The nose to grind stone senario is not new today....it happens whenever there are employment contractions. During my first real job in the early 60’s, when we had a recession, I was late for work one day by about ten minutes. The Ex VP called me in, actually grabbed me as I was heading past his office, and asked me what was the problem? I had none, just said I missed my alarm. He pointed to the outside of his window where people were bustling about and exclaimed: everyone of them is looking for your job, got it? Yes was my answer and I was not late again.
On time for work is at least 15 minutes early.