sleeping at the switch

be sleeping at the switch

To be failing to attend to one's responsibilities or duties; to be inattentive to that which is important or for which one is responsible. Johnson was supposed to make sure the paperwork went through before the deadline, but it looks like he was sleeping at the switch. Our goalkeeper is such a nincompoop. We would have won that match if he hadn't been sleeping at the switch!
See also: sleep, switch

sleeping at the switch

Failing to attend to one's responsibilities or duties; inattentive to that which is important or for which one is responsible. Johnson was supposed to make sure the paperwork went through before the deadline, but it looks like he was sleeping at the switch. Our goalkeeper is such a nincompoop. We would have won that match if he hadn't been sleeping at the switch!
See also: sleep, switch
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • be sleeping at the switch
  • be sleeping at the wheel
  • slept
  • fall asleep at the switch
  • fall asleep at the wheel
  • be asleep at the wheel
  • be asleep at the switch
  • a lion in the way
  • at (one's) doorstep
  • at doorstep
References in periodicals archive
"I think he's been sleeping at the switch or something, because we should have advertised for this long ago, like maybe two to three months ago," said Mr.
Full-time DPW head job to be advertised this week
Serrin's riveting narrative brings to life the colorful cast of characters in Homestead's history: real life Horatio Alger magnates and managers who shaped Homestead into the linchpin of "the greatest industrial conglomerate" in history; steel executives and labor leaders who, sleeping at the switch and drunk with success during the postwar boom, watched that empire crumble like metal in a slowmotion train wreck.
Homestead: The Glory and Tragedy of an American Steel Town