeah, this is the case for me as well.

― Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

At my old job, the deal was that as long as you got your work done, nobody would object to whatever hours you wanted to keep. The downside of that was that getting my work done often involved working 15 or so hours a day.

The next time I took a job, I told them that I would happily show up every morning at 10 AM sharp, as long as I could also switch off my lamp and walk away at 6 PM sharp. I didn't stay there very long.

― Douglas (Douglas), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 14:21 (twenty-two years ago)

My current supervisor, due to a split assignment, doesn't usually make it over here until 9 or 10 am anyway. Theoretically I sleep in and all, but no, it's just not in my nature, and as mentioned since I've got students working under me -- not to mention a whole building to be responsible for -- my not being around could cause problems...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 14:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I regularly stroll in after 9. we have never had set times anyway, but we are certainly not on flexitime. if we come in late for a reason (say a doctors app) then it's not a problem. i do get annoyed about poeple outside my department strolling in at 10 or 11 & then leaving about 3 or 4. They get paid loads & do sod all work, humphhh! Bloody software writers!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Destroy: the word professional.

We got told that core hours were 10-5 last week, which is fair enough as a lot of our time is spent in (unfortunately necessary) meetings, and if one slips a bit it can take days until everyone's free again.

The rubbish thing is the boss sending mails around saying "I don't like to name names but these rules apply to everyone". Name names, for fucks sake, or take people aside.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Tricky is balancing "as long as you get the job done" with not getting away with things because you can with not ostentatiously pointing out that you were in until 2 AM.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I work 8:30 to 5 and I'm always early to work. But I'd much rather do this than have flextime I think, because there is no end to the amount of work on my desk. I would be expected to be here 24 hours if that were the case. Better to just leave at 5 and be able to not think about work for a few hours.

― Sarah McLUsky (coco), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

we can make our own hours here and are expected to do an 8 hour day regardless. I get here at 6:45 and leave at 2:45. When I get here there are already three women here who have been here since 4:30am. So they say, but I suspect that since there are no superviors here at that point that they are not here that early.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

My hours our technically 8-5, but we have a rotating early day where if you work an extra half hour 4 days a week, you get out at 2:00 on the fifth day. So really, I start at 7:30 every day. I am always always on time, unless I'm waiting for 2 hours for the repairman to turn my hot water heater on and not show up like today.

― NA. (Nick A.), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Also see: this thread

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I am stupid. That should read "My hours ARE technically..."

― NA. (Nick A.), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:23 (twenty-two years ago)

my previous job, i got a new boss just about a month before i left. for his first six months he somehow arranged a schedule where he was supposed to be in his office from 1 pm to 9 pm or so. of course everyone else left before 5:30 so we just presumed he hung around. but i had a film class just downstairs and i'd often run up to my office during breaks, sometimes as early as 6:30--and my boss (i'm really tempted to name names here) was never, ever in his office. i never mentioned anything about it though.

― amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Doesn't bother me - we're fairly flexible. Only a problem if they have a meeting or something booked and don't show or call to explain.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 16:54 (twenty-two years ago)

It sucks when you're waiting tables at a busy restaurant and people who are supposed to be there at 7pm show up at 7:30, when the restaurant gets unexpectedly busy at 6:30 and you're the only waiter on the floor.

― phil-two (phil-two), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

But then again, i'm the asshole who always shows up at 7:30, so...

― phil-two (phil-two), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 17:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I am brilliant at my job (despite all efforts to the contrary). If I was allowed to come and go as I pleased (on condition that I do ewverything that I need to) they'd see me for about an hour every second Wednesday afternoon. I would also make myself available for the odd conference call and foreign trip. As it is I appear to do MUCH MUCH more than most other people.

Flexi-time is the way to go - work up a number of hours, whenever it suits. I would probably work January through to April without a break and take the rest of the year off.

― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 20:57 (twenty-two years ago)

TS: Having to show up for work vs. Never waking up because you don't have a job?

― hstencil, Tuesday, 10 June 2003 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

This is a question I mull over at about 6am every morning. I like things and buy lots of them so I suppose I'd better have a job than not.

― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 21:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean as much of a pain in the ass it is to wake up and go to work, there's something to be said for having a routine. But then again, routines can get very dull very quickly.

― hstencil, Tuesday, 10 June 2003 21:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Modern life is rubbish.

― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 21:12 (twenty-two years ago)

well, except for ice cream and Steely Dan and cable modems, yeah.

― hstencil, Tuesday, 10 June 2003 21:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it's good to have some set hours but I can't deal when the bosses are particular about everyone arriving v early. Mostly my jobs have been fine like that.. but my ONE biggest complaint about workplaces is when your coworkers/bad managers are quietly but obviously annoyed with you due to the hours you keep (for instance, my flextime job when I worked 10 to 6ish since I hate early mornings, and my coworker showed up promptly at 8 and left at 4) - but they don't TELL you anything that bothers them.

― daria g (daria g), Wednesday, 11 June 2003 08:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I aim for 7:30-4:30, but usually only make it in by 8-8:30... I still leave most days around 4:30 tho sometime stay till 5-5:30. The only thing I worry about is the gal that comes in between 8-8:30, if I get there before her (even by a minute) it's 4:30 and out for me, but when she beats me there I sometimes feel bad if I leave "on time"... but then she always leaves at 5 heh. Long as everything gets done it shouldn't be a problem.

― kevin, Thursday, 12 June 2003 00:27 (twenty-two years ago)

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