Question about work-life rules

I work on a night shift bento company.
So my work shift is 10pm-6am.
A co-worker of mine contacted me asking if i wanted to eat in a restaurant because she was craving (She�fs pregnant).
It was roughly 7pm when we met and ate, then one of our other friend was in the area buying medicine for a injury she got from work on her leg (she got burned by oil) so we invited her to come and eat with us for a little while. When she got there she told us she can�ft go to work because she was still experiencing pain from her leg.

By roughly 8pm, I recieved a text from my mother-in-law that my husband has not yet got home, so there was no one to look after my daughter while i go to work. (My mother-in-law works night shift too) So i have to go home and tend to my daughter. So the three of us, went home our seperate ways.

I called in work saying that i will be late, and I will come as fast as I can. The manager who answered said it was okay.

So by the time I got in work, i was interogatted by the manager saying why I was late, i then explained the situation. He then got all stern and said he �gcaught�h us eating at the restaurant. I was shocked, i was literally speechless because i was wondering what does that have to do anything with my being late. Then he told me that the two friends who i was with, was absent.
And somehow he was thinking we were �gasonderu�h when what we really did was eat for about an hour and went home our seperate ways.

So, the reason my pregnant friend was absent was because her grandmother can�ft look after her 3year old daughter because the grandmother was not feeling well.

Now, this has became a big issue in our company with many backstabbing from my own race. The manager saying it was not allowed to go somewhere on a work day because it was a rule in japan. Saying it was not okay to go out and be absent from work. Saying they caught us when we really didn�ft do anything. We just ate a simple mcdonalds!
And somehow they thought we were lying and it just became a very big issue and seriously it
Shocked me! Saying we were �gasonderu�h when really we were just �geating�h

Last time i checked asonderu means go clubbing, go drinking, go shopping, go somewhere for loooong hours of time.

When really i did remember was the only requirement was to call ahead of time if you�fre absent or late.

My friends are getting angry and frustrated, especially pregnant lady! the company have nothing to do with what we do with our spare time! Is it that bad to eat?? We weren�ft lying or making excuses, and we went our seperatw ways so what any of us did have nothing on each other. Kankenai no!


Any comments guys? Any help, article, opinion would be really helpful. I just want to know if we have enough strenght to prove we were right.

Seems you just have an abusive boss. Consider changing jobs if possible.

It's a misunderstanding. Do you think you three can find people who can prove that you weren't together during your shift hours?

The manager saying it was not allowed to go somewhere on a work day because it was a rule in japan.

The rule in Japan (like in all countries I know of) is that you can't go somewhere during work hours, because you're supposed to be working. "Asonderu" simply means "be in leisure". Your boss assumed that you three kept on chatting or whatnot after your short meal time, even after your shift hours.

First, you told your boss that there is an unavoidable emergency (which was to look after your child by sudden notice), and the boss said it was okay. As long as you can prove that it was true, your boss needs to be responsible for saying it was okay. Your boss simply thinks that you made things up just so that you three can have fun together while everyone else is working hard.

Maybe you guys are lost in translation.

Every thing happened before work hours.
Our shift was 10pm-6am
We (two of my co-workers), met at the restaurant at 7pm and went our seperatw ways about 8:30pm.
I called my boss and said i was going to be late because a problem came up, he said it was okay.
When i got at work, he interrogated me why i was late and i said, my mother in law xalled to say my husband wasn't home yet and she was leaving to go to her respective work so i need to come home and attend to my daughter.

He thinks that all three of us were lying but we weren't doing anything of that sort. Even if the said friends who were present at the restaurant was absent that night it doesn�ft mean we have anything to do with each other.

They were saying that it was a breaking a rule in japan to go somewhere before working and taking a break from work the same night.

But what happened was, my friends called the boss to say they can't go to work that night AFTER we left the restaurant and went home. To which, each of us had no idea the other were going to be absent..

They thought that they were absent and I was late because we went to the restaurant! It�fs ridiculous
what do you think?

I don't seem to be communicating well with the OP, and English is not my native language.

I agree with you, it is ridiculous.

There is no such rule that says "you cannot go somewhere before work and take a break from work the same night."

You did not do anything wrong, it was only the boss who misunderstood the situation, imagining that the three of you decided to act goofy.