What are reasonable bathroom breaks while at work?

[MaineDolFan]

A buddy of mine works in a pretty secure building.  You are assigned a scan card and have to scan to unlock doors pretty much everywhere you go.  Depending on your job there are parts of the building you aren't allowed into and the scan card doesn't work on those doors.

Every bathroom requires scanning to enter.

Apparently there is a guy at his work in hot water over the amount of time that he spends on the can.  Kurt, my friend, is upper management and privvy to things of this nature.  Frankly the specifics of it freak me out a little.

We'll call the guy that is in trouble "Bob."  Bob works from 8am to 4:30am, Monday through Friday.  Using his scan card time stamps that track when he enters a bathroom and the additional scan card when he re-enters where the offices are, Bob is being accused of making 8-10 bathroom trips between 8am and noon.  The average length of each trip to the bathroom is 9 minutes long.  That's 90 minutes out of four hours in the bathroom.

Bob generally takes his lunch break around noon.  Between 12:30 and 4:30 he averages an additional 6-8 scans in and out of the bathroom with an average of 11 minutes before he comes back to his desk.  Another 88 minutes. 

That's almost three hours of an eight hour day spent in the bathroom.

Bob is claiming he has IBS and doesn't have anything medically to back that up.  He's never been treated for it. 

I have IBS.  I go to the bathroom at work maybe three times a day, depending on my coffee intake.  One of those trips is to brush my teeth after lunch.

On one hand I understand the company he works for being pissed.  I would be as well.  I'm paying you to do your job.  This guy is spending 15 or more hours each week reading (or whatever) in the bathroom.

On the other hand it's kind of creepy how easily they are tracking this guy's movements (ahem, no pun intended). 

I personally think Bob is screwed as the company he works for is pulling his internet and personal email use during the day.  If he is screwing around that much on line in addition to the abuse of bathroom time, he's toast.

Where I work we are expected to put in an honest day.  You can't fake not reviewing files, the work gets done or it doesn't.  I'm paid for a 37.5 hour work week.  We're allowed to take reasonable breaks in the morning and afternoon and a reasonable lunch break. 

What is your opinion on bathroom use at work?  How many trips to the can, while working, is an abuse of your time?

[Brian Fein]

I'm wondering if he's found a way to smoke in the bathroom, maybe?  Personally, I have a problem with people tracking how much time I spend where.  Additionally, they'd save more money if they fired the guy responsible for tracking each employee's bathroom time.  Someone had to sit and compile those numbers and process that data.  Is that really worthwhile information?

I'd bet Bob has a case for harassment, and would be well-suited to go find himself a job working for a company a little less anal.

[MaineDolFan]

^^All it takes is for someone to complain.  This happened to me.

I was working for Aetna and working on my RN masters.  I was on an AWA and my schedule varied depending on my class schedule.  A co worker complained to HR that I was coming and going as I pleased.  Without consulting my manager HR pulled my swipe times in and out of the building.  My manager found out what was happening and was horrified.  Aetna ended up having to pay my over time because I was actually putting in 45-50 hours a week instead of 40.  A neat little "mind your own business" memo went out after that, it was funny.

Pulling those records isn't a big deal at all, it certainly isn't harassment.

Maine is a right to work state, they can fire you because they don't like how many times you blink in one hour. 

[SportsChick]

That's a heck of a lot of time in the bathroom. Even with post-surgery hobbling, I only needed to go twice during the work day and it took me 15 minutes or so since the bathroom is on the other side of the building and well, I was slow moving

[MaineDolFan]

I actually thought about distance.  The radio station's bathroom was on another floor and you had to take an elevator to get to it.  You could spend 10 minutes there and back just to whiz.

[SportsChick]

My entire floor shares one bathroom which, of course, is on the total opposite side of the building from my office. Sucked on crutches I tell you

[MaineDolFan]

Either way - isn't 16 trips to the bathroom in one day a little much?  If you had a co worker taking 16 breaks to smoke and you were stuck working, wouldn't that tick you off?

[BoSoxGrl]

I bet he has a drug problem.
I used to work with a dude that had similar habits as this guy...we found out he was doing coke all day at work.

[fyo]

I'd like to make one simple point here:

Who cares how long the guy spends at his desk?!

What should matter is the work he does. If his work "value" has been 30% below everyone else's, well, then he should have been fired a long time ago. If no one KNEW (or knows) his work "value" was that much lower than everyone else's, well, then the company probably has a lot bigger problems than one guy jerking off.

[SportsChick]

When I worked in a law office we had one smoker in our office and there was some serious resentment when she took a ciggie break every out while the rest of us just plugged away.

[fyo]

Additionally, they'd save more money if they fired the guy responsible for tracking each employee's bathroom time.  Someone had to sit and compile those numbers and process that data.  Is that really worthwhile information?

Although I agree with the "fire the anal, snooping dipstick", I think there's a good chance this was just some computer guy "playing around" with the database. Maybe trying out some new software, maybe just scratching an itch. Through experience, I've found that to be generally VERY worthwhile (unlike the overly sensitive, snooping SOB who should just be out on his ass). Sometimes you find some pretty astonishing things when mucking about with the logs like that, even without spending much time on it. I've personally witnessed everything from serious security breaches, to malfunctioning hardware, faulty design and idiots doing something they most certainly weren't supposed to.

[Brian Fein]

The thing about it is - and this happens at my office a lot - "hey i forgot my badge at home, can you scan me in?"

How do you know that every time he scans his badge, its him.  Maybe this particular employee leaves his badge on his desk during the day and other co-workers use it to get in and out of the bathroom.

BTW - scanning to get in and out of the bathroom is retarded in the first place.

Conversely, maybe he watches porn at his desk all day and needs to take a few every so often to spank it.  You can't have it getting all backed up in there...

[TonyB0D]

that's way too many times....he's probably bumping lines off the counter. 

BUT, does he get his work done?  is it quality?

[bsmooth]

Way to many times. He is doing something else. There are people with legitimate medical problems and they do not go that many times a day.
What if everyone started just taking these types of breaks a day? No work would get done.

[cyan]

He's probably a chronic masturbator. Or, as has been mentioned, he's smoking, or doing something illegal. But personally, I think he's batin'.

Also, I would can someone for that, personally. I'm on employees pretty regularly for not working the expected amount of hours in a week, and curiously, it's usually not the managers that are running top-performing stores that are on my shit list.

If he had a medical condition, he could get an official statement from a doctor saying as much. Even if he doesn't seek treatment, he could at least get a written diagnosis.

My solution: I'd convert his ass from salaried to hourly pay that equates to his 37.5 hours a week and then see how often he takes bathroom breaks once he knows he is off the clock for them.