So this is something I just needed to vent about.
I’ve been working at my job for about a year-and-a-half now. I work as an accountant in a small office of between 7 and 9 people total. When I first started working here my living situation was different and I got here every day, on time, at 8:30 AM. However, I started to notice that most days only myself and the office receptionist made it here by then. The office “manager” (who has no authority, despite the title) would always come in around 20-30 minutes late, both of my bosses almost never got here before at least 9:00 AM (sometimes much later), and the other accountants got here usually 10-15 minutes late or so. No one ever started doing any work until the owners showed up and no one besides them ever stayed late.
I was not like this. I would always get right to work on time and stay late whenever necessary. One of my bosses often kept me late as well, both to teach me and because he loves to waste time and talk about any and everything (even during work hours).
So naturally, given that almost everyone else showed up late and I was often staying late (including at least a couple hours late almost every day during tax season), I started to show up later. Eventually I got to where I started coming in around 9:00 AM.
No one ever said a word about this until recently when my bosses both started coming in closer to 8:30 AM. Before that, I was explicitly told by one of my bosses that it was fine that I came in late since I always more than make up that time by staying late and my job doesn’t require me to be in that early. This was after the receptionist half jokingly asked if she could start coming late.
Now, my arrival time is monitored very closely and my boss who literally told me it was okay for me to show up late just a few months ago is on me daily about it. It is extremely frustrating and, as far as I know, they don’t say anything to anyone else.
I know this doesn’t sound like much for people who don’t struggle with lateness (see below) or it could be seen as me just being lazy, but it’s something I have a hard time with and it is making me very unhappy at my job. I really don’t understand what prompted all of this, since I have been told by both of my bosses that I do really good work and my arrival time is not an issue.
Full disclosure: I struggle with OCD and insomnia, so it is a lot harder for me to get to work on time. My showers take a minimum of forty-five minutes on a good day and overall it takes me about an hour-and-a-half to get ready for work in the morning. I also am not a morning person and find it extremely difficult to wake up every morning, given that I rarely get enough sleep (usually it takes me at least a half hour of snoozing my alarm). Combine that with a half hour drive and I have to set my alarm for 6:00 AM to have a chance of getting to work on time. I used to do this and make it but I am currently living with my dad and don’t have access to the bathroom until 7:00 AM at the earliest. So, because of this, I show up at about 9:00 AM instead of 8:30 AM every day, seemingly no matter what I do.