Ask HN: Always late to the office, is this OK? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Always late to the office, is this OK?

#21

Post by chrisbennet » Fri, May 15, 2015, 8:28 PM UTC

I have a tendency (which I think I've overcome) to keep working on something until the last minute so I can sympathize.

There are plenty of times when being late isn't a big deal. When others have to wait for you however, you are signalling that you don't value their time. It is perceived as selfish. I'm not saying that you are selfish, it is just that it can be perceived that way.

If you're lucky, people will start telling you that the meeting is at 8:45 just to get you there on time. Some places lock the door when the meeting starts. I had a friend who would always be late to our lunch appointments. When we instituted "late guy pays", things improved. ;-)

You can try to find a job where your problem doesn't effect others but you would be better served if you just learned how to be on time - at least until "habitually late" becomes a protected class. ;-)

Re: Ask HN: Always late to the office, is this OK?

#22

Post by omouse » Fri, May 15, 2015, 8:30 PM UTC

Not a day goes by without an article about the redundancy of daily standups and about the fact that as a creative worker you can only work best at certain times and in certain environments.

Re: Ask HN: Always late to the office, is this OK?

#23

Post by [deleted] » Fri, May 15, 2015, 8:33 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Always late to the office, is this OK?

#24

Post by sjg007 » Fri, May 15, 2015, 8:52 PM UTC

Set your clock back 10mins.

Re: Ask HN: Always late to the office, is this OK?

#25

Post by usingpond » Fri, May 15, 2015, 8:53 PM UTC

Lateness is often considered rude because it shows you don't care about something. If this is a situation where that assumption is correct, then it's time to move on to a new job.

Late for meetings makes you a jerk. If you get your shit done and show up later than some arbitrary "start time" at work... your boss has a right to be like "c'mon dude" but not to penalize you. That's childish and petty, and another reason to move on.

Re: Ask HN: Always late to the office, is this OK?

#26

Post by matthewarkin » Fri, May 15, 2015, 9:29 PM UTC

At least in the Valley, hours tend to be flexible, at my current position, people walk in between 8 and 11. My team's stand up is at 11 so the rule is be in the office before them, but even then sending an email saying that traffic was bad, or Bart is dumb, or you're waiting for Fedex is okay (the assumption being you'll join the standup remotely and get some work from from home).

With the large companies that have shuttle's the flexibility is because they need to stagger all their busses.

It really depends on the culture and the type of environment though, much more "corporate" positions and cultures would require better on-timeliness, but being told to take the day off for being 6 minutes late seems odd for a developer position.

Re: Ask HN: Always late to the office, is this OK?

#27

Post by brudgers » Fri, May 15, 2015, 9:43 PM UTC

harrumph wrote: post #17

I noticed that most of the "fuck them" answers here are from people who interpret the situation in the most convenient way, that is to say, pointedly ignoring the general case and focusing on the specific. OP says s/he's always late. But everybody responding "fuck the boss who sent you home" is explicitly assuming that OP being sent home is an isolated incident instead of part of a pattern. The thread title says alwa…

The meeting starts when I get there. Learned it from one of my bosses. Generally but not always he was right. There are times when it matters, those times in most businesses don't occur everyday at 8:59:59. There's a contradiction in declaring 5 minutes so valuable yet wasting 480 minutes by sending someone home.

Re: Ask HN: Always late to the office, is this OK?

#28

Post by danielkyulee » Fri, May 15, 2015, 9:44 PM UTC

It really depends on the company and how much the company trusts you.

I'm an employer and if a new employee who has not gained by full trust continually comes in late, then yes it is horrible.

But I do have employees that I really trust. I know they are 100% committed to the business and committed to helping it succeed. They have proven over time that the company is always on their minds. In this case, I could care less if they come in late, work from home, etc. But it does take time.

Also, it is worth noting that losing trust is a lot easier than gaining it.

Re: Ask HN: Always late to the office, is this OK?

#29

Post by pmelendez » Fri, May 15, 2015, 9:52 PM UTC

In every single job I have, there is an unwritten rule that you can show up at anytime in the range 9-10:30am as long as you make up for the time. The only exception would be a meeting or something but that it was rare.

Re: Ask HN: Always late to the office, is this OK?

#30

Post by joezydeco » Fri, May 15, 2015, 10:00 PM UTC

danielkyulee wrote: post #28

It really depends on the company and how much the company trusts you. I'm an employer and if a new employee who has not gained by full trust continually comes in late, then yes it is horrible. But I do have employees that I really trust. I know they are 100% committed to the business and committed to helping it succeed. They have proven over time that the company is always on their minds. In this case, I could care l…

From all indications it looks like OP's boss and coworkers have zeroed out all trust in him. They're watching the door to mark when he's coming in. When people have earned a certain level of trust, this just doesn't happen.

Either that or you're so incredibly valuable and irreplacable that you can afford to take a fuck-this attitude. But I don't know a lot of 21 year-old junior devs that qualify for this. In fact, nobody really qualifies for this anymore, unless it's your name on the door.