How many times have you guys play truant in school or at work, be it to steal a couple of minutes more for lunch or getting off work just a bit earlier?

Perhaps such situations are normal in Malaysia, but in Japan, it is another story.

A little too much?

In a country where every minute counts (fun fact: when a train is delayed more than five minutes, its staff will distribute a train delay certificate to all the passengers to prove to their boss that it wasn't their fault if they're late for work), losing those precious minutes is literally a matter of life and death.

Earlier in March, the Funabashi City Board of Education in Chiba Prefecture said that it had disciplined several staff for leaving the office two minutes early.

According to a report by Sora News 24, the staff had to leave early to catch an earlier bus home.

The report said that the Board of Education noted 316 incidents of staff leaving work early between May 2019 to January 2021.

The early departure reportedly involved seven staff members.

The board also found that a 59-year-old staff in charge of attendance management helped defraud the timecards by recording their departure times as 5.15pm, although she and the other staff were leaving at 5.13pm so that they could catch the 5.17pm bus.

Apparently, if they miss the 5.17pm, they would have to wait for another half an hour for the next bus.

For their dishonesty, the poor staff in charge of attendance management was punished with a one-tenth salary cut for three months.

According to Sora News 24, the woman would have to reimburse the board with approximately 137,000 yen (RM5,127) to cover for all the minutes she 'stole'. The other staff members, meanwhile, received written reprimands as well as strict cautions.

We actually do feel kinda bad for the poor staff members. Do you guys think such punishment is fair?