Company Complains About Employee Who Spends ‘One Whole Day A Week’ On The Toilet During Work Hours

A frustrated CEO has taken to Reddit to ask for advice on how to handle an employee who spends roughly a whole day’s worth of work time on the toilet while at the office. Posting on the r/smallbusiness subreddit, the poster revealed that while the employee in question is great at his job, everyone is annoyed by how much time he’s spending in the bathroom throughout the day. While many would think he’s better off being fired, OP doesn’t want to do that, hence the conundrum.

  1. The employee in question is clearly doing this on purpose. According to OP, the employee arrives at the office and immediately goes to the bathroom for roughly 20 minutes before he even gets started with his work. That means he gets started at roughly 9:30 a.m., half an hour after everyone else has started working.
  2. Every time he visits the toilet, it’s a lengthy one. “Then he goes again anywhere between 2-3 more times during the day. Each for about 20 minutes,” OP wrote. “The FINAL toilet break is half an hour before he finishes and he basically spends the whole time there. Each week he’s working for 4 days and on the toilet for 1. We’re seriously paying him an extra day to sit and s*** and read his phone.”
  3. Yes, people have digestive problems, but come on. If they’re so bad that you need to spend an entire day’s worth of work on the toilet during office hours, you should probably visit a doctor as you clearly have serious issues that need medical intervention.
  4. They’re not thinking of firing him. Why, you might ask? Because he’s a “good guy” and his work can’t be faulted. Not only that, but since the company is based in Australia, there are “strong labor laws” that would make it “almost impossible to fire him even if we wanted to.”
  5. Some people weren’t that bothered by it. As one commenter responded, “Is he salaried? What do you care if he gets his work done. Entirely possible it’s an embarrassing health issue, as well.” Another added: “I get stressed just thinking about someone counting my bathroom breaks.” Either way, it looks like there’s no easy way to solve this issue.
Jennifer Still is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of experience. The managing editor of Bolde, she has bylines in Vanity Fair, Business Insider, The New York Times, Glamour, Bon Appetit, and many more. You can follow her on Twitter @jenniferlstill
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