I’m Minute To Win It

I work in a school as support staff; I’m not a teacher.

I generally get to work at 8:15 AM. Start time is 8:30 AM. I arrive and go to the staff room, make a coffee, and take it to my workstation. My manager doesn’t bother with small talk; she’s straight into discussing work, asking me questions, etc. Often before I even put my handbag away and fire up my laptop.

I get a forty-five-minute unpaid lunch break, which is a bit long. I’m usually back at my desk within thirty to thirty-five minutes.

A couple of months ago I arrived at my workstation at 8:33 AM with my coffee. My manager made a big production of lifting her arm up and reading her watch (which she can’t read without glasses on anyway, and she wasn’t wearing them, so it was for theatrical purposes) and remarked about me making my coffee after my start time.

I made the three minutes up at lunchtime by coming back sooner than my forty-five-minute break.

I take my lunch during the students’ lunch. Their lunch is 1 PM – 1:40 PM.

The following day, I arrive back from lunch at 1:45 PM, and my manager is hopping from foot to foot because we needed to start class. I said my lunch is forty-five minutes. Maybe I should take lunch before 1 PM to ensure I’m here at 1:40 PM.

She looked at the timetable and said that doesn’t work, as we have classes that go until then, so you can’t take lunch until 1 PM. I firmly stated my lunch is forty-five minutes, so that means I come back five minutes into lessons.

She then stated that doesn’t work and that she’ll get the school to pay me for those five minutes. I’m the union representative for my workplace. I said they can’t; my forty-five-minute break is in the award (and in fact, if we don’t get our breaks, those minutes are paid at overtime rates).

I now take my entire forty-five-minute break. Even though I’m done with eating and smoking, I’ll fill in the fifteen minutes checking Instagram.

I also still generally arrive at 8:15 AM, and I now have my pre-work coffee in the staff room and don’t ever arrive at my desk until 8:28 AM.