I started a new office job earlier this year and I’m generally new to office culture. It’s a standard 9 to 5/Monday through Friday job. Since I’ve started, I wanted to drop hints that I value my work-life balance, so I would strictly work between 9 to 5 and no longer. During my training, the people in charge told all of us new hires that stopping at 5pm was strongly recommended for various reasons, one being maintaining courtesy with people’s availability. So naturally, I’ve been stopping at 5pm most nights, and this is how it’s been going so far.
Last week, I suddenly logged on to find a long email from my boss saying the hours are 9-6 and that I’ve been leaving “early”. While it was a polite email, it still left me feeling very bitter and confused. I was always under the impression that this job was a standard 9 to 5, and I’d even see many people leave at 5pm. Am I supposed to believe this claim and go along with it? I am considering emailing my trainers about this to see who’s lying. I’m angry that I’m being told this after several months into my job.
If I end up having to stay until 6:00pm, then they better expect me to still leave on the dot.