Submit the report by the end of the day! What time does 'today' actually mean?

When you receive a request from your boss saying, "Can you submit the report by the end of the day?", let's consider what exactly "the end of the day" means.

Submitting reports with a set deadline is a daily occurrence for business professionals.
By tomorrow,
by one week from now,
by one month from now,
and so on.

What time on what date is this request exactly for?
If you receive a request for one week or one month from now, you can imagine that if you don't confirm the exact date with each other, it might be moved forward due to business days.

For example,
suppose you were asked today, April 6th. When is one month from now?
Is it Saturday, May 6th?
Is it the day before, Friday, May 5th (a public holiday)?
Is it Monday, May 2nd, because of Golden Week?
Is it Friday, April 28th, because of planned time off?

Conversations like this are likely common in April.

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One month from now was easy to understand. Now, suppose your boss asks you at 9:00 AM today, "Submit the report by the end of the day."

What time exactly is "the end of the day"?

Answer A: Since it's by the end of the day, by 23:59 today.
Answer B: Since the boss will check it tomorrow morning, by 9:00 tomorrow.
Answer C: Since it's by the end of working hours, by 17:30 today.

For me, it's Answer C. Answers A and B are absolutely impossible. This is because working outside of business hours is not a good thing.

I would confirm a few things with my boss. Since they said "by the end of the day," there is no doubt it is urgent, so I would have them clearly state the purpose. I would make a judgment based on its importance.

If it is very important, I would start in the morning and submit it as soon as it is finished. If it is not very important, I would put it off and work so that I can submit it by 17:30.

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While I think it depends heavily on company culture and internal rules, I would not want to be a business partner with someone who chooses Answer A or Answer B. There are two reasons for this:
One is that they are work-first oriented.
Two is that they are slow at work.
Being work-first oriented leads to a poor work-life balance. People who are slow at work also produce low-quality results. That is my prejudice, though. This is just my personal standard for finding a work partner.

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Even so, there are times when you just can't finish within hours, and since the boss is also in a hurry, there might be a counterargument that you should work overtime.

If I were to speak my mind, it is a lack of management ability on the part of the boss who gave that instruction. In the first place, not giving instructions to team members until today about a situation where an urgent report must be submitted can only be described as a lack of management skills.

If you realize at the time you receive the instruction that you won't make the deadline for the report by the end of the day, you should just decline the instruction. The boss will be very troubled, but it is their own fault.

The desperate boss will likely look for a "yes-man" who will gladly accept it. In an organization, even if someone is slow or produces low-quality work, a "yes-man" is necessary. Such cogs in the machine are valued.

Unfortunately, I tended to decline instructions when I judged that I could not do them. My boss would dislike me. I would also dislike my boss. Thus, things become hostile.

However, it is okay; as long as you do what you are supposed to do, you can survive as a business person.

And thanks to the values I formed that are not in the majority, which were honed in that business, my second life now is fulfilling.

I think not conforming to others is a difficult task as a company employee. I think you should consider whether you want to go that far, ignoring your own values to follow your boss, or seriously face who you really are.

I am relieved because I am living a good life so far with this way of living.

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I suddenly felt like writing this note after talking about old times with a former colleague, so I wrote it. If I were still employed, the outcome would likely have been complaining while drinking at an izakaya.

Perhaps I often did that too.
Read the room,
go with the flow,
peer pressure,

But now that I have quit being a company employee,
I am deeply moved that I have become able to write things like this.