I work too much?

So today I get into work and what do I see in my inbox? Email wanting an explanation of the 88 hours I sumitted on my timecard and why it was there was overtime. In fact, there were multiple requests les less than a hour's span by the time I got through my 3 day weekend backlog of email.

Now I'm not exactly sure why it was called “overtime” as it was two weeks at 44 hours each, which isn't enough to qualify for the time and one half of "overtime". OK, my scheduled shift is 4 days at 10 hours each day (10.5 if you count the unpaid lunch), so maybe that's what my boss's boss was referring to.

So I say how yes, my shift does end at midnight but I am supposed to stay until the last agent finishes their last call and is logged out. Sometimes that is at 00:15 and sometimes it is 00:45, but usually it is by 00:30. So, an extra half an hour per day times 8 days is an extra 4 hours in two weeks. Because of that, on average I clock in a base amount of 84 hours every two weeks. Occasionally less if call volume has been light for a few weeks.

On top of that, given the nature of my job and how I have to be easily accessible to whomever, I have been told multiple times by my boss and my boss's boss that if it is too busy I am not supposed to go for lunch. Nor can I go for lunch or break unless I can get some other centre to remotely watch mine while I am gone. That is the basis of why why my position is the only one who is allowed to have food & drink on the production floor. Perk for having to eat while on duty.

So the last two weeks were busy, new software and watching Kelowna while my counterpart there has been on vacation, and I was not able to take a lunch break any day. So, again 30 minutes per lunch is an extra 4 hours in a two week period. An that is what made it 88 hours. While this is not always the case, nor has 88 hours been unheard of. Except for sick days (a whopping 3 total) My clocked hours for the past year and a half have consistently been between 82 and 88 hours each pay period and nobody has said anything until now. Indeed, there have even been a few 90 hour pay periods with actual real 1.5 time base wage overtime thanks to an agent being on a two hour long call that started 15 minutes before the end of my shift to which nobody said boo.

“Just because it's been happening doesn't make it right” replies my boss's boss, less than ten minutes after my explanation. “I would like it to stop immediately.”

So I reply that “sure, I can trim my hours to exactly 40 per week, but that means I can no longer stick around after midnight for the last agents to finish up their calls. In fact, I cannot guarantee that the queue will even be drained by midnight for me to announce last call to the agents before I clock out,” so could he please let me know how he wants me to do things from now on? After all, he was the one who told me that I had to stay as long as the last agent to logout and to not take lunch when it was too busy.

That was at 13:18 in my boss's boss's timezone, almost six hours ago. So I'm wondering — why no reply in less than 10 minutes this time?