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u/revcor86 11h ago
Re: A New Optimization Opportunity
How about no Brenda
Kind Regards,
Eric
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u/hkusp45css 10h ago
I think it would go over better if you used "Respectfully, Eric" as the sign off.
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u/DifGuyCominFromSky 10h ago
Fuck off Brenda. Donāt tell me my lunch break is a full hour if itās not a full hour. Iām on my fucking lunch break.
Respectfully, Eric
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u/Tony_Penny 10h ago
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u/Minasgul_ 10h ago
What a great movie.
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u/CornTreeRoad 9h ago
This seems appropriate: The Chats āIām On Smokoā https://youtu.be/j58V2vC9EPc?si=K0eS8n87LiDkMVCM
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u/slayden70 10h ago
That's why you leave the building for lunch.
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u/kadyg 8h ago
This is the way, even if itās just hanging in your car in the back corner of the parking lot. Canāt make me work off the clock if you canāt find me!
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u/Tricky_Ebb9580 8h ago
Never take breaks in the building. Supervisors will almost always see it as some sort of laziness when they see you doing nothing.
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u/rawr4me 8h ago
Flashbacks to my ex-boss having concerns that we're having unproductive meetings just because they're behind closed doors and he thinks that typing and writing equals productivity. (I was a software engineer.)
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u/Tricky_Ebb9580 7h ago
A lot of meetings are unproductive, yet they demand we have a ton of them where nothing gets done.
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u/mophan 4h ago
Most meetings can be a quick email. However, it seems a lot of people who make it up the management chain are the kind that feel like meetings are important and like to hear themselves talk.
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u/OneCleverMonkey 3h ago
That's because they have to be seen doing things, and appearing to lead. Their number one priority is justifying their own job, especially in the modern workplace where often there are way more people in midlevel positions than can actually be justified
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u/mortgagepants 6h ago
yeah, and if you tell brenda this is illegal in whichever state you're in, you're going to get fired for something else.
there's no nationwide rule, but if you're on an unpaid lunch, which i assume is this 30 minutes they're monitoring, the company can't make you stay in the building, stay at your desk, or whatever.
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u/mophan 4h ago edited 4h ago
At my old job we were are entitled to 2 fifteen minute breaks along with an hour lunch so I asked can I combine all 3 and was told that was acceptable, so I took every day an hour-and-a-half lunch. 10-15 minutes to eat my lunch and the rest I would go for a walk. Apparently, someone in management didn't think that was appropriate, or maybe thought I was slaking off, but I ended up getting fired for unsatisfactory performance and the main offence was "not a team player" because other staff only took an hour lunch but I "felt" I could do whatever I wanted. So yes, I agree. For some reason most places see employees who value mental health and personal time as lazy.
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u/llilsaladd 8h ago
Sounds like this BRENDA would be walking around with her clipboard during lunch breaks LOOKING for someone āhidingā in their car. I couldnt work at a place like this, no way.
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u/yournamehere10bucks 6h ago
Then sit in your car pantsless, parked off property. If Brenda follows you, she's harassing you and you get a settlement from HR.
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u/drsmith48170 8h ago
Yup even if you have to invent a fake SO, leave for lunch at least two to three times a week ( a regular pattern will make it seem real) so that you can take a real break.
However since this seems to be a thing at this employer, even doing this with a legit excuse , they would still bring it up. So OP you need to be looking for a better work life balance culture.
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u/purplelilac701 8h ago
Slow clap for this! I take every break away from my desk and a productivity course at my work actually said people have better productivity when they take breaks. Cuz we arenāt š¤
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u/Long_Serpent 10h ago
And it's not even that. It's 30 minutes and Brenda from HR thinks he should cut it down to 10 minutes.
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u/MediocreAssociate466 9h ago
Honestly in a lot of states this is illegal, if you work over 6 hours you are guaranteed a 30 minute lunch from work and I'm sure a workplace like this isn't paying for the lunch so what she's suggesting is highly illegal .
(Results may vary in backwater states like my own).
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u/PokeYrMomStanley 8h ago
In the union I am in you get a 30 minute break in the lunchroom. This does not include the time to get there and to get back to work. No questions asked. No bullshit like Brenda. Fuck you Brenda.
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u/ThatMerri 6h ago edited 5h ago
Honestly, Brenda's message seems like some great establishing material for a formal complaint that the company actively expects and illegally pressures its employees in knowing violation of their rights, and/or illegally coercing them into violating their employment contract.
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u/Difficult-Spirit-288 9h ago
No those are federal laws covered under f.s.l.a and no state laws override that...unless less your a govt employee and then they can abuse you as they see fit to make sure they have enough money for the bureaucrats
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u/H3adshotfox77 9h ago
Plenty of scenarios where it's legal to interrupt lunches, but there is then a requirement to pay the employee for the full lunch period (1 hour paid on a 30 minute missed lunch in some states).
Most firefighters, police, and medical staff fall into this category, as do power plant employees.
But those are exceptions to the rule not the standard.
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u/Difficult-Spirit-288 8h ago
Yeah if they pay you for it..that's the law lol..then it not a break if you are working ..and getting paid..im not sure what you are saying is the exception.
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u/ProjectDv2 7h ago
There are 30 states where you aren't guaranteed a lunch break. Got schooled on it a few days ago when this email popped up.
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u/ElegantCoach4066 9h ago
So we're getting a share of the profits right?
Of course not. Go eat a bag Brenda.
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u/Future_Burrito 7h ago
Someone has to be the adult. It would feel great to go the "How about fuck you, Brenda?" But that gives them the option of accepting it or not.
Re: A New Optimization Opportunity
No.
Respectfully,
Eric
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u/AGneissGeologist 10h ago
To: Brenda
cc: HR
Bc: Personal Email
Hello Brenda,
I wanted to reach out and clarify your last email so I can better understand your expectations and the company culture. Are there any issues with my productivity and eagerness to help my coworkers outside of my lunch break? If so, please let me know, as the feedback for the work I've done so far has been positive.
Are you instructing me to only take part of my 30-minute lunch so that I can return to work more quickly? Will there be ramifications if I am unable to accommodate this?
Please let me know
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u/rulebreaker 8h ago
Hello Brenda,
Shall I take your email as an explicit authorisation for paid overtime during such period? Please notice that requesting anyone to work during an unpaid period without agreeing to overtime payment puts the company at risk of suffering future litigation, be it due to unpaid work or workplace harassment.
Kind Regards,
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u/Excellent-Baseball-5 5h ago
If he's an exempt employee there's no "overtime"
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u/Skinwalker_Steve 3h ago
they also can send a single email for the day and declare they worked, use no PTO and walk out for the day. bonus points if you just send it from your phone within ten minutes of waking up.
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u/WaitingDOSExhale 9h ago
If this was in the US and states like California, may want to also CC that email to the labor board lol.
They absolutely love stuffs like this!
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u/SweatyNReady4U 6h ago
The ramification is you are now labeled a "problem child" by HR. God only knows how long Brenda has pulled this shit and nobody else seems to care.
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u/TenWholeBees 10h ago
With a follow up email that reads,
"Brenda,
If you decide to take any actions that impedes me from taking the allotted 30 minute break, this will become a legal matter.
Eric"
While filling out applications to new companies
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u/goatanuss 10h ago
āSorry Brenda I was taking lunch right next to the mandatory sign with the state labors tin the break room hat say I must have a 30 min lunchā
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u/Lyxerttt 10h ago edited 9h ago
Except, only California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and West Virginia require breaks. No other state does.
Edit: to the person who said that PA requires it and then appears to have blocked me, you are incorrect. It is only for minors: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dli/resources/compliance-laws-and-regulations/labor-management-relations/pennsylvania-s-minimum-wage-act/wage-faqs
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u/Infamous_Lunchbox 9h ago
There are a few others. If working 7.5+ hours Connecticut, Delaware require 30 minutes.
Tennessee requires 30 minutes for every employee working 6+ hours.
Nebraska requires 30 minutes every 8 hours, for plant/industrial workers.
But yeah, it still sucks. Most states have mandatory breaks for minors, but once you're 18, fuck you, get to work.
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u/goatanuss 9h ago edited 9h ago
Oh man didnāt realize. Thatās fucked up. Iāve worked in 3 states and they all required it. I guess I got lucky (though most places still had Brendas and other folks who were like that horse from Animal Farm who is like āI will work harder!ā and takes no breaks like a martyr)
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u/Lyxerttt 9h ago
Yeah, really super uncommon knowledge. There is no federal "lunch" break mandate, and those are the only states that have a rule. Minors are different, though.
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u/Slow_Ad3662 9h ago edited 9h ago
Aren't there federal laws that require breaks? I thought it was a 15-minute break every 4 hours, and 30 minutes for lunch.
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u/esach88 8h ago
No. Don't respond. Just call up the labour board and report that they are coercing every back to work without their lunch and you have email proof. Least where I'm from, labour board will do a full audit and when they realize all staff are only taking a 10 min lunch the company will be chewed out HARD.
Don't make it easier for the., let them learn the hard way.
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u/Faroutman1234 9h ago
Better yet, have a lawyer compose a draft letter and a note saying "don't make me send this to your lawyers". If you still get fired it's good documentation for a big severance check demand.
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u/TK_Games 7h ago
"Hi Brenda,
By attempting to cajole me into cutting down my contractually alotted lunch break via e-mail you have already turned this into a legal matter. My lawyer will be in touch. I quit.
Eric"
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u/steve0318 10h ago
We got our own Brenda at my job too she's a bitch
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u/I_Eat_Femboyz 10h ago
When HR started doing weird stuff like this my coworker started bringing his guns to work in his car and during his lunch he would clean his guns in the parking lot inside his vehicle and shortly after they requested that he stop bringing his guns to work but they also piped down a bit. Lol
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u/CandonRush 10h ago
Not sure that would work so well at my UK office
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u/slayden70 10h ago
I'm in Texas, and it wouldn't go well here either. It's not illegal here, but I can promise you management and HR will find a reason to fire you and you'll find security is going to walk you to your car and make sure you leave the property.
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u/TheHornyHiker 10h ago
This. Iv worked for multiple companies where having a weapon on property, even in your car was a fire-able offense. Iv seen people loose their job for this.
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u/slayden70 10h ago edited 9h ago
My company allows it in the parking lot, but you're fired if it's anywhere the building.
Then one day multiple cars got broken in to and the guns stolen because they knew they couldn't bring them inside. Every one broken into had an NRA sticker on the back. Just leave them at home.
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u/ACatInACloak 9h ago
My last job was like that. Almost everyone had a gun in their car though. It was a 'we don't know unless there's a problem' situation. If they tried to enforce it people would have had some major issue. You don't fuck with a mans truck gun. I put my pistol in my car many times to go to the range after work to pass time while waiting for rush hour to calm down
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u/Complete-Appeal8572 9h ago
Take a video of yourself cleaning your guns and make it your screensaver, make sure itās on while youāre on break
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u/JustCallMeYogurt 9h ago
nice, security is going to walk you to your car where you have your guns.
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u/BOMBLOADER 10h ago
Lol.. can you sit in your car and sharpen your machete?
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u/10sameold 10h ago
Claymore. It's UK after all
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u/Consistent_Policy_66 10h ago
Sometimes I skip my lunch to finish work on a tight deadline. Sometimes I nap in my car. It varies.
Frankly, monitoring everyoneās lunch behavior doesnāt seem like the best use of your time, Brenda. If that is the best use of your time, I question whether your job provides value to the organization.
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u/G25777K 10h ago
Yeah Brenda, fuck off!! lol
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u/Delivery-Plus 10h ago
Brenda can spend the remainder of her break choking on a dick.
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u/lizlemonista 10h ago
Brenda are they seriously paying you enough money for you to be this huge of a hag
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u/Top-Caregiver7815 10h ago
How about youāre breaking a labor law Brenda and documenting it so the labor board can come in and hammer the companyās ass with fines.
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u/RodneyRuxin18 11h ago
I really hope this is fake.
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u/llorTMasterFlex 10h ago
Could be. Rage baiting is a great way to get online engagement.
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u/drkstar1982 10h ago
It really is, but I have worked at places that had this type of "family" attitude.
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u/ImurderREALITY 10h ago
I have too, but never enough to reprimand me via email.
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u/LingonberryDear2163 10h ago
Yeah, I've been "encouraged" to work off the clock. Never had management dumb enough to put it in writing.
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u/wolfgang784 9h ago
I have, lol. I worked at Best Buy before, during, and after they lost that big lawsuit about forcing employees to use... shoot what was it.. ah, GroupMe, at all hours and being documented firing people with a refusal install or use the app or not responding quickly while off the clock being the reason.
You were expected to download the app onto your phone and join your department and store groups so everyone could keep in touch.
On one hand, it was super useful at times to be able to ask Jared on his day off which specific model they had been showing this customer working on a 10 grand order they started or to confirm a customer issue with someone or ask anything you needed to ask.
On the other hand, it took me a long time to realize how weird it was that we were all always checking GroupMe while on vacation or on days off and responding to work related stuff constanty 24/7/365. Peopled get upset sometimes if you didn't respond while busy at a family reunion and off the clock.
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u/Sufficient-Ad-7349 9h ago
Ug. Fuck that.
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u/LingonberryDear2163 8h ago
Yep, super invasive. You want me to download on my phone? Nah. You can get me a work phone. But if want me to use it on my day off, pay me on call!
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u/Randym1982 9h ago
It seems fake, because a case like this would just be setting up the person/business to get sued. Plus why would they go about incriminating themselves in an Email like this.
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u/Disastrous_Visit9319 5h ago
I think it looks fake too but don't think random middle managers know labor laws because many of them don't.
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u/PhillyPhresh 10h ago
Likely. Donāt think any knowledgeable supervisor would outright say this -let alone put it in writing and risk getting sued. But hey stupidity knows no limits.
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u/velasquezsamp 9h ago
Yeah, this is a big no no from an hr standpoint. In fact, we have to issue written warnings if people return to work too early now.
Brenda's either new, a moron, or non-existent.
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u/Optimized_Orangutan 10h ago
I had a manager call an all hands meeting to announce he would fire anyone disclosing their compensation on the spot. A coworker stood up immediately and announced his salary, boss fired him. Well now, due to the lawsuit, my former coworker doesn't really have to work anymore, and we all went and found new jobs.
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u/dargar77 10h ago
Mostly because they put it in an email. Any manager who has ever met an HR rep would know this is an out loud conversation either without witnesses or presented as kidding around.
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u/Inevitable-Rush-2752 10h ago
Itās highly illegal, isnāt it? If my bosses asked me to do this, to work during my required-to-be-off-clock lunch break, Iād have grounds to sue.
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u/WaitingDOSExhale 9h ago
Which is why they donāt document this conversation and not recorded in some ways, and theyāre careful to not speak loudly or around witnesses like the other person is sayingā¦
Speaking to you directly and privately, then pivot to saying you misunderstood and that it was āmisinterpretedā, etc. when/if confrontedā¦āthat wasnāt what Iāve said.ā He said she said situation
And why itās always good for employees, especially ones at non mom/pop (even so for some actually) companies, to have these kind of discussions via email or documented in some ways. Companies spent a ton on legal for a reason lol.
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u/the_Q_spice 9h ago
In my state it is.
Iād immediately copy this, make a backup, and take it to the State Department of Labor.
My current employer literally makes us take our full breaks. Itās a pretty big deal as far as compliance goes.
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u/Inevitable-Rush-2752 8h ago
Thatās what my place does. You must clock out for those 30 minutes, and they must be treated as duty free minutes.
Not that the policy or law prevents them from occasionally asking us to do shit during those required breaks.
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u/ResistWild 10h ago
Thereās a reason youāve probably seen dozens of different versions of this āemailā in recent weeks. Theyāre all fake.
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u/justsomedude1144 9h ago edited 9h ago
No way this real.
It's way too on the nose.
And they'd never put that in writing. This would be something a toxic manager would sit you down behind a close door and tell you using 100x more word, consisting of far more knowingly disingenuous corporate jargon jibberish, without explicitly saying "take only 5-10 minute lunches".
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u/youneedsomemilk23 9h ago
It's fake as hell, down to naming the boss Brenda. Reddit lets itself get rage baited so easily.
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u/Halloqween 10h ago edited 7h ago
I would forward this to HR so fast and say, āAre you aware management is coercing employees into not taking their full legal breaks?ā And CC Brenda.
Edit: I learned most states donāt have laws that guarantee lunch breaks, because this is America.
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u/Yeast-boofer 10h ago
Thats a good start but I think you can bypass Hr and get the whole company in legal hot water for this one. Hr is technically not on your team they are just there to protect the company from any legal trouble.Ā
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u/Monk-ish 10h ago
And they protect the company from legal trouble by preventing managers from breaking worker rights laws
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u/Pablo_Diablo 9h ago
This.Ā HR is not your friend, but they will (sometimes) do right by you if the other option is legal or financial repercussions.Ā Opening the company up to labor law disputes will definitely get Brenda a friendly reminder to make sure the employees take their full breaks. (Assuming the company is large enough to have an HR dept, OP isn't making this up, and OP works in a location where breaks are protected by law.)
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u/U_SHLD_THINK_BOUT_IT 7h ago edited 7h ago
This assumes HR won't weigh the political capital of treating you fairly versus making middle management happier with them.
Odds are, if Brenda is comfortable making these kinds of requests, she's probably in the cool kids' club and HR won't want to make her angry.
If that happens, HR will just help your manager rag on you until you quit or they can PIP and fire you. If you ever look at the employee handbook and see somewhat draconian/strict rules that seemingly aren't enforced, I guarantee you those rules exist for the company to start enforcing selectively when an employee steps out of line. It's extremely hard to prove when a company is enforcing rules disproportionately, and even more so to prove that it was targeted and malicious.
I was a mentor for new hires at a place, and one of the things I would do is check their social media and inform my boss so she could walk them through cleaning up their image. 9 times out of 10 it was just a risque picture or illegal behavior, but sometimes it was way back when they were a teen and they did something that didn't age well with the times. I saw a new hire whose Facebook was wide open up until about a year before they went to college, and so about 5 years before they were hired. Lots of gay slurs prior to that point.
I understand that people change, so I wasn't going to hold it against him, but...we need to get that shit cleaned up because our clients look us up all the time. I let my boss know to tell homie he needs to clean things up.
HR calls me two hours later. I'm brought in to their office and grilled for 10 minutes on why I'm looking at people's Facebooks. I'm told it's an invasion of privacy, it's toxic, and it's unwelcoming. A week later, I'm on a PIP for performance--so I quit. They freak out because they thought they could just bully me a bit; start asking me what it would take to keep me or if not that then could I at least ask my new employer to push my hire date back until after our busy season, lol. They got two weeks from me, and I never responded to any of their texts asking for help on an old account.
In case anyone was wondering, the new hire in question was the best friend of a VP's son. He worked there 18 months and left for a competitor in another state.
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u/littlehobbit1313 5h ago
Odds are, if Brenda is comfortable making these kinds of requests, she's probably in the cool kids' club and HR won't want to make her angry.
If that happens, HR will just help your manager rag on you until you quit or they can PIP and fire you.
This is more-or-less exactly what I experienced. First proper job out of college (so y'know, young and naive), I wound up on a team working for an older woman who freely harassed people on her team (harassed the younger women and older men, favored the older women and younger men, if you catch my drift). So my dumb self -- not yet understanding HR's role was not what kids were always told was HR's role -- went to HR with plenty of evidence of how she was violating the company's anti-harassment policies. I kid you not, when we met to discuss it they explicitly told me "we don't want to see that evidence". See, Manager got results and made the company money, so she got protection at the expense of the rules and more vulnerable employees. Me? I got pulled off that team, put on overhead and a PIP and told I could move to a different team, except all the teams my skill level qualified me for conveniently had no free spots, and I was fired 2 weeks later.
HR is not your friend. Managers will always get preferential treatment. Listen to your gut when it tells you maybe you shouldn't plan to stick around in your current work environment.
There's no point in going to HR unless you have something legally ironclad to hold over them, and even then, if it takes that much to compel them to follow the rules/laws for one thing, great chance they'll cover for bad behavior for other issues as well. Best to just leave for greener pastures.
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u/CK1026 9h ago edited 6h ago
Or they fire the people who won't play ball with illegal orders because that's just how this company operates. You would be shocked to realize how much they can get away with.
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u/Eruntalonn 7h ago
Yeah, OP probably would be fired. Now I don't know about Brenda, because there's a good chance this was not the only time she did it by written. Could the company just fire her and, if at some point someone try to sue the company, just throw everything on her? Something like "it was this one manager and we fired her as soon as we found out"
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u/xEtownBeatdown 7h ago
My state doesn't have legally mandated breaks for anyone 18 years or older š
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u/deepfriedbits 7h ago
Not only that, but some states will only have these mandated breaks on the books for employees paid hourly, not salaried employees.
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u/FluxCapaciTURD 6h ago
Geez, what state are you in? Living in California and 10+different companies big and small, itās always been a point to take our allotted breaks
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u/generally_unsuitable 7h ago
This is so crazy. I've worked at places that are so worried about the law that the breaks are absolutely mandatory, and you can't even clock back in early.
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u/Sihaya2021 11h ago
This can't be real
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u/theUncleAwesome07 11h ago
Oh, I bet it is. I worked for a manager once who used passive aggressiveness as a management style. This email is EXACTLY like something she would've written. I dare Brenda to fire Eric.
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u/HomicidalRaccoon 10h ago
Eric about to retire with the fat stacks heāll make from the lawsuit if the company fires him. I would continue taking the full 30 minutes.
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u/Automatic_Actuator_0 10h ago
Depends where heās located but in an employment at will jurisdiction heās likely just going to be entitled to unemployment benefits like he were laid off rather than fired for cause.
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u/IsadorCZ 10h ago
One of my bosses once mentioned its impossible to leave the work one minute after shift ended.
He only mentioned it. Never added anything to it. Hes overall a fine guy.
So next two days i left sprinting and i was gone within 30 seconds.
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u/eyeball1967 11h ago
Probably a good idea for Eric to print that one out to share with the labor board.
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u/SchoolDazzling2646 10h ago
Not before emailing back and getting an answer about what the overtime pay policy for clocking in early.
My guess would be either more self incrimination or dropping the matter altogether.
Then print it out anyway for the possible wrongful termination if they think you will be "problematic".
And send out those resumes and applications anyway. There is zero chance I stay at any place that doesn't respect me or my time.
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u/OptimisticSkeleton 10h ago
Why bother working when you can just live off the settlement?
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u/schwenLC 10h ago
My first job out of college, I was on a construction site with and overseeing a union contractor, which I didn't know shit about unions, I was green as hell, I asked them to do a function test through their scheduled break and told that after the test, they could take a long break, I said they could really break whenever they needed to, we just needed the function test done because some important folks were there for observation. They were not happy at fucking all, and I got in trouble over that shit. I was literally asking them to take their break like 30-45 minutes later than the scheduled time, and even take a long one, didn't matter.
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u/schwenLC 10h ago
I also got in trouble for asking general questions about the work while they were on break. That was all just crazy to me because I had only had construction jobs where you just show up and work till lunch then work till leave. You'd only take breaks after hard tasks or got too hot or something. No scheduled break times.
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u/classic_gamer82 11h ago
If you give someone 30 minutes for lunch, let them have the damn 30 minutes you troll.
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u/ccsrpsw 10h ago
And in a lot of places (e.g. California) its MANDATORY to allow 30-60 mins for lunch.
If you are an hourly worker, and some 'decides' to ask you a work question in that time period, your "clock out" time has to be reset to that point, and the 30 mins starts over. And of course if you clocked out a 5 hours work (so say this now makes it 5 hrs 10 mins since start of shift), you get into a whole world of HR mess around not having the meal breaks at the right time, which in and of itself can get very expensive for the company.
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u/Chewwithurmouthshut 10h ago
Same up in WA. Every 4 hours requires a 10 min break and anything over 5 requires a 30 min lunch. Iāve gotten yelled at for NOT taking my full 30 or forgetting to clock 10 min breaks at jobs where I didnāt really need them.
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u/DiverseVoltron 10h ago
Yeah WA is weird. It's the hardest soft rule ever. I'm only actually required to provide two 10min restful periods for an 8hr shift and required to generally allow a 30min+ lunch break. We can say "sorry, too busy today" and make employees work through without lunch but it can't be policy for everyday work schedules.
I do a lot better than that but the actual letter of the law is rather barbaric. I treat my employees like adults and I don't want to babysit. They're all told a few times a year that if they take longer than an hour for lunch, please be honest make a note on their self reported time card. We're all pretty happy.
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u/StartTheMontage 10h ago
Iām in WA. I desperately want to skip my lunch so I can go home 30 minutes earlier, but my boss wonāt let me.
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u/DiverseVoltron 10h ago
Your boss is allowed to allow it but prohibited from requiring it except for the occasional emergency. Most HR and attorney types strongly advise us against doing that because you never know when an employee is gonna turn and sue.
IMO, it's smart not to but I trust my people. There's only 5 of us and we're all close.
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u/KarmaKeeper91 10h ago
Its a federal law for all states, thats why the letter mentions the full 30, a real employer like a corporation, will not only never ask this, they will demand u take the full 30 so that they stay compliant with the law
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u/i_like_people_like_u 10h ago
This is why labor laws are good. These are boundaries that should not be legal to even suggest crossing.
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u/Novel_Willingness602 11h ago
"A New Optimization Opportunity" -- GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE
Sounds like Eric and the workers need to organize to get Brenda the F out!
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u/EnchantingBabe2 11h ago
Most of the team finishes lunch in 5 minutes because theyāre terrified of you, Brenda. Itās not 'spirit,' itās a survival instinct.
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u/Constant-Current-340 10h ago
at 25 I'd be scared shitless of an email like this. at 40 I'm like aw sweet file this away for my lawyer when they try to fire me
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u/98983x3 10h ago
Its probably not real. Putting something like this in writing opens the company to lawsuits that they will definitely lose. And the boss would definitely get in trouble. Maybe fired.
Everyone knows that breaks aren't just for getting a meal in.
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u/Commissarfluffybutt 9h ago
You forget how stupid people can be.
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u/ElectronicControl762 5h ago
People sent their sex trafficker emails from identifiable accounts. Half the government says its a hoax, money obviously works wonders.
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u/Miami_Lawyered 9h ago
I am a lawyer. People really do say things like this in emails. I do not do many employment cases, but emails like these are not uncommon in these cases.
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u/Alittlelovesick 7h ago
Dont underestimate the cluelessness of middle managers. They wouldn't be middle managers if they werent.Ā
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u/HellAwaitsTheFunny 10h ago
Probably not even true. "Most of the team" is non-quantifiable, easy to roll back. That and/or a lot of the team knows Brenda is just looking for "working" and so they have figured out the tricks, like leave the bldg entirely for lunch even if you just sit outside around the corner of the building where Brenna can't see you from her window.
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u/Peitho_Noir 10h ago
while weāre at it, i noticed you stay at home after youāve eaten dinner and gotten at least 6 hoursā sleep. most of your coworkers live in their cars in the parking lot & essentially never stop working. you wouldnāt want to appear as if you expect to be treated with dignity or anything more than a bag of flesh & bones that does work to make our company owners even more wildly rich than they already are, do you?
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u/Kasta4 11h ago
Why quit? Just ignore the e-mail and carry on.
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u/_mogulman31 9h ago
Ignore, more like document for a future complaint to the labor board, and possible wrongful termination lawsuit.
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u/Apprehensive_Put_321 9h ago
Cc all the managers above Brenda and ask to confirm the new daily overtime rate in lu the lunch break
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u/AlbatrossOk6239 9h ago
Because if youāve got a manager sending you shit like this, thereās probably other things going on that make it a bad place to work. I wouldnāt quit until I had something else lined up, but wouldnāt be looking to stay long term.
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u/push138292 8h ago
For real. I would even make it more obvious that Iām taking exactly 30 minutes by standing in the doorway for the last minute looking at my watch before walking back out.
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u/BadNecessary9344 10h ago
No way this isn't fake.
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u/U_SHLD_THINK_BOUT_IT 7h ago
Yeah, this is obviously engagement bait.
Guess it's still good as a canvas for a thought experiment, but I often wonder if these exaggerated stories may be doing tremendous harm to employee rights by normalizing and anchoring expectations to shit like this.
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u/Equib81960 11h ago
Is it an unpaid break? Are they on some kind of time clock?
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u/Educational_Eye5793 10h ago
Email back, and cc HR reps
Hello Brenda
How about no. I will be utilizing ALL of my scheduled break, as according to labour laws.
Thank you for you time.
Also, HR- what do you have to say about this?
Dutifully, Eric.
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u/justsomedude1144 9h ago
No way this real.
It's way too on the nose. And they'd never put this in writing so explicitly. (Not to mention it's to the guy's gmail account and not corporate email).
This would be something where a toxic manager would sit you down behind a closed door, using 100x more words, consisting almost exclusively of knowingly disingenuous corporate jargon jibberish, without explicitly saying "take only 5-10 minute lunches".
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u/DontLook_Weirdo 11h ago
If I'm desperate for that job, I'll just drive to the closest park..an hour lunch? Yeah. I'll brb in an hour.
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u/agiudice 11h ago
I won't be lectured by a Brenda
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u/Yanfei_Enjoyer 10h ago
Hi, u/ redacted, Redacted from HR here!
Welcome again to the comments! It's been great having you in this sub for several months now.
I wanted to reach out to you regarding the fact that anyone on the internet can write a fake email talking like some corpo slimeball and most people will not doubt its authenticity when it confirms their biases. What the harpy in OOP is saying is highly illegal, which is common knowledge as even unemployed Redditors know that it's illegal to deny people their mandated lunch break. In the future, you should refrain from consuming similar ragebait, as it is harmful to our website's optics and damaging to the morale of your co-redditors.
Let's correct this behavior and try to be more mindful of that "don't believe everything you read on the internet" spirit so we can keep your momentum going in the right direction. ;-o
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u/Anarch-ish 9h ago
Dear Brenda,
Thank you for reaching out with some constructive criticism on ways you think I could improve my hustle here with the company. Ive gone ahead and sent your email on suggesting I shorten my legally mandated break to fit in better to outside HR who will be reaching out shortly with their own ideas on how to improve your behavior to not encourage litigation against the company in the future. Also, consider this my 2 week notice.
Regards,
Get fucked
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u/Jakethejiu 10h ago
Brenda would be getting fired for a pretty serious HR violation if that were real. You canāt legally ask an employee to work during their break and more people need to realize and report these things if and when they happen.
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u/Positive-Carry-6832 10h ago
Just take bites every 5 mins and scroll in between. Problem solved with no aggressive means. Work smarter, not harder.
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u/mage_irl 9h ago
Hey Brenda,
I'll ask the others to also take their full breaks to improve the optics. Who knows, we might even band together and form a union to fight for our rights to full breaks and paid labor!
Thanks for the suggestion
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u/immune2shooms 8h ago
Dear Brenda,
Thanks for that observation. I hadn't realized I was eating so quickly and appreciate you pointing it out as I can be sure to practice a more 'leisurely eating' approach which I have discovered after some research on my phone, is much more healthy for me. Your message really shows an interest in the health and well being of the team.
Along those lines and to really take the 'team-first' approach, I plan to share this healthy leisurely eating style with the entire team.
Thanks again for your concern about our health and well being!
**me eating my lunch from that day forward.
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u/gypsy_nutsack 11h ago
shut the fuck up brenda