Some bosses need to take a kindness pill!

shellsuit

Dunroamin wrote: »

When he's just been in trouble for taking a personal call in the office, it seems a particularly foolish thing to do to disappear to the loo and start texting!

Who, from the office, was going to know that he was texting from the loo?

Nobody, so why make a big deal about it?

Sambucus_Nigra

shellsuit wrote: »

Who, from the office, was going to know that he was texting from the loo?

Nobody, so why make a big deal about it?

I think it's a 'generational'/'holier than thou' thing.

NikNox

CFC wrote: »

Sorry, I can't let this one go. It's not blatant bullying. Your husband has made his hobby into the issue.

I am guessing that your husband has spent quite a bit of time idle chit chatting about his music and this has annoyed the boss, possibly it's a limited amount of time but the boss has become aware of it.

By your own post, your husband leaves at 5pm on the dot every day so he can come home and do his hobby. The needs of a business do not always dictate that someone can work to their exact hours, especially if the job is as well paid as you imply.

If your husband loves music so much, he may well have to decide between a well paid job that required flexibility and the freedom to drop everything when the clock reaches 5pm.
If he's very lucky he may find a well paid job where he can walk out the door free and easy at 5pm every day; but it obviously isn't this one.
You need to stop whinging and have a reality check. The boss is the boss - and this is far more true in small companies than in bigger corporate ones. Annoy him at your peril.

When a person is singled out for doing things that other staff members do and get away with (using mobiles at work, chatting about personal stuff), then that IS bullying. Rules at work should apply to everyone, not one person, and such rules should be set out either in the contract or as a policy. Nothing exists in either their contracts nor are there any policies, so to tell one staff member off for something everyone does is singling him out. My husband produces the most work in their office, always has done because he gets on with his work. Perhaps, I'm thinking now, that's why his boss wouldn't allow him to have the day off, because he thought work could suffer because my husband produces so much. They have to record everything they do in the day (always have done), and he's often had comments that his name appears most often in the book of tasks completed, and he has been asked in the past why he gets more work done than other people.

As for leaving at 5, he is well within his rights to do that. He already gives the company an hour and 10 minutes extra each day (half an hour in the morning and 40 minutes of the one hour lunch break he is contractually entitled to but doesn't take because the boss doesn't like it), so I'd say that was pretty flexible. No other breaks are taken, so having the odd minute or so of 'idle chit chat' should not, in my opinion, be frowned upon. If the boss doesn't like 'idle chit chat' in the office, he should ensure staff members take their contracted morning break to chat idly for 15 minutes and get it out of their systems!

But, you should pretty much like his boss, so I wouldn't expect you to recognise or appreciate that my husband works extremely hard, or that it is okay for him to leave at 5pm each day when he's already given the company an extra hour and 10 minutes of his own time.

NikNox

Dunroamin wrote: »

When he's just been in trouble for taking a personal call in the office, it seems a particularly foolish thing to do to disappear to the loo and start texting!

Sorry, but that's a ridiculous comment to make.

Sambucus_Nigra

NikNox wrote: »

Sorry, but that's a ridiculous comment to make.

Perhaps these 'most other people' of a 'generation' would have him fill a form in before, during and after using the toilet. Just to make sure he isn't going over his allocation of toilet breaks or doing 'non-toilet-related-activities' whilst he is in there. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

NikNox

93123 wrote: »

I agree. A job is important, we all know that, but above that we're also human. We don't live to work and we deserve to have lives. And like you said... it wasn't a trip to the beach he wanted a day off for. I dare say said boss would take the day off himself if the same opportunity arose.

I dare say his boss would too! But, I guess that's okay because he's the boss and adopts a 'do as I say, not as I do' attitude, as is his right, as the boss. This is all about humanity though, being human towards your employees and recognising everyone has a life outside of work. One of his colleagues has photography as his hobby, and he's very good at it. He often takes time off at short notice to go and do photo shoots, but because he photographs the company's products, he's allowed to get away with it. I told my husband that if he wrote jingles for advertising perhaps he'd be better accommodated in the future if such an opportunity arises again!

NikNox

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Perhaps these 'most other people' of a 'generation' would have him fill a form in before, during and after using the toilet. Just to make sure he isn't going over his allocation of toilet breaks or doing 'non-toilet-related-activities' whilst he is in there. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Or, god forbid, have cameras installed in the loos to ensure they're using their 'toilet time' effectively!! I did have a boss once who timed everyone in the toilet, literally, you had 3 minutes and if you took longer you had to face a barrage of questions. I do dual roles where I work, and on 2 days of the week have to change uniform. She would not allow me the time to change uniform because it took longer than 3 minutes!!!! We all complained about her to management, and she got 'relocated'.

NikNox

K_P83 wrote: »

In a round about way, he actually can tell hubby to choose ... if it's interfering with his work.

For example - i was playing sport outside of work, but it was costing me lost time due to injury. This happened a few times. Work basically told me they can't tell me what to do outside of work, but if it's effecting life INSIDE work, then they'll have to look at the situation (a round about way of saying any more time off due to sport & you're gone pal). I can see their view - i was costing them some serious time.

The way they went about issuing the warning sounds fishy to me. I was once told i was on a warning - it ended up not standing as they just walked out & said to me "this is your verbal warning". Clearly incorrect procedure.

The bottom line to me sounds like if life is just going to continue like this, then it's best for hubby to get his head down & his eyes open & then move on!!

And I would agree that if you're having to take time off work due to injuries sustained by an outside activity, then that would be an issue. But, my husband has never asked for time off for his hobby before, and he's been there 6 years. He would have taken the day off as leave, of which he has plenty left. It was a one off, something out of the ordinary. His hobby does not affect his work, it's just being made out by the boss to appear so because he may chat occasionally within the office to his colleagues about it, just as they chat about what they do or have seen on TV, just as everyone who works within an office/team chats occasionally about personal stuff. That really shouldn't be an issue in the workplace, unless I suppose it's a call centre or something similar. I don't see how you can ban staff from chatting when they don't take any breaks, and as I said in another post, if you ensured they took their breaks so that they could chat about personal stuff, then you would have a right to moan about them chatting during work time.

Wyndham

Am I the only one who thinks throwing a sickie then going on national radio may not be the most sensible of things to do? Even if the boss doesn't hear it, these things have a way of getting back....

Sambucus_Nigra

Wyndham wrote: »

Am I the only one who thinks throwing a sickie then going on national radio may not be the most sensible of things to do? Even if the boss doesn't hear it, these things have a way of getting back....

But who knows when a session may have been recorded? It could have been done on a weekend, or weeks earlier.