When is a day off not a day off

[Jody]

I'm interested to get the thoughts of the RTTL crew.

1. As part of my job, it's necessary to submit a "linen count". For some reason, this can ONLY be done on a Wednesday.

My boss sometimes schedules my day off as a Wednesday. I said that wasn't right and he said " it only takes a few minutes so just do it "

2. It is also imperative that every Thursday, I have to send the campsite a list of arrivals for the following week. My boss knows this, yet he schedules my day off to be on a Thursday.

3. My boss visits the campsite here once every week or two, always on a Thursday, irrespective of whether it's my day off or not.


I have written to a French employment legal department to see what they say, but I'm interested to hear what you think?


It's a 30 hour a week contract with one day and two half days off. I get free accommodation (standard in this industry) and I'm only paid minimum wage.

[weeksy]

TBH considering the world we live in and the lifestyle you seem to have, i don't see a massive issue with it.

I get called on my days off at times, but the freedom i have within my working days mean i accept it as perfectly OK to get called then.

Is it perfect, clearly no.... but ask yourself the question "do the good bits outweigh the bad"

[Skub]

A boss will do what he gets away with. If he scheduled duties on my day off I'd not be doing them.

A company paying minimum wage,then expecting a worker to go beyond the call of duty is risible,though sadly not uncommon. I'd only play that game if I really,really loved the job.

My 2p.

[Mr. Dazzle]

TBH considering the world we live in and the lifestyle you seem to have, i don't see a massive issue with it.

I get called on my days off at times, but the freedom i have within my working days mean i accept it as perfectly OK to get called then.

Is it perfect, clearly no.... but ask yourself the question "do the good bits outweigh the bad"

Only you know the relationship you have with your boss and employer, but the give/take balance is exactly that. A balance. I'd just bear that in mind.

[Sunny]

I mostly agree with Weeksy on this. I seen to recall you saying the setup at this place was great/better than you've had before. So there's a definite element of not cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Are you the only person doing the job (aka nobody can cover you)?

If so, could you have a chat along the lines of 'can we standardise my day off - e.g. make it every Tuesday (and as there're standard tasks on Weds and Thurs, it can't be those days)'?
Or if you don't want that approach, either chat to him and say, 'can you avoid Wed/Thurs', or when he does schedule you for those days, ask him immediately if you can swap it to another day...?

[Slenver]

Is that even legal in France these days? I thought if you got caught even thinking about work after 5pm you got arrested or something?

[MrLongbeard]

If you're working, even for 5 minutes it ain't a full day off, only you can judge if this is acceptable to you or not

[Yorick]

I once got a call from my boss even though he knew I was at a funeral.

Not even slight respectful towards me. So stopped doing any favours after that. I left soon after.

[gremlin]

If you're working, even for 5 minutes it ain't a full day off, only you can judge if this is acceptable to you or not

That.

[Mussels]

How long do 1 & 2 really take and when 3 happens do you need to be there?

[DefTrap]

My boss asked me to join an online meeting last week. He knew I was on leave, I saw his message as I was laying on the beach.

Your boss is a pisstaker - if you have certain tasks to do on specific days then it can't be a leave day. 'Leave' means you can, and should, be totally absent and uncontactable. If he wants you to be available he should pay you more, or just play by the rules and don't schedule your leave on a 'task day'.

Ultimately it depends how much of a wazzock he wants to be about it.

[Mr. Dazzle]

A boss will do what he gets away with.

I don't.

It's probably worth remembering, and YMMV here, that most bosses/people aren't twats on purpose. It's entirely possible your boss doesn't even realise you're annoyed about this.

Well, not unless you've already told him you're annoyed and his response was fuck you jody, in which case you should already be wearing your dayglo

[Taipan]

I imagine if you have a position of high responsibility, then you are never uncontactable. I don't, so I am,iyswim. But I have had great relationships with my last managers and we've exchanged mobile numbers, to let each other know we're not coming in/running late and can you cover this for me etc. I'm happy for them to contact me on my day off, as a last resort and if its important, i.e.they can't find some images etc, but if I don't answer don't ask again. It's worked so far...

[Rockburner]

My boss asked me to join an online meeting last week. He knew I was on leave, I saw his message as I was laying on the beach.

Malicious compliance: join the meeting from the beach, go for a swim while you're online, wander over to the kids play area and shout at them etc etc..

[DefTrap]

I could go on about careers/goals, but suffice to say I've always been highly motivated and never settled for second place.

I did another guest lecture recently to masters students and that was my parting advice, whether it's right or wrong, if you want to get to the top then you need to be willing to go further than the person next to you.....that's IF you want to get to the top of your field/game, if you don't then do less.

Ask any top sportsman, a proper high level CEO or company owner, or anyone at the top of their field, and they put more effort in than anyone else.
We're all where we are for a reason.

But I don't expect that of everyone, if you're (for example) a plumber and you want to leave work bang on time and never answer the phone out of hours or do anything on your day off, or put any effort in at all outside of your job description, then that's cool with me, you set your own pace and I won't promote you or pay you over the odds if you don't want it.

I think this is generally true but maybe not super relevant to Jody's situation. In a progressive organisation where additional effort is recognised and eventually rewarded, maybe yes. On a French holiday campsite, no disrespect intended, probably no.

I should also say that there should be limits. I notice my US colleagues do longer hours, take fewer holidays - yes they're putting in extra effort, but it's arguable if they're more effective, and they're certainly taken for granted. It's not healthy. I had a US boss proudly tell me that he never slept (as in he was always available) - this was absolutely reflected in the quality of his work, which was pitiful - but the bullshit of his availability was certainly something he proudly flaunted to cover up his other shortcomings.

[DefTrap]

Malicious compliance: join the meeting from the beach, go for a swim while you're online, wander over to the kids play area and shout at them etc etc..

To be fair if it had been convenient I probably would have joined. But that it was such short notice, no prior warning and not even an agenda just made me think it was likely to be a thoughtless request to waste my time.

[Yorick]

We had a boss in MK who wouldn't let folk stay after 5:00.
He said the best part of the day is done and only staying to impress the boss.

[Yorick]

I think this is generally true but maybe not super relevant to Jody's situation. In a progressive organisation where additional effort is recognised and eventually rewarded, maybe yes. On a French holiday campsite, no disrespect intended, probably no.

I don't know, but maybe.
I've never seen a bloke work really hard for a long time and not do well out of it.

I rarely worked hard, but did OK

[weeksy]

Some people actually like spending a lot of time at work, as strange as it seems to some they genuinely like their jobs.

I reckon my boss does 70+ hours a weekend and i have to fight him to give us work to do as he takes it all on himself.

I don't much care in truth... but i think he's a bit barmy.

[Count Steer]

Some people actually like spending a lot of time at work, as strange as it seems to some they genuinely like their jobs.

I reckon my boss does 70+ hours a weekend and i have to fight him to give us work to do as he takes it all on himself.

I don't much care in truth... but i think he's a bit barmy.

So, can't delegate and struggles with the workload, needs to work weekends to keep up? Sack 'im.