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I once had a fellow employee that told the manager that it was OK to be late because there were construction delays on his direct route to work. After 2 days, the manager took him aside and said "it's your job to be on-time. If it means a different route or leave earlier, then do it; or find a new job closer to home. After that he did come in on-time. (He still bitched about it of course)
It all depends. If I have a 30 minute commute and allow myself 30 minutes, then no it isn't . Allow for 40. But if it takes 1.5 hours due to reason beyond my control, then it's perfectly acceptable.
My belief is that if the traffic is so bad that multiple people are late, then you're probably fine. If you're the only one that was affected by this traffic(despite others coming from the same direction) then you probably have an issue("Everyone else managed to get here on time despite the traffic, why couldn't you?").
But no rational person can call it a bad excuse when 7 people in a department are all late because of a 3 car accident that shut down a highway. Doesn't matter how often it happens, some things are just beyond your control.
That said, you do owe a quick email/text/call to say what's going on. Just showing up an hour late without a heads up isn't going to go over well.
But what if you have a traffic ticket or your licensed is about to expired?
Then arrange ahead of time for time off, don't just show up late.
Everybody has things that come up that can only be handled during the day, but they arrange for the time. Even if it means taking PTO or vacation time.
I think you'll be fine the first time, maybe the second. But if you hit traffic multiple time then you need to adjust accordingly. Obviously a fatality and a locked down parkway is going to screw up everyone on that path. Usually in this case, MULTIPLE people are late for the same reason.
But what if you have a traffic ticket or your licensed is about to expired?
Poor planning on your part is never a good excuse.
Take care of your personal business before it becomes a showstopper.
I used to have a line cook who was late 2-3 times a week. For a while it was sort of entertaining to see what excuse he would come up with this time. but after a while I had to tell him flat out. one late arrival a month was all I was going to tolerate. the second time in the month, he may as well not bother to come in at all.
Harsh? perhaps, but, He was never late for work, again while he worked for me.
But what if you have a traffic ticket or your licensed is about to expired?
What does this have to do with traffic? This is your issue, your problem. If you need to pay a ticket and renew your license you do so on your time. Take a half day.
But what if you have a traffic ticket or your licensed is about to expired?
Absolutely not an excuse. You can renew your license and pay traffic tickets on your own time. Schedule a day off, do it on a Saturday, work out a flexible schedule for a day with your manager. Needing to do this at the last minute resulting in unscheduled lateness is not acceptable.
Your poor planning is not my problem.
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