Finding uninterrupted time at work can be surprisingly difficult, especially in offices where an open calendar slot seems to invite another meeting. Some employees use status settings or focus blocks. Others apparently get much more creative.
One Reddit user discovered that a coworker had been protecting two hours every afternoon by filling his calendar with fake meetings labeled things like “vendor sync” and “client review.” The strategy had worked for months because nobody wanted to interrupt what looked like important external calls.
Then the coworker casually admitted the truth and even shared screenshots proving how long he had been doing it. The situation became much less funny the next morning when their manager asked which client he kept meeting with and said she wanted to join. Scroll down to see why the poster suddenly found themselves guarding a secret they never asked to know.
An employee discovers his coworker has been using fake meetings for months to protect his focus time
Sometimes workplace behavior that looks dishonest on the surface is really a symptom of a system that has stopped respecting people’s time. The coworker has been inventing “vendor syncs” and “client reviews” not because he is avoiding work, but because apparently labeling the same hours “focus time” invites colleagues to schedule over them.
His solution is undeniably deceptive, yet the fact that it has worked for months reveals something uncomfortable: his workplace respects imaginary meetings more than actual concentration.
That distinction explains why the OP is torn between admiration and concern. The coworker found an ingenious workaround that protects two uninterrupted hours every afternoon.
At the same time, he has now placed the OP in an awkward position. Once the manager specifically asks which client he is meeting, staying silent becomes different from simply ignoring someone else’s calendar habits. The OP is effectively being asked to help maintain a false explanation they never agreed to participate in.
There is also a fresher perspective here. The real failure may have happened long before the fake meetings appeared. If employees must disguise productive work as meetings because colleagues assume every empty-looking calendar block is available, then the organization has accidentally created incentives for dishonesty. People adapt to whatever behavior the system rewards.
Organizational researcher Sophie Leroy, Ph.D., developed the concept of attention residue, describing how part of a person’s attention remains attached to a previous task after an interruption or switch.
Her research with Theresa Glomb found that frequent interruptions fragment attention and make it harder to return fully to demanding work. Their practical recommendation is to create deliberate strategies that protect uninterrupted periods instead of treating constant availability as harmless.
The American Psychological Association makes a similar point. Psychologist Larry Rosen, Ph.D., explains that workers are not truly multitasking when constantly interrupted; they are repeatedly switching tasks, then spending additional mental effort reconstructing where they left off. He recommends explicit “do not disturb” periods when concentration is required.
That makes the coworker’s need legitimate, even if his method is becoming unsustainable. Once a manager wants to attend one of the fictional meetings, the strategy has reached its natural limit.
The OP does not need to expose him dramatically or lie for him. The coworker should be the one to explain that those blocks are protected deep-work time and that ordinary “focus” labels were repeatedly ignored. Management can then decide whether two hours is reasonable.
The funniest part is that his calendar hack worked because everyone respected meetings. The healthiest workplace would simply teach people to respect work too.
Here’s the input from the Reddit crowd:
These Redditors thought the fake meetings were a clever way to protect focus time
These commenters advised staying out of it and letting the coworker handle his own situation
These users suggested simply saying “I don’t know” and avoiding unnecessary involvement
These Redditors said the tactic reflects a workplace where calendars and boundaries aren’t being respected
Is this harmless calendar self-defense, or does inventing meetings cross an ethical line even when the person is actually working? Share the verdict below.
