Punch clocks @ the bathroom starting today!!

[JadedStar]

I agree with this post by DN.

 

ARE YOU SERIOUS? You think TIHESE things are like a prison?

 

 

 

Is this a Generation Y thing? The things he mentions are not really out of the ordinary for most industrial jobs, call center jobs, heck even SOME retail jobs. There used to be dresscodes for almost EVERY job. Casual dresscodes were introduced mainstream about a decade or so ago - it was seen as a company perk, it wasn't standard practice. But now you have some entry level, and even some mid level, employees who take it to the extreme so that dresscodes have to be implemented again.

 

So what? You swipe a card to go to the bathroom. You will be docked, what five minutes? If you are taking hour long bathroom breaks there are mroe problems than just swiping a card here LOL> When on your lunchbreak it wont matter if you swipe to wipe - that is already time given to you.

 

Glegend, you complain all the time about your job. Every job you have had. It takes dedication and proving oneself to move up the ladder to jobs that you are granted autonomy. Me, and countless others here and in the world started out in call center jobs or receptionist jobs, or industrial etc that cannot allow people free run because it is abused. Once you escalate up the ladder and prove yourself the restrictions on the job become a lot less.

 

There is so much entitlement it seems today with so many workers. Not picking on young people but you see it in that age group more than most...not to say ALL young people have this sense of entitlement.

 

The baby boomers are the ones who had it rough on the job and yet they were SO grateful to be employed. I am not really a baby boomer, i'm on the upward end of generation X so i am grateful for some of the things i have been granted on the job that my parents and their parents never had. Heck my parents had dresscodes FOR SCHOOL so for work they didn't even question it.

 

I also agree with DN that these measures are probably reactive from people taking it to the extreme, slacking off and taking too long of breaks and coming to work looking sloppy. You represent the company when you are there, clean shoes, and proper grooming should not be viewed as prison like behavior.

[Ac143]

Very well said JadedStar

[Seraphim]

Very true! I would see people sitting and eating and chatting away in the cafeteria that were supposedly on "bathroom break" I would do my business and go directly back to my work.

[shikashika]

Jaded, I agree with you on most of the other rules... however the title of this post is about BATHROOM breaks, not uniform, or cell phones, which I think we can agree on.

 

would you make your employees clock out to go pee or change a tampon?? i do think THAT is like a prison..

[purpleduckie]

the main thing i thought was outragous was the bathroom thing. i guess it eliminates jerks who take long breaks... but why not just fire them? like seriously? if space is so limited..

[ProtestTheHero]

That's why I'm getting myself into a field where my skillset will be so needed that they won't have time to be so nitpicky. I think it's funny thay you can't have a beard, have hair requirements, etc. I guess this is what I would expect though working retail or something like that. I have yet to be paid for work as I intern, lol, and the firm that I intern with doesn't care as long as you don't look crazy or homeless. Then again, some of the weirder looking guys are their most famous employees who bring in the most money.

[shikashika]

the main thing i thought was outragous was the bathroom thing. i guess it eliminates jerks who take long breaks... but why not just fire them? like seriously? if space is so limited..

 

Agreed, everything else aside from the bathroom breaks is fine, might be annoying but fair.

 

still, I've never been in a place where you can't leave the office on your lunch hour. In fact, most bosses i have had have encouraraged me to get out off the office on my lunch hour, leave the workplace, go sit in a park etc because you'll have amuch clearer head when you come back.

 

I had one boss who would make it a rule we had to leave our desk and office for lunch!

[Ac143]

Jaded, I agree with you on most of the other rules... however the title of this post is about BATHROOM breaks, not uniform, or cell phones, which I think we can agree on.

 

would you make your employees clock out to go pee or change a tampon?? i do think THAT is like a prison..

 

There are some employees that take a legit bathroom break then there are others that keep taking these breaks but actually disappearing forever.

 

If you have this policies in place, its fair to everyone and no one needs to get "fired" for bathroom breaks. Its a lot of work to fire someone and sometimes not such a fun thing to do. So if you have these policies and they know about it and still abusive it, it wont be so hard to get rid of the person because they did it to themselves.

[JadedStar]

That's why I'm getting myself into a field where my skillset will be so needed that they won't have time to be so nitpicky. I think it's funny thay you can't have a beard, have hair requirements, etc. I guess this is what I would expect though working retail or something like that. I have yet to be paid for work as I intern, lol, and the firm that I intern with doesn't care as long as you don't look crazy or homeless. Then again, some of the weirder looking guys are their most famous employees who bring in the most money.

 

The dresscode requirements are going to be an issue for customer facing jobs. A research scientist, a computer programmer or an analyst will make good money, but they are not out there as the face of the company, thus you see these workers dressed very casually.

 

There are options out there for employees, thus if the restrictions are more than glegend can handle he should look for work that touts a mroe relaxed atmosphere.

 

And it goes without saying that more autonomy is granted for higher level, higher paying jobs. These types of workers are typically more mature and know what is expected anyway without being told. That is why i mentioned to glegend when he has been in the workforce awhile and proven himself he will most likely move into jobs with more freedom. But those jobs are not all glitz and glamor either as they are salaried, and most jobs that are salaried are that way because you normally have to work far more than eight hours a day and five days a week to get it all done.

[JeckyllNHyde]

Not sure where or what type of company you work at.

If it's an office or customer related place then I understand the "dark colored/clean shoes only" and "clean shaven" rules... But any other job, I think it's ridiculous.

Yet.. not as ridiculous as rules like "no leaving property on breaks".. wth?!?! My lunch break is when I get to GO AWAY from my own work environment (which I see as prison already), or more important, i need to go do errands sometimes quickly.

 

My workplace is a bit similar apart from the "bathroom punch clocks" and no leaving property for instance. As it is I thought the regular punchclock was bad and posted a rant thread. Also, I'm so swamped with work all the time by my manager hovering over me, that the only time I get to relax, is when I take a quick 3 minute bathroom break and get to be alone.

 

We have to have our phones on silent and put away, which is understandable. However it can be a huge pain when I am awaiting an important call and have to be "tuned out" from the outside world for a whole 8-9 hrs.

I'm working where I am only b/c I'm interning. If it was my regular job I may have quit already. Otherwise I'd be looking for another job.

[thejigsup]

The bathroom breaks sound like heaven. You actually get them! I am a teacher and we are not allowed to leave the classroom for any reason while there are students in the room. I get to go at lunch when I teach high school. That's all. Lunch. I would pay to go to the bathroom if I had to. But I am not allowed by state law to do that. If you're an elementary school teacher with playground duty, it's even worse! I believe in dress codes, though. If you are going to be professional, you should look the part. I can't wear certain shoes at schools, state law again. Have to dress the part, I guess.

[JadedStar]

The bathroom breaks sound like heaven. You actually get them! I am a teacher and we are not allowed to leave the classroom for any reason while there are students in the room. I get to go at lunch when I teach high school. That's all. Lunch. I would pay to go to the bathroom if I had to. But I am not allowed by state law to do that. If you're an elementary school teacher with playground duty, it's even worse! I believe in dress codes, though. If you are going to be professional, you should look the part. I can't wear certain shoes at schools, state law again. Have to dress the part, I guess.

 

 

RIGHT~! I hear ya. I know that teachers have a lot of things they have to go thru that other employees don't and they are not rewarded monetarily nearly enouhg.

[shikashika]

The bathroom breaks sound like heaven. You actually get them! I am a teacher and we are not allowed to leave the classroom for any reason while there are students in the room. I get to go at lunch when I teach high school. That's all. Lunch. I would pay to go to the bathroom if I had to. But I am not allowed by state law to do that. If you're an elementary school teacher with playground duty, it's even worse! I believe in dress codes, though. If you are going to be professional, you should look the part. I can't wear certain shoes at schools, state law again. Have to dress the part, I guess.

 

 

haha I do agree with this, I remember when I was teaching, having a very controlled bladder... extra super tampons all the way as well lol!!

[glegend]

^ Dude, that sucks. If you can... start looking for a new job that doesn't treat you like prisoners.

 

We're all looking for new job. Slowly, one by one of us is leaving. Which is the truth. Pretty much my department is the only one who doesn't have new staff. We'll we have 2 new guys for the christmas season. All the other departments have only a few people that were there a year ago when I started working there. I'm kinda in a bind to leave, cause I need a manager who is flexible with my avaliablity. I want to get a job in a shop but no one wants to take on a non licensed mechanic, who only has 2 months of real world shop experience.

 

Welcome to the real world. I suspect that people there have been slacking off on breaks and the company felt they had not choice but to be more strict.

 

This is what happened. During the summer these two women that I used to work with, Maria and Cherry, went to the bathroom and never came out. They actually fell asleep in the bathroom. They were full timers so they spent majority of their 8 hour shift in the can. So now the General Manager is really cracking down on us for everything. Which in my opinion is a huge waste of time, since we have a HUGE problem with theft in the store. There is so much wasted time, energy and money spent on monitoring the employees and finding ways to doc us pay rather then speding that time, energy and money to catch the theifs and prevent thefy.

 

You've got to be joking!!!!! What the hell?

Time to get a new job dude

 

Thats what we are all saying. My manager is ever looking for a new job, and shes told the general manager that he's taking it a bit too far. My manager is looking for a job where she can bring some us and work for her. If she get a job between now and the end of the school year, then I'm giving my 2 weeks notice and then I'm out. If the end of the school year comes first then I'm out then.

 

Can you imagine being a female during that time of the month? Their checks are gonna be seriously cut!

 

Shameful.....

 

What about if you have a bladder problem or get sick while your working and have to spend some time in the bathroom?

 

or if you are a girl say, "excuse me, I think my tampon is almost full, I feel it leaking a bit.. I need to go change it'

 

have I just taken the conversation to a compeltely new level?

 

but its true... if they impose those kind of rules, then they can expect that.

 

Actually one of our cashiers for the garden center is up front like that. She sometimes call one of us in to watch the register for a few minutes while she runs to the bathroom to change her tamponl. And she tells us why she needs to leave.

 

 

From the Ontario Ministry of Labour's website list of FAQ:

 

 

 

All the other restrictions that your company has brought in are fairly standard and not against the law.

 

I've read that before but haven't been able to find anything stating about bathroom breaks.

 

This happened where I work (I am one of the managers) we had to make sure our employees were clocking in and out for breaks, lunches etc. This happened because of a lot of the workers where taking advantage of breaks and taking longer lunches while others were busting their butt.

 

I see it this way - if you are doing everything right...ie Taking breaks and lunches as you are suppose to - this isn't a problem. Its those few people that have to cut their breaks from 45mins to 30mins that will have a problem with it because they were taking advantage of it.

 

Now not being able to leave during your lunch hour - that's strange to me. People take care of personal business sometimes during that time. So not sure why they did this.

 

Oh yeah and we have the no cell phone using policy too - only if its an emergency. Then you log out and take the emergency call. All other calls can be done on your lunch/break. You have no idea how many people waste company time talking on their cell phone about nothing. This is why these policies are in place. Sucks I know...

 

We clock in and our for breaks and lunches. I agree with that. You dont want to be paying someone for 8 hours a day (for example) and have them taking 30 minutes breaks and 1 hour lunches everyday, and only have them working for 6 hours.

 

Everywhere has a cell phone policy. I find that its a good policy, but it should be that we are not supposed to be talking while working and it has to be on silent.

 

Yep!!

 

My old job, since we were running registers in order to take a bathroom break I had to log out (Which took away from my time on the clock). They don't do that to make it like a prison they do that so they aren't losing money because alot of morons like taking advantage of bathroom breaks and say they are going to bathroom to just get away from work.

 

No offense to you, but you seem to be very oblivious to the real world.. Everything that you don't like seems like a prison to you.

 

Why does everyhting seem like a prision to me? Answer me that.

 

Glegend, you complain all the time about your job. Every job you have had. It takes dedication and proving oneself to move up the ladder to jobs that you are granted autonomy. Me, and countless others here and in the world started out in call center jobs or receptionist jobs, or industrial etc that cannot allow people free run because it is abused. Once you escalate up the ladder and prove yourself the restrictions on the job become a lot less.

 

There is so much entitlement it seems today with so many workers. Not picking on young people but you see it in that age group more than most...not to say ALL young people have this sense of entitlement.

 

The baby boomers are the ones who had it rough on the job and yet they were SO grateful to be employed. I am not really a baby boomer, i'm on the upward end of generation X so i am grateful for some of the things i have been granted on the job that my parents and their parents never had. Heck my parents had dresscodes FOR SCHOOL so for work they didn't even question it.

 

I also agree with DN that these measures are probably reactive from people taking it to the extreme, slacking off and taking too long of breaks and coming to work looking sloppy. You represent the company when you are there, clean shoes, and proper grooming should not be viewed as prison like behavior.

 

I have not complained about every job I have had. I do admit I complain about this job, which has just started not too long ago. But I'm complaining about these stupid little thing that make no sense.

 

Not sure where or what type of company you work at.

If it's an office or customer related place then I understand the "dark colored/clean shoes only" and "clean shaven" rules... But any other job, I think it's ridiculous.

Yet.. not as ridiculous as rules like "no leaving property on breaks".. wth?!?! My lunch break is when I get to GO AWAY from my own work environment (which I see as prison already), or more important, i need to go do errands sometimes quickly.

 

My workplace is a bit similar apart from the "bathroom punch clocks" and no leaving property for instance. As it is I thought the regular punchclock was bad and posted a rant thread. Also, I'm so swamped with work all the time by my manager hovering over me, that the only time I get to relax, is when I take a quick 3 minute bathroom break and get to be alone.

 

We have to have our phones on silent and put away, which is understandable. However it can be a huge pain when I am awaiting an important call and have to be "tuned out" from the outside world for a whole 8-9 hrs.

I'm working where I am only b/c I'm interning. If it was my regular job I may have quit already. Otherwise I'd be looking for another job.

 

I have a reatil job. Dress code I agree on cause you have to wear something to show you work there. Shoes thing I don`t. Especially since I should be wearing steel toe boots, I drive a electric pump truck and forklift during my shift and company policy is steel toes are required. Steel toe boot come in three colors, blk wheat and brown. I weat wheat cause they look better, but what I really do is wear my Timbs which makes it look like they are my steel toes. Regardless, they can pay to buy my new boots if they dont like what I am wearing.

 

Cell phone thing I agreee on it being on silent and not playing with it while working. But they are not going to tell me what I can and cannot have in my pocket. Especially since one of the managers can have his and use it on the floor, which our new employee package states that we cant have it regardless of your position.

 

Clean shaven and well groomed, somewhat understandable. But if I want to grow a beard then I can grow a bear, they are not going to tell me no. Thats why I disagree with it. Just cause the General Manager can't grow any facial hair doesn't mean I can't.

[JadedStar]

What about if you have a bladder problem or get sick while your working and have to spend some time in the bathroom?

 

Glegend, if someone has a medical issue accommodations are made. They have to deal with sometehings on a case by case basis. If someone has a bladder problem they will have a doctor's note.

 

Too many people milk their breaks and break rules and that is why companies have to create these kind of policies.

 

Too many people have such a slack work ethic that it makes it harder for those who do.

[glegend]

Well what about one of the other rules that we have in our new epmployee package. That the store is allowed to go through your things at any given time. We're supposed to sign sheet and give this back to the store.

[JadedStar]

Well what about one of the other rules that we have in our new epmployee package. That the store is allowed to go through your things at any given time. We're supposed to sign sheet and give this back to the store.

 

Has anyone ever brought a firearm to work? If so, that is why.

 

Even highschools check bags these days. Workplace violence is on the rise, as is violence in schools. These measures when taken are to protect the employees.

 

My only suggestion i can give to you is to 1) understand that having a job is a priveledge, 2) just keep your nose to the grindstone when at work and policies like this wno't have as big of an effect, and 3) keep sharpening your skills and knowledge so that you can move up from the type of positions that will keep you under lock and key.

[Mythical_Suicide]

You seem to be very anti-rules when it comes to anything. Guess what, in the real world no matter how much you hate a rule it's not your place to question why it is in place.

 

Once again you are questioning why someone in authority has more rights than you, it's not your place to question and just because they are allowed to do something doesn't mean you should automatically be allowed to.

 

As for being well groomed and clean shaven, it has nothing to do with the fact the manager can't grow a beard it's quite ignorant and immature of you to say that. It is because the business is trying to upkeep a specific clean look. When I was retail manager, my store had the same exact rule and it's put into effect because if you make an exception for one guy to grow a goatee or beard then joe over here takes advantage of that and grows a beard and tries braiding it and since we can't discriminate against looks it's just easier and less hectic to say no facial hair.

 

 

Now, on to the more important one. You have to wear steel toe shoes because it is a liability to the job if you get hurt and it's going to cost them money, not you if you aren't wearing the shoes you are supposed to be wearing and you get hurt. They are just covering their asses. Don't like it, find a job who will follow YOUR rules.

[Mythical_Suicide]

Well what about one of the other rules that we have in our new epmployee package. That the store is allowed to go through your things at any given time. We're supposed to sign sheet and give this back to the store.

 

It is for safety and regulation of the business.

[Mythical_Suicide]

.

 

Why does everyhting seem like a prision to me? Answer me that.

 

Because you seem to think you are supposed to be the exception to every rule or if something/someone has rules you have to follow you get mad about it and question why.

 

I've seen you post about rules in school, your parents rules and now your jobs rules. You seem to be against any type of rule that you don't agree with.

[glegend]

Has anyone ever brought a firearm to work? If so, that is why.

 

Even highschools check bags these days. Workplace violence is on the rise, as is violence in schools. These measures when taken are to protect the employees.

 

 

Nope, we're allowed to walk around with utility knifes.

[glegend]

You seem to be very anti-rules when it comes to anything.

 

If I am such anti-rules then why is it that everytime I'm with my dad doing a renovation job, such as a basement, why am I following the building code? Opposed to say framing out a wall, 20" on center, not putting screws every 6" on the drywall.

[Mythical_Suicide]

Nope, we're allowed to walk around with utility knifes.

 

 

For work purposes.

[Mythical_Suicide]

If I am such anti-rules then why is it that everytime I'm with my dad doing a renovation job, such as a basement, why am I following the building code?

 

 

Are you serious??

[glegend]

Are you serious??

 

Think about it, if I dont like following rules, then why follow the rules and regulations that are outlined in the OBC. Its the same thing. The provicne has set out specific rules and regulation and what you can and cannot do, and they must be met. If I am such anit-rules then I dont have to follow the rules in the OBC when doing some construction work.