Customer complains after employee refuses to help them while on their lunch break, boss takes customer's side: 'My boss sat me down and told me I should have just helped her'

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Nov 24, 2024 12:00 PM EST

When you're working, you need to take breaks; it's just a simple fact of working—at least until our employers manage to replace us with AI and AI-powered robots. Even when that inevitably occurs, there's sure to be downtime for updates and bug fixing, so it's all the same, really.

Customers and bosses alike seem prone to misunderstanding when a worker is on their break. And, let's be honest, in some working environments, where there isn't the appropriate space to take breaks or where you're always going to feel pressured to work, the line between working and not working gets blurred, and you're just better off removing yourself from the situation entirely and physically leaving the workspace to take your break. 

Of course, even as you're entering and leaving, some impatient customer will be standing there trying to catch your eye or beckoning you over, completely deaf to your replies, "I'm on a break!.." and acting like you're simply trying to spite them.

That's what happened to this worker when they were working alone in their office that closes during lunchtime so everyone can take their break. Their coworker accidentally left the door open, and before they knew it, there was a customer inside trying to get their attention. Should they have just helped the customer and then restarted their break? Well, maybe. But their boss's reaction can't help but make us think they made the right call.

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    Customer complained about me because I was on lunch when they asked for help and I told them to come back after. I was sitting in the office on my break, eating my lunch with my headphones in. everyone else is out to eat, and someone unlocked the door before they left which is annoying because we usually keep it locked. we also
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    have our hours posted on the door. Suddenly, a woman walks up to me trying to get my attention. She clearly needs something, to which i tell her: "sorry I'm on break! if you come back at this time i'll be able to help you." to which she continues to try to tell me her problem. i then reiterate that im on lunch and im willing to help her after.
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    Today my boss sat me down and told me I should have just helped her. Um i get paid hourly and you get paid salary, so of course you would have helped her. why cant people respect my personal time?? that is so unbelievably r de i cant even comprehend it. come back at the appropriate time. im not getting paid, im clocked out.
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    ResurgentClust... • 5h ago Next time, look super shocked and exclaim, "but it's ILLEGAL for me to perform work duties when I'm not clocked in!" Emphasize "illegal"
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    DrHugh . 6h ago • You remind me of a time when I was in college working on what we would now call an IT helpdesk. We had two people who sat in the office by the terminal/computer room, and we would also get phone calls there, so the rule was that one person had to remain in the office (if, for instance, one person went out on the floor to help someone with a problem out there).
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    I was the only person in the office, when a guy came in. He said there was a problem, and I asked him to describe it. he said it was his friend having the problem, and if I could go out and look...I told him I couldn't, as I was the only one left, I had to stay in the office. He could either look for my co-
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    worker out in the computer room (he would have had a name badge like I did), or he could send his friend in to the office to explain the problem and I might be able to help figure it out without leaving the office.
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    The guy left, and I didn't hear back from them, but the manager of the helpdesk came to me a few minutes later and said they wrote a complain about me in the comment book about my bad customer service. I explained what I said, and she agreed that I did what I was supposed to do.
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    Main Character syndrome is a real thing with some people. If they don't get what they want, when they want it, the way they want it, then it must be someone else's fault.
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    fenriq 6h ago . You did right, of course your boss wants you to work during breaks, that's free money to him.
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    str8clay 5h ago • . Interrupting your lunch to help a customer doesn't pause your lunch break, it resets it to the beginning.
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    Wrong_Resour... 5h ago. Boss says you should have just helped her... fine as long as my 30 minute uninterrupted break starts all over again right after.
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    exquisiteboobs • 5h ago Now you need to make sure the door is locked when you start your lunch break. Also, submit 15 minutes for talking to that person while on your break.
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    Theressuard1a • 6h ago You're right to value your break time. People need to respect personal boundaries, and it's unreasonable to expect you to work for free during your break.
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    AlternativeAd71... • 6h ago. There's no free lunch, or labor.
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    Scabaris 5h ago . Sh i don't like walking into a convenience store if I see the cashier outside having a smoke. I've done that gig and they're entitled to it!
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    OgthaChristie · 4h ago This is going to sounds crazy, I know, but you need to physically leave the office for your breaks. Don't sit at a desk where anyone can see you. Hide. Leave. Come back when it's time to get paid. Sometimes even locking the doors doesn't stop ignorant people. If the boss wants someone to sit there "just in case," they can pay someone to do that.
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    mtempissmith • 5h ago • I learned very quickly while working retail to remove my name tag and leave the store completely while on break. It seemed like being in the break room if there was one was never enough. Somebody would inevitably come looking for help and I'd lose my lunch time over it.
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    Later as a manager it was even worse because then the employees would be tapping at my door or bugging me while I was trying to eat in the break room if I was in there and I'd get "But what does it matter you're on salary!" if I asked them to come back later.
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    Doing Data Entry, working as a CSR or receptionist same deal. I could be in the break room for 10 mins just having nuked my lunch and suddenly someone is popping their head in with a question or they'd want me to go back to the desk because phones were ringing off the hook and I was the only one who could answer the apparently! phone
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    I went to Data Entry to get away from constantly dealing with people and to get away from answering phones. I finally had a job where all I did was input data all day and I was not stressed and unhappy and a manager decides that he wants me to switch jobs and start answering phones, be the receptionist.
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    Well bu y for him except that job wasn't the one I signed up for and it was supposed to pay more and he was trying to slide that by my agency and not pay more for me doing a more stressful job. I said no and he was like "Girl you will do as I say or you can leave and not come back."
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    I called his bluff and left. Told the temp company what he was up to and he lost like 25 employees over it the next week when the temp company refused to keep working with him for violating his contract with them.
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    I_love_Hobbes •4h ago . So next time tell your boss, you will help the person, first making sure to clock back in early from lunch. To customer: Hold up a finger (for them to wait), walk out of the room to clock back in, then make a big show getting ready to work, putting lunch away, etc, then ask them how you can be of service.
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    Ok-Horror-4253 3h ago • • in most places that mandate a lunch break, it must be uninterrupted for the duration. many companies, in my own experience, will insist you can split your break and you can clock in for 2 minutes or so and then finish your break after. This is what we call BULLS my world. in
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    Thaldrath 2h ago • Unfortunately, you'll have to eat somewhere customers can't reach you. I often ate in my car when no cafeteria was available.
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    YesterShill • 47m ago Your boss is an idiot. Our policy is that lunch is lunch. We have had patients knock on the door at lunch. When I open the door to let them know we are closed for lunch they sometimes start with "oh, but I just need one thing" BS. I explain that is we don't take our break and
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    eat our lunch now, we don't get to eat. Then I let them know to come back when we are open. If they keep on complaining, they get dismissed. If they complain online, I explain why we have our policy and ALWAYS get supported by the public.
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