It was July 2008, my second week at work. The distant clock chimed 6.30 pm. 9.30am-6.30pm, that’s the working hours the employee handbook had mentioned. I looked up and noticed a few folks getting out of their seats. “Snacks?” Asked one group. “Smoke?” asked the other, as both parties exited the office excitedly chattering about nothing and everything. A lone brave person packed their bag, ready to leave. “Half-day kyaaaa*”, chorused a small group of ‘do-gooders’, cackling away at their own joke.
I realised with time and experience that it’s a standard phrase almost everyone ask(s) almost everyone who packs their bag to leave at 6.30 pm.
There’s perhaps some unknown joy in sitting late, hammering away on the keyboard, as the moon shines bright outside. Also, it doesn’t hurt that one’s boss and boss’s boss are around too, doing meetings, having coffee-tea-green tea, and chatting with team members who are still around.
Who knows? Perhaps, many an important project gets staffed that way. Mayhaps, a hike discussion happens in that informal, pleasant scenario.
Have you ever noticed that women usually aren’t around after 6.30 pm? Half day or no half day, they have already left, possibly having achieved what they set out to achieve that morning, with limited breaks, because they are needed elsewhere. To relieve a nanny from her shift, to tend to a crying child, to organize dinner for the family. Perhaps, their partners are working late, hammering away at their keyboards, sharing a drink with their boss’ boss, having a nuanced career conversation over a cup of green tea, as the night ebbs away.
It took me a decade and a dose of motherhood to start packing my bag at 6.30 pm, snacks be damned. “Half a day?” asked a colleague coming back from a smoke break the first time I did it. “No, just been a productive, efficient day. What about yours?” I asked in return, as the Uber pulled up at the curb.
What came of it, you wonder. Clarity on prioritisation and quality time with the child in equal breaths. Also, strangely, it made me better at scheduling and utilising my 1-1s with bosses, super bosses, and teams, both formal sessions and informal catch-ups over lunch or drinks. I couldn’t believe what a little bit of planning could achieve, without going through ad-hoc water cooler conversations and last minute “let’s get a drink, team” adventures.
Of course, it isn’t the same as playing TT with colleagues if that’s something you value. And, well, if the office culture values face time over quality of output… I will take a pause here so you can work it out for yourself.
Burning the midnight LED in office for no reason shouldn’t be a necessary condition to survive the workplace after all.
*kya is Hindi for “or what”.
P. S. Views strictly personal. Events mentioned in this post don’t refer to any organisation that I am currently associated with.
This used to be the norm in journalism and advertising. Most people only sauntered into office at 12 noon!
I had a friend who confessed - he faffed from 930 am to 630 pm and then worked from 630 pm to 930 pm!!!