WWYD: Work irritation ?

Sounds to me like you just don't like her, or the sound of her voice. If she doesn't take lunchbreaks presumably she's getting her work done?

Personally, it doesn't bother me but then I am known for my laidbackness about such things. providing the team don't take the p, then I don't mind. One of my colleagues however, is unfathomly anti personal mobiles being used in work time, use of the company phone for personal use etc. So, much so, she has written office 'norms' and distributed them to the office. That caused more trouble than the odd personal phone call!

Because she is not taking lunch breaks, do you think that in her mind she is entitled/allowed to have a personal phone call? Is there anything in your contracts about using company property for own use?

If it really is bothering you then maybe you should say/do something, but bear in mind the bad feeling when my colleague distributed her norms!

Unless youre her line manager, then its not for you to say anything. if her boss hasnt noticed, then more fool him/her and if they have noticed and not said anything, then theyre a pussy tbh. the not taking lunch breaks is irrelevant.

in my past life i fired several people for taking and making numerous personal phone calls, despite verbal and written warnings. one even started using her mobile and thought this was ok because it "isnt the companys money". this particular madams behaviour led to a change in employment contracts which was that no one was allowed to have mobile phones switched on during working hours.

if the woman is making personal calls to chat, then its theft - misappropriation of funds etc.

I'm not an HR person so I don't know the details and I imagine whether it applies to this woman would depend what hours she works, but I've been told on starting more than one job in the past that legally I have to have a half hour lunch break. It may be she doesn't choose to go anywhere for the half hour and often just works though, but if she's actually not being paid for half an hour a day because technically it's her lunch break then it doesn't seem unfair for her to take 10 minutes for the odd personal phone call.

Having said that, I totally understand why it bugs you. But like NickJ said, if you're not her line manager it's not your problem really and I wouldn't get involved.

I am finding the mobile thing hard to handle at work. I take personal calls, but then I live at work and otherwise I would never speak to anyone. I don't like the staff taking personal calls on their mobiles, but at the moment they only take very short calls so it hasn't seemed worth mentioning. I don't think what other breaks are taken come into it. If someone chooses not to take their lunch break, that is up to them. It doesn't mean they can split that break throughout the day, with phonecalls.

L
xx

I found it really hard to handle as well. the person most guilty was initially a fab worker, so i (stupidly) let it go. then it became ridiculous to the point where she was ignoring her work landline ringing because she was talking on her personal mobile. i found the only way to combat it was to ban mobiles being on during work hours. if there is an emergency, then a family member can ring them at work anyway.

its also an issue in what i do now - on commercial shoots i tell everyone to turn their phones to silent when we re ready to shoot, even the client. otherwise phones just keep ringing and its distracting.

Thanks all for your comments. I wasn't going to give her an edict that 'this is the way it's going to be'. I realise that's going to cause more problems - especially in a small office. I agree that it's line managers problem re: following company policy. I'm not bothered if she's stealing company money or whatever - I'm more bothered that she's disturbing me when she sits and chats. Best I think I can do is ask her to turn the volume down next time.

I would have thought the easiest way of dealing with the mobile situation would be to make it clear that short personal calls were fine, but in no way should they encroach on doing anything time-specific - for instance, answering the company phone. (JK often sounds audibly irritated when I have to cut a personal call short and deal with something work-related, but that's just tough. ?)

But I'm lucky enough to work in a small team whose tasks are more deadline than time-specific - and if someone isn't pulling their weight we know pretty much immediately who it is and how much weight isn't being pulled, so we police ourselves very effectively.

But the fact that we all get on helps enormously: my full-time office-mate is one of those people who instinctively knows exactly how much small talk is necessary to keep a pleasant atmosphere going, but also when to stop and let me concentrate!

Without wishing to have a domestic online, I might add that most of my phonecalls are along the lines of "have you taken my car keys to work again?", though admittedly lots are "I want to work full-time, you give up work and look after the kids" ?.

I'd also add that Mr JK is out of the house 13 hours a day. And that his iPhone is crap (ha!), and so he seems never to get messages or calls on it.

? H does this to me - takes my car keys off somewhere and has to come home. Generally meaning he will be in a grump. With me (!)

L
xx

Mr JK can't come home, it's too far. TBF, he does recompense with flowers and chocs....

To be equally fair, I've only actually walked off with the keys twice (and even the second time was years ago), so it's hardly a regular occurrence.

That said, I get erroneously accused of doing it rather more often... ?

Listen matey, I've carefully not mentioned the time you wore my jeans to work (you 6'2", me 5'6"), so let's not pretend there won't be other incidences of titwittedness I can't immediately bring to mind.

I'm so relieved you didn't mention that, as there'd have been hell to pay and no mistake.

i try that line too ?

i think this is a man/woman thing. it happened to me the other day. i was on a full day job, long drive each way. madam knew this. what does she do? rings at 10am ...

"hello?"

"its me. i cant get the coffee holder thing out of the machine"

"look, i m working, i m trying to find a building, and the other line is ringing. i ll look at it tonight"

"but i want a coffee NOW"

"have an instant. i have to go"

"hold on a minute, how am i supposed to get the bloddy thing out of the machine?"

"no idea, will look tonight" <puts phone down>

she rang me back ? which i ignored, and then once i d met with my client the phone was turned off. god she was in a grump when i got home. fark me ?

Re the iPhone, he seems not to get messages that are actually to his advantage, so I don't suppose it's all lies. though I'm sure it often is.

As for the rest, Mrs Nick has my sympathy. I confess I have rung Mr JK on a <cough> few occasions to ask where my purse is....

?

On the original question I agree with whoever said that their Line Manager should notice, so it is best left.

Yes, and I wish I could pre-program the phone with a "How the hell should I know?" button... ?

(For the record, I have never gone to work with JK's purse, and nor do I ever expect to)