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Monday morning punctuality - or not

16th Dec 2017
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It's Monday morning and I'm in the kitchen making a cup of coffee. Jack being a serious coffee drinker, we have a serious coffee machine. It seems to make a lot of hissing and spitting noises. I would be just as happy with a mug of instant.

Teresa comes in and reaches for the kettle looking very annoyed.

"Lucy's in late again, Allie," she tells me. "Every Monday morning it's the same. She never gets in before 10am."

"Does she stay till 6 to make the time up?" I ask.

"No fear!" sniffs Teresa. "5pm, on the dot, she's out of that door like the hounds of hell are on her tail."

"Haven't Henry or Jack said anything to her?"

"Of course not. Jack would say it was up to Henry to manage the staff, which of course it is. And Henry's such a gentle soul, he's terrified of having any kind of difficult conversation. Can you really see him laying down the law to Lucy?"

I have to admit I can't.

"She took sick leave to take her dog to the vet," Teresa tells me. "She just treats this place like a playground."

"She's not long out of college, is she?" I ask. "I guess she needs to learn to keep regular hours at work."

"Who's going to teach her that?!" huffs Teresa. "Not Henry, anyway!"

She stomps out of the kitchen with her mug of tea, leaving me feeling very relieved that I'm an accounts senior, not a partner with staff management responsibilities (there are only two levels of staff here, the partners and everybody else). And also very glad that Paul and Maria pull their weight as colleagues.

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FT
By FirstTab
19th Dec 2017 22:02

Hello

Please keep the blogs coming. Interesting style.

I think your blog raises a key point on staff management. In your practice, the manager is too nice or he is avoiding a difficult conversation. It results in other employees feeling that it is unfair when someone else is not putting in the required hours and they are.

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