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What would you do if you got this email?

Agave

Agave

Gold Member
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3 minutes is being kind of picky but where do you draw the line?

I used to give personal pitching instruction and would charge by the hour and would set my timer and never knock off early unless the parents pulled their kid early for whatever reason

I guess if you are being monitored that closely make up the time, is that the hill you are willing to die on?
 
I'm guessing the HR department ladies are bored more than usual? ;)

It depends whether your job actually involves stuff like working with clients who can technically show up just before closing. And if you want to start a war with someone at work. I'd focus on staying until the end moving forward, you can always pretend that you're working and browse things on your phone.
 
I would completely ignore it. If they did the weasel move of CCing in my line manager there would be open warfare with Sharon.
 
Depends what the work is and if it's a common thing you do, but generally I would just stay a little longer the next day and ignore the sillyness of it, what else can you do?
 
Not a hill worth dying on.

Don't reply to the email because you should not confirm it in writing.

Tomorrow, just casually tell Sharon "sorry about that, will stay until 5:03pm today". Then if it becomes a thing later there's no written record of you agreeing you left early.

Done.
 
Biff said:
Not a hill worth dying on.

Don't reply to the email because you should not confirm it in writing.

Tomorrow, just casually tell Sharon "sorry about that, will stay until 5:03pm today". Then if it becomes a thing later there's no written record of you agreeing you left early.

Done.
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Nah, f that. That is how they get you. Don't give the hr an inch.
 
Biff said:
Not a hill worth dying on.

Don't reply to the email because you should not confirm it in writing.

Tomorrow, just casually tell Sharon "sorry about that, will stay until 5:03pm today". Then if it becomes a thing later there's no written record of you agreeing you left early.

Done.
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That's the first step of becoming a pushover to a company tho-
 
Ignore the message and any followups, leave 6 minutes later the next day to mess with her. Pretend you dont check your email if the coworker attempts to bring anything up.

Add fake bathroom breaks to reduce your productivity throught the day instead and make up for your time, malicious compliance.
 
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Dear Sharon.
Thank you so much for your diligent attention to detail regarding my departure time. It's truly reassuring to know that even the most minute of actions are being so carefully observed.
I will certainly take this feedback into account and ensure that every second of my day is accounted for with the utmost precision, in alignment with our company's commitment to total and unwavering punctuality. Clearly, this is the most pressing of concerns, and I will make it a priority to stay within the rigid framework you've outlined.
 
I would look for new work.

I got one of those from my lead one time. Took a new job in a month. Was at that company 13 years.
 
I'd ignore it.

Production line thinking in any environment that requires critical thinking is useless. You won't get any more widgets for those 3-minutes. While you do want to maintain fairness, I'm not sure what 180 seconds brings.

What next? Sorry but I noticed you take a shit every day? Shit too long? Pee too frequently. Maybe the stroll to the printer wasn't fast enough?

Don't give them evidence or confirmation that there's any issue.
 
Just ignore it. And maybe look for a different place to work, if you can. Sounds like micromanagement hell.
 
I used to get into the office at around 7am, most staff arrived at 10am (we had core hours of 10-5). During crunch I got pulled to one side saying it looked bad that I was leaving the office at 6pm, not being a team player and all that. EA had sent some execs to the studio for oversight and had raised the issue. I told them that I got fuck tons of work done between 7-10am as it was quiet, because at 10 everyone came in, ate breakfast, had their morning chats and then suddenly it was nearing lunch. In the evening food orders would be taken around 6pm, people would slow down their work till food arrived at 7, then slowly pick things back up at 7:45 and then drift off about 9. But the EA execs didn't come into the office at 7 so they didn't see it, and clearly that was important.

I fucking hate the whole bums on seats notion of doing a job. Work is a system of output, if it's judged by bums on seats, then its just theater.
 
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I go to lunch three minutes early every day, after 8 months I've accrued enough time equivalent to a paid day off.
 
It's kind of a petty email, but it's a valid point, you shouldn't be leaving early, even if it's just a little bit.

If it were me I'd just quietly accept it. Not that big of a deal.
 
Agave said:
That's the first step of becoming a pushover to a company tho-
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There is no such thing as being a pushover to a company. The entire point of a job is to do as a company says in exchange for money; by that definition you are a pushover from the first minute of your first shift.

You have two choices: 1) do as told; or 2) tell them not to micromanage your time, and that it's not a big deal to leave 3 minutes early. You and I know exactly what will happen if you do #2.

There is no wrong answer, you are a free person and can do as you choose. You just have to be realistic about the consequences, and be comfortable with them.
 
Unless you do that every day, that is a sign you are in a toxic environment. Consider looking for other job opportunities.
And if ever they ask you to stay late, just say no.
 
Eh, most jobs have systems where you're expected to clock out at the exact time your shift ends. I'm mostly only seeing office workers complaining about these sorts of things.
 
My first job (technically a paid internship) out of college, I worked for a guy around my age (early 20s) who got his start as a black hat SEO/spammer. He made a bunch of money doing it and then went legit by creating a marketing company with some of the money he made.

He was the worst boss ever and had no idea how to manage or motivate employees. After a few weeks working there, I got a similar email to this one where he told me I had to clock out for bathroom breaks. To get to the bathroom (which was a shared one in the office complex, as his/our office was a tiny one he was renting with no facilities), I had to walk past his office. So he was keeping tabs on me every time I got up from my desk and went to the bathroom. He also saw that I had Gchat open day in a second window once and told me that I needed to clock out anytime I talked to my girlfriend on it.

Working there was the most miserable I've ever been in my life. Mercifully, after the three month internship ended, he chose not to hire me, and actually said that I was a bad employee based on those things above. My work was fine (I was brand new to the industry and had no mentor/no one to learn from, so obviously it wasn't going to be great), but he still had the gall to say that to me during my "exit interview."

A few months after that, I got a job at a legitimate advertising agency and the culture difference was night and day.
 
...for 3 minutes you could have just waited :D when I work the clock works as steps of 30 minutes, so I would have lost 27 minutes of work.
 
"Sorry, I couldn't have gotten anything done in those 3 minutes and I needed a monstrous shit, it was either pop off a bit early or making the office hum with those heinous pre-poop farts."
 
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GnomeChimpsky said:
The use of "we" in that mail is obnoxious af
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Yes it fucking is.
One of my HR colleagues was addressing the whole company during the Christmas party and she said "we would like to thank you…"
Who is we here exactly? You are not a shareholder, these guys are standing right behind you. You are just as meaningless as the rest of us if not more, shut up, stand down and get a drink you fool.

As for the email, if you do anything other than a polite reply or complete ignore, it is the hill they will remember you dying for. Because in the end, there is a line and you just crossed it for a tiny amount.
 
I honestly couldn't work in this environment.
If i really liked the job, or needed it, i would probably reply to the person explaining how unreasonable it was.
 
I would probably respond with "you never complain when I work past 5, so why do you care if I leave early once in a while?" Then I would start looking for a job where I'm respected.
 
If you're constantly leaving a few minutes early or coming a few minutes late, then this is management's way of telling you to cut that out. On the other hand, if this is a one-time thing, then I'd be very suspicious of it. It could mean that they're looking for any reason to document you, which isn't good. Could be performance related or office politics or something else. Most managers would give a verbal warning before escalating to documentation, which is what this e-mail is.

Either way, do not send a response to the e-mail. Any e-mail response can be used against you later. If they need a response then talk don't write. Never incriminate yourself in writing. Just cut a few minutes from lunch like they suggested and make sure you're on time and leaving at 5 on the dot every day going forward. If they continue to push the issue after that then it's time to look for a new job.
 
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I guess it depends on the wording of your contract. If it says you cannot leave before 5, then make it up and move on. If you need to be there a set number of hours and you did that, let your supervisor know and move on.
I haven't had a supervisor that was this picky in a long time and honestly forgot how much of a pain it was to be micromanaged by someone that has more time than I do.
 
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IDKFA said:
Apologise, say it won't happen again and move on.

If you're paid until 17:00 then stay until that time.

I know people will say "it's just 3 minutes", but if you did that every day it adds up.
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Next person could say "its just 5 minutes since you gave them 3" and so on

If your company cares about the minutes you either follow their rules or look for work elsewhere with less stringent rules
 
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