When does "culture fit" go too far?

This story still makes me laugh... and haunts me to this day.

Scene: Pre-pandemic, when remote work was rare. 

It was one of those jobs where skipping PTO was a badge of honor. We were supposed to be at our desks at 8 (meaning any time after 7:55 was late) and squeeze productivity out of every second until 5:30 (but really more like 6). 

Don’t get me wrong. I loved that job and everyone who worked there at the time still thinks of it as the “good old days.” Everyone except for one.

There’s always one, isn’t there? The person who thinks traffic is a reason to show up late. Who calls in sick on the day of a big event, leaving everyone else short-staffed. The person who actually takes their lunch break. 

Is a boundary still a boundary if only one person asserts it? 

Or is it rebellion?

So there was tension. Not because she had boundaries. Because she thought she was the exception. 

And she was pregnant.

To be clear: she was That Person before and after she was pregnant, too. I add the detail only because it’s relevant to what happened next.

One day in her last trimester, she got sleepy after lunch. She needed a nap. Normal, right?

But is this normal? She grabbed a throw pillow from the couch in the lobby, found an unused desk in a quiet corner of the office, lay down under it, and took a nap. 

She didn’t go home (that would have looked too much like an excuse). She didn’t book a conference room (god forbid someone had an ad hoc client meeting). She didn’t send a blast to the office saying, “Hey, I’ll be under Bob’s old desk. Don’t mind me.” (Why call attention to herself?)

When she woke up, someone was sitting at the desk. It was The Boss.

The Boss was the one behind the strict office hours. He was a stickler, but also had a reputation for being a fair and steady leader. He was respected and revered by all. 

And she was looking at his socks. 

What would you do?

There’s no way to sneak out unnoticed. 

Do you stay under there until he leaves?

Do you say something? What?

In her defense, she needed a reasonable accommodation. She wasn’t hurting anyone. And she’d stayed at the office so she could get back to work when the fatigue passed. 

But it was a weird decision. And she already had that reputation. 

And what point was The Boss trying to make up there, anyway?

So what do you do?

In her case, she stood up, brushed herself off, and walked back to her desk without a word. 

And The Boss never said a thing about it either.

There’s a lot here. Discuss.

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