Booking the mother's room at work

rubber_chicken

Hey there brilliant bumpies - I have a situation I'd love your input on.  I just came back to work this week, it's going well, but I've run into an issue when trying to use the mother's room to pump.

There's a calendar to book the mother's room, and this one woman has it booked for 3.5 hours out of the day - beginning in the morning when she has it booked 9-10:30! I'm not sure what she's doing in there for an hour and a half, or if she's not really using it for the whole time but wanted it "saved'.  Either way, the situation sucks, I mean, there's 500 people at this company and one mother's room - we have to share.  

So...should I contact her directly and ask her if she has any flexibility to change that first session? Or should I contact HR? 

snicksnack

i would contact her first ; if that does not work contact hr

EvenAngelsFall

snicksnack:

i would contact her first ; if that does not work contact hr

Agreed. Always better to go straight to the source first, and avoid going above her head if possible.

Ms5586

I would guess she probably has it "saved" and goes as her schedule allows.  I always booked ours for an hour, but there was only ever 1 other person using it.

I actually wouldn't go to her, because of how ours is set up.  But if that's what works for you in your situation, I don't see anything wrong with it.

dizzycooks

I would just email her and see if she realizes she scheduled it from 9-10:30.  Maybe she wanted 10-10:30 and clicked the wrong time.  I'd assume she meant something else and 'alert' her to a possible mistake. 

runrinserepeat

snicksnack:

i would contact her first ; if that does not work contact hr

I take my time in our mother's room, because as far as I know, there's only one other mom and she uses her office. If there were another mom who needed it, I'd be a lot quicker about things.

preggersin2011

I would contact her too. I don't see why you both cannot be in there together.

rubber_chicken

preggersin2011:

I would contact her too. I don't see why you both cannot be in there together.

It's a tiny room, the size of a cube, there's really only room for one person in there. There's only one outlet and one chair.  I mean, I guess one person could stand at the counter while the other sits, but I don't feel like getting to know my coworkers that well :P  

jnealet

We book ours for 30 minutes.  We had them for an hour when there was only 2 of us using it though.

I would email her, mainly because on those days you have a meeting and can't get in your scheduled time you want to have some type of relationship with the other mom's room users.  Maybe send a blanket email to all users first to introduce yourself and then email her directly.

 Good luck!!

BigIsland07

bearsbearsbears:

rubber_chicken:

preggersin2011:

I would contact her too. I don't see why you both cannot be in there together.

It's a tiny room, the size of a cube, there's really only room for one person in there. There's only one outlet and one chair.  I mean, I guess one person could stand at the counter while the other sits, but I don't feel like getting to know my coworkers that well :P  

That sounds awkward to me!

 

Totally. Ours is nice with a chair, a couch, a sink and a fridge. It's a little bigger -- four people could probably be in their comfortably, but there are no dividers and I just wouldn't want to see all of that in the professional setting - even WITH a nursing cover. 

belladonna11307

We run into scheduling problems all the time at my job.  We just contact each other via email and ocassionaly set up group meetings to work it out.  Not only have we worked out the schedule, but was nice to get to meet some of the other mom's and talk about being a working mom!  Give her a call or shoot her an email.