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Jordan
I still think the new nine o'clock rule is unreasonable. One train gets me here forty minutes early; the next arrives at nine ten. That's a lot of wasted time for ten minutes.
Free Reading exercise · Lesson 28 of 32
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I still think the new nine o'clock rule is unreasonable. One train gets me here forty minutes early; the next arrives at nine ten. That's a lot of wasted time for ten minutes.
You're missing the point. It isn't only about whether the rule is convenient. The real issue is whether it applies equally to everyone.
But convenience matters when the schedule affects people every day. Two late arrivals last month delayed the client handover, so management had to do something.
I don't deny that punctuality matters. I'm questioning why some people are being warned while others are quietly allowed to arrive later.
You mean Rosa? She opens the support line from home before coming in. That seems like a practical exception.
Possibly. If that is the criterion, it should be stated. Marcus also starts answering customers from home, yet his request was rejected without an explanation.
Maybe Rosa's arrangement includes duties we don't know about. One inconsistent-looking decision doesn't prove favoritism.
Agreed. I can't prove favoritism. But the lack of a visible standard makes equally placed employees dependent on whoever approves the request.
Still, if everyone starts asking for exceptions, the rule becomes impossible to manage.
Not if exceptions are limited by clear conditions. Consistency doesn't mean refusing every request; it means similar cases should be judged by the same principle.
The examples you keep giving make it sound as though the entire rule is unfair because Marcus got an answer you dislike.
That's what I've been trying to say: Marcus is evidence of the problem, not the whole argument. Even if his request was correctly refused, employees should know why his case differed from Rosa's.
So you would accept the nine o'clock rule if the exception process were transparent?
I might still think the rule is unnecessarily rigid, but that is a separate criticism. A burdensome rule can be applied fairly, and a sensible rule can be enforced unfairly.
All right. I was defending the need for a start time, while you were challenging how discretion is being used.
Exactly. We may still disagree about the rule itself, but that is the disagreement we're actually having.
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