Catatonic
Nine Lives
On my last time study ride (March 2010), I had two houses side by side. I grabbed two packages, delivered one. The driveways were about 8' apart so I crossed 8' of lawn to save walking back to the road and back down driveway 2.
The time studier told me not to do that, use designated walkpaths.
Sounds like the TSO was trying to get you to help him/her get the correct allowance. Furthermore, unless this is something new, there is no such thing as a designated walk-path ... the driver is suppose to use their judgment to take the most expeditious path while doing that in a safe manner.
Also, in almost all cases, a walk classification in a time study will not change for walking up the driveway or walking across the lawn.
For instance, on a well manicured lawn, the driver may walk across it because you can see any holes, obstacles etc. ... you would not be able to do that with 6 inch grass or snow in the yard.
I tended to use sidewalks or driveways because I could free my mind from scanning the walk path and use the time to record package and stop information.
There is no doubt that different supervisors will have differences in opinion on this just as demonstrated here, drivers have differences in opinion.