'I've noticed you took 3 bathroom breaks totaling 17 minutes. The team average is 12 minutes': Micromanager times employee's bathroom breaks, calls them out for taking too long

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Sep 23, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

Some things in life are sacred, even at work. Nobody can make you feel bad for your trips to the bathroom. That's time for you and you alone. Nobody gets to know the details. It's your body, and you have a right to take care of your needs, and it's nobody else's business. This is generally understood by most people. We might all expect too much of each other and cross boundaries, but most of us know not to cross the bathroom boundary. 

Nobody likes to be micromanaged. We're adults, and most of us are used to having to manage ourselves. We know what we're doing, or at least we like to feel like we know what we're doing. When people treat us like children, it doesn't motivate us. It does the opposite of motivating us. I can't think of anyone who would thrive under micromanagement. It's just never a good strategy, even with kids. If we feel competent and independent, then we will be competent and independent, and everybody wins. It's one of Newton's laws of physics. 

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  • A woman looks at two female employees disapprovingly.
    via Unsplash+ (Andrej Lišakov)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • But not all employers understand both of these notions. Some of them take all the power they can get, and then take a little more. They want everyone to squirm under a microscope, not thrive on their own. That's what happened with this boss, who wielded her power way too close to the sun. Read on for the story. 
     

  • My manager keeps tracking my bathroom breaks and it's driving me insane.

    So I've been working at this office job for about 8 months now. The pay is decent but my manager is absolutely psychotic about "time management."
    via u/***INDAJUNGLE
  • This week she started keeping a literal spreadsheet of everyone's bathroom breaks. Not even joking. She times how long we're away from our desks and then sends us passive-aggressive emails if we're exceeding average bathroom time.
    via u/***INDAJUNGLE
  • Yesterday I got an email saying I've noticed you took 3 bathroom breaks totaling 17 minutes. The team average is 12 minutes. Please be mindful of your productivity metrics. Are you kidding me? I have IBS which I've told her about privately, but apparently that doesn't matter. I'm not even taking excessive breaks, just normal human functions.
    via u/***INDAJUNGLE
  • When I confronted her about it, she had the audacity to suggest I "schedule" my bathroom needs during my lunch break to maximize my working hours. I'm about ready to quit but jobs are scarce right now. Anyone else deal with this level of micromanagement bulls. ? I'm literally being timed while I pee
    via u/***INDAJUNGLE

  • Commenters agreed that this was over the line.

    Tyrannical-Botanical 3h ago Document absolutely every interaction you have with her regarding this issue. If she retaliates or attempts to discipline you regarding a diagnosed medical condition they could have a nice fat lawsuit on their hands. Every time she brings it up write an email to her outlining what was discussed so there's a paper trail.
    via u/Tyrannical-Botanical
  • hogsucker 2h ago Ask the manager's supervisor if there might be a better way to track everyone's bodily functions in order to free up time for the manager, so she can be more productive. "I'm sure monitoring bathroom breaks and making spreadsheets takes a lot of time and is really cutting into [manager's] productivity. Is there a better way for us to handle that task?"
    via u/hogsucker
  • It would be a passive- aggressive way to call attention to the fact that she clearly doesn't have enough to do and her position is possibly redundant. Most middle managers are largely useless.
    via u/hogsucker
  • Particular_Heron35 3h ago I would forward the email to HR and ask them their thoughts on it and if they endorse this kind of behavior.
    via u/Particular_Heron35
  • AikoG84 2h ago I had this happen at one place. I have IBS and gastroparesis. I got grossly specific with my manager. The told me the same thing about scheduling my bathroom time over breaks.
    via u/AikoG84
  • A boss looks at her employee disapprovingly.
    via Unsplash+ (Andrej Lišakov)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • My response was "So, it sounds like you don't understand how my medical conditions work. When my body gives me the signal to go to the bathroom, I have to go right then. It doesn't matter if it's break time or not. If I don't go, I will either sh myself or vomit all over the desk."
    via u/AikoG84
  • I followed that up with sending an accomodation request to HR with my medical records with the simple accommodation of taking longer than average bathroom breaks when they are needed. HR was very quick to shut the manager down for the whole timing thing.
    via u/AikoG84
  • It was not even a call center. Just a basic desk job and I was the one with the highest producitivity despite the bathroom breaks lol
    via u/AikoG84
  • hobofireworx • 3h ago The petty in my would tell her if she's sooo interested in bathroom use she should apply for a job as a bathroom attendant. She's clearly got a huffing farts k The b in me would document everything and get a lawyer because you've got a medical condition that should grant you reasonable accommodations. Like an extra 5 minutes in the And then sue the ever loving sh out of that company
    via u/hobofireworx
  • ZorakiHyena • 3h ago Definitely keep records of all these conversations and especially the emails she is sending out, incase you or a coworker happen across an interested attorney in the future
    via u/ZorakiHyena
  • Plarocks 2h ago . Honestly, when my middle manager started doing this, I just projected "No bathroom police," in front of everybody. And then just didn't care! Went about my business. Explained that limiting my bathroom breaks is illegal, and contributes to a hostile working environment. Eventually, it went away. AA
    via u/Plarocks
  • Rate... . . 3h ago Edited 1h ago I can relate. It's really aggravating and honestly sort of embarrassing? It's like I'm 6-2. I can't help it that I have to use the bathroom every single day at the same time (usually between 7:30-8am). In the beginning he's made passive aggressive remarks like
    via u/RateCold867
  • • "Did you get lost?" • "Man what is with all you guys having to sh so much" • "You can't go before work?" And recently which what really put me over the edge is he actually came to the backroom and said to all of us how we gotta keep our
    via u/RateCold867
  • bathroom breaks under control and if we're gone for more than 15 minutes it's going to count towards our breaks. We all just laughed and walked away. What he fails to understand is the building is huge. It takes bare minimum 2 minutes just to get to it. So 4 minutes total
    via u/RateCold867
  • is just going to and from. Same goes for breaks. It takes time to travel the distance from the break room/bathroom back to our department and it shouldn't count towards our break. Honestly what is wrong with these people? The thing is he's just a department manager. Not even a store manager.
    via u/RateCold867
  • Edit: Also your boss is so big on time management but think of the time she's putting into tracking everyone's bathroom breaks. Like she has that sh down to a science by saying the team average is 12 minutes. Sounds like she doesn't have good time management skills herself? Or a life Imao
    via u/RateCold867
  • auditor2 3h ago • Sounds like you need to have a conversation with HR. The "metrics" sound more like harassment
    via u/auditor2
  • Test_After 2h ago • 50% of people inescapabley exceed the average. You seem to have a manager that can't math, hiding their incompetence in the micromanagement of toilet breaks.
    via u/Test_After
  • Could be worse - sometimes the enthusiasm for monitoring toilet breaks is due to an illegal pinhole camera. Don't trust any data analysis she does. I'd be skeptical of her dataset too.
    via u/Test_After
  • Cyclopzzz 2h ago Start announcing out loud when you go and come back, then describe in detail what you did there. When she complains, tell her you were just being helpful with her creepy bathroom spreadsheet.
    via u/Cyclopzzz
  • fifitheflowetots · 2h ago Omg that's what's happening to me too! I have had OH recommend additional longer breaks but she still keeping tabs on me and brings it up every month during my formal meetings. We even had a system where u put ur self in
    via u/fifitheflowetots
  • a 5 min break and after it runs out it appears your online... anyway they all the team leads and manager have been keeping tabs of my '20' min breaks cause how else would've they've known. I keep getting lil 5 emails daily where are u bla bla and just recently they've changed the
    via u/fifitheflowetots
  • break system thing after speaking with me & now after ur 5 min thing runs out it tracks how much extra time your using?? Both my manger and hr know about this I have actually spoken up multiple times in my meetings and they say some stuff like it shouldn't take away any time that your working and other interesting things
    via u/fifitheflowetots
  • ALittleUnsettling 3h ago . Sounds like mgmt to me- concerned about your time management but spends her own time watching staff going to the bathroom?
    via u/ALittleUnsettling

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