Do you sneak in/out to avoid being seen?

[Anonymous]

I sneak out. I have a habit of waiting until the very last minute to leave to pick up my kids and I am literally running out the door. I don’t want to risk any friendly chitchat, however brief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine a group of your peers and superiors standing in the elevator bank en route to a meeting at 3:30 and then you emerge from the emergency exit door…which is on the other side of the building, far away from your office…with your coat and bag sneaking out (bc everyone knows you rarely arrive before 10 or 10:30).

Everyone in the group politely says hello then hops on the elevator going up to the meeting while you slouch your shoulders and jump on the next elevator heading downstairs so you can leave.

What you didn’t know is the group heading to the meeting made a few comments about your sneaking out.

Feel any shame?

My tip is that using an emergency exit to sneak out never looks good. It has nothing to do with punctuality or face-time. Everyone arrives/leaves early/late sometimes. But a professional held in high regard uses the main door and says goodbye to the receptionist…even if you leave at 3:30. No questions asked, no eyebrows raised.

PS - I’ve had several higher ups make comments to me about others recently. “I haven’t seen Peter in weeks. Is he still coming in? Working core hours?” A smart person would make a point of walking past the boss’ office and where the higher-ups work even if just to wave in passing. Trust me: it’s very easy to be labeled lazy or invisible…even if it isn’t true…if certain people simply haven’t seen you in a while. You aren’t doing yourself any favors by sneaking around and laying low…regardless of your work product. When higher-ups cut or reorg, the invisible people won’t be protected by their supervisor…and everyone will remember anyone they see using the side door.

No one here asked for your tips or advice, and if you need to create a DCUM thread in order to be listened to, you have bigger issues in the workplace than when your colleagues come and go and how they do it.

[Anonymous]

No. We own our actions. The only person I know who sneaks is a low IQ mail room employee - I always find her in the bathroom when I go in, watching videos in a stall or going into an empty office and closing the door to use her phone.

[Anonymous]

Because you talk too much OP. I don't want to hear any more about your cats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to do this at a particularly toxic work place. Not because I was coming in late or leaving early, but because everyone was waiting to jump on me as soon as I came in. Using the emergency exit is a rookie move. I was an expert at moving through my workplace unseen when I wanted, i.e. knowing what corridors had higher cubical walls where the top of my head wasn't visible.
Fun times.

lol same. Fake meetings on my calendar at the other building. Leaving my coat and bag in a friend’s office on another floor and walking back from 2 hour lunches like I was in the restroom. There are ways to do this…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve recently noticed a lot of colleagues sneak in or out…presumably to avoid being seen arriving late/leaving early. Most use an emergency exit door rather than the primary entrance.

I’m sure everyone will say myob.

I’m more interested in hearing:

Do you do this?

Do your colleagues?

Why???

And, who do you think you are fooling? If I’m there at 9 or 10 and the entire hallway is dark, then I know nobody else has arrived yet. Ditto if it’s a ghost town at 3.

Is it just to avoid feeling guilty if you walk past others on your way in/out?

Any weirdness when you walk out the emergency exit and run into colleagues who are still working in the elevator bank?

Get a life. Let me guess, are you:

1). Old
2). Involuntarily single with cats
3). Friendless

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine a group of your peers and superiors standing in the elevator bank en route to a meeting at 3:30 and then you emerge from the emergency exit door…which is on the other side of the building, far away from your office…with your coat and bag sneaking out (bc everyone knows you rarely arrive before 10 or 10:30).

Everyone in the group politely says hello then hops on the elevator going up to the meeting while you slouch your shoulders and jump on the next elevator heading downstairs so you can leave.

What you didn’t know is the group heading to the meeting made a few comments about your sneaking out.

Feel any shame?

My tip is that using an emergency exit to sneak out never looks good. It has nothing to do with punctuality or face-time. Everyone arrives/leaves early/late sometimes. But a professional held in high regard uses the main door and says goodbye to the receptionist…even if you leave at 3:30. No questions asked, no eyebrows raised.

PS - I’ve had several higher ups make comments to me about others recently. “I haven’t seen Peter in weeks. Is he still coming in? Working core hours?” A smart person would make a point of walking past the boss’ office and where the higher-ups work even if just to wave in passing. Trust me: it’s very easy to be labeled lazy or invisible…even if it isn’t true…if certain people simply haven’t seen you in a while. You aren’t doing yourself any favors by sneaking around and laying low…regardless of your work product. When higher-ups cut or reorg, the invisible people won’t be protected by their supervisor…and everyone will remember anyone they see using the side door.

Sorry work product matters where I work. Errors are tracked and reported on. All the schmoozing in the world won’t save you from poor metrics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine a group of your peers and superiors standing in the elevator bank en route to a meeting at 3:30 and then you emerge from the emergency exit door…which is on the other side of the building, far away from your office…with your coat and bag sneaking out (bc everyone knows you rarely arrive before 10 or 10:30).

Everyone in the group politely says hello then hops on the elevator going up to the meeting while you slouch your shoulders and jump on the next elevator heading downstairs so you can leave.

What you didn’t know is the group heading to the meeting made a few comments about your sneaking out.

Feel any shame?

My tip is that using an emergency exit to sneak out never looks good. It has nothing to do with punctuality or face-time. Everyone arrives/leaves early/late sometimes. But a professional held in high regard uses the main door and says goodbye to the receptionist…even if you leave at 3:30. No questions asked, no eyebrows raised.

PS - I’ve had several higher ups make comments to me about others recently. “I haven’t seen Peter in weeks. Is he still coming in? Working core hours?” A smart person would make a point of walking past the boss’ office and where the higher-ups work even if just to wave in passing. Trust me: it’s very easy to be labeled lazy or invisible…even if it isn’t true…if certain people simply haven’t seen you in a while. You aren’t doing yourself any favors by sneaking around and laying low…regardless of your work product. When higher-ups cut or reorg, the invisible people won’t be protected by their supervisor…and everyone will remember anyone they see using the side door.

Sorry work product matters where I work. Errors are tracked and reported on. All the schmoozing in the world won’t save you from poor metrics.

They both matter. Obviously.

But the people who handle cuts and reorgs have opinions about staff they never see (or occasionally see using the side door).

[Anonymous]

I sneak in because a lot of my co workers like to chat and I want to get my shit done so I hide and take care of my to do list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve recently noticed a lot of colleagues sneak in or out…presumably to avoid being seen arriving late/leaving early. Most use an emergency exit door rather than the primary entrance.

I’m sure everyone will say myob.

I’m more interested in hearing:

Do you do this?

Do your colleagues?

Why???

And, who do you think you are fooling? If I’m there at 9 or 10 and the entire hallway is dark, then I know nobody else has arrived yet. Ditto if it’s a ghost town at 3.

Is it just to avoid feeling guilty if you walk past others on your way in/out?

Any weirdness when you walk out the emergency exit and run into colleagues who are still working in the elevator bank?

Get a life. Let me guess, are you:

1). Old
2). Involuntarily single with cats
3). Friendless

Wrong.

Let me guess. You are:

1) never busy at work but always pretend to be swamped
2) rarely around and first to complain about having to come into the office at all (even just once a week)
3) never online and difficult to track down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to do this at a particularly toxic work place. Not because I was coming in late or leaving early, but because everyone was waiting to jump on me as soon as I came in. Using the emergency exit is a rookie move. I was an expert at moving through my workplace unseen when I wanted, i.e. knowing what corridors had higher cubical walls where the top of my head wasn't visible.
Fun times.

lol same. Fake meetings on my calendar at the other building. Leaving my coat and bag in a friend’s office on another floor and walking back from 2 hour lunches like I was in the restroom. There are ways to do this…

+1, having two offices was great for this

[Anonymous]

Sneaking out is immature. Just own it. Its fine to say I am in a rush to leave. I don’t think anyone cares if you’re actually getting your work done.

My number one pet peeve is when you have a meeting scheduled with someone (at like 3PM) and you think it will happen live, only to waste a few minutes and then realize they snuck out. That feels like really? You couldn’t have stayed an extra hour to have this meeting live?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to do this at a particularly toxic work place. Not because I was coming in late or leaving early, but because everyone was waiting to jump on me as soon as I came in. Using the emergency exit is a rookie move. I was an expert at moving through my workplace unseen when I wanted, i.e. knowing what corridors had higher cubical walls where the top of my head wasn't visible.
Fun times.

lol same. Fake meetings on my calendar at the other building. Leaving my coat and bag in a friend’s office on another floor and walking back from 2 hour lunches like I was in the restroom. There are ways to do this…

+1, having two offices was great for this

+2 - I used to do the same. I had two offices and everyone always assumed I was at the other office. I went to work every day though but definitely took two hour lunches here and there, went shopping. And was a star performer! Those were the days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sneaking out is immature. Just own it. Its fine to say I am in a rush to leave. I don’t think anyone cares if you’re actually getting your work done.

My number one pet peeve is when you have a meeting scheduled with someone (at like 3PM) and you think it will happen live, only to waste a few minutes and then realize they snuck out. That feels like really? You couldn’t have stayed an extra hour to have this meeting live?

Why does the meeting need to be in person? It works just as well virtually. Your colleagues don’t exist to provide you with human companionship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to do this at a particularly toxic work place. Not because I was coming in late or leaving early, but because everyone was waiting to jump on me as soon as I came in. Using the emergency exit is a rookie move. I was an expert at moving through my workplace unseen when I wanted, i.e. knowing what corridors had higher cubical walls where the top of my head wasn't visible.
Fun times.

lol same. Fake meetings on my calendar at the other building. Leaving my coat and bag in a friend’s office on another floor and walking back from 2 hour lunches like I was in the restroom. There are ways to do this…

You are giving me bad flashbacks