For those of you who are young, idealistic, and just brimming with shiny hopes and dreams, I have some unfortunate news: Life isn’t fair. Nor is it reasonable, rational, sensible, logical, nice, or fluffy. Life is strange, ridiculous, cruel, fantastic, bizarre, whimsical, capricious, and just a little bit dirty.
I tell you this because one day, possibly one day quite soon, your boss (or someone who wields even more power over your fragile working existence) is going to ask you to do something that you don’t think you should be doing. And you are going to be very unhappy about it.
These types of requests can take many forms.
The Personal Jobs
The most obvious sort of thing your boss will ask you to do that you don’t think you should be doing will be something rather personal.
For example, despite the fact that you are a Web designer, the president of the company is going to ask you to go pick up his car at a work site, take it to a car wash, and then bring it back to the office. And the odds are fairly good that this will take half the day, leave you sitting in traffic for hours, put you hours behind your actual work, and force you to drive a frighteningly high-priced car with a fairly finicky manual transmission. This is annoying, though not terrible.
Or perhaps, despite the fact that you are proposal writer, your boss will stride into your office and explain, in far too much detail, that he needs your help collecting his in-laws at the airport to make sure they get to a family event on time…on your birthday. So you drive to an unfamiliar part of the city and stand at a receiving gate holding a sign while a hundred grumpy travelers file past you and none of them respond to your sign, leaving you standing alone, unsure of what to do…while your family assembles at a restaurant quite far away from the airport to celebrate your birthday.
Or perhaps, despite the fact that you are a contracts officer, your boss, who drives an over-priced luxury sedan or maybe even a company car, will call you up at the office on a particularly snowy morning to tell you to come to his house in your much-less-expensive car to fetch him across the icy roads because he doesn’t think his car will survive the trip…but yours is expendable. So after already braving the morning commute to the office once, you bundle up again and spend the next 90 minutes driving white-knuckled through the upscale yet unplowed neighborhoods where your boss lives, all the while wondering if you will be required to drive him home later that night.
Or perhaps, despite the fact that you are a publications manager, your boss will announce that he is throwing a party for family and friends, which has absolutely nothing to do with work at all, but he needs you to run to the grocery store and put together a cheese platter and some fruit to provide his guests with something to eat before the caterers arrive. At his house.
These personal requests are clearly not in your job description, but you won’t see them coming. They are obviously ridiculous, but they aren’t difficult. And since you won’t have prepared a good excuse for why you can’t just run out and do them, you do them. These things waste time, both work time and your own personal time, and they will put you in uncomfortable positions, and they may even cost you some of your own money (toll booths, gas, food, etc.).
What should you do?
Get over it. Unemployment is high and people are starving to death all over the world. Your ego will survive running a few personal errands for your boss. At least you will get a lot of crazy stories to use in an article that you will one day write about things that were not in your job description.
The Professional Jobs
In a recent article, I counseled readers to go the extra distance to make themselves more valuable around the office by developing secondary skills, including maintaining equipment and mastering software. And that is pretty good advice, until it backfires and completely ruins your life.
You see, sooner or later, if you are very good at getting things done, then bosses will stop bothering with the useless employees and bring all their problems to you. Because you’re so quick. You’re so precise. You know how to do that thing in Microsoft Word. So can you just do this little task for me, right now, because you’re the best? Pretty please?
At first you will be flattered by the extra attention. Your boss knows your name, and her boss knows your name, and some bosses from the other departments know your name. Great! But now you have all these other tasks to do, and some of them you don’t completely understand, and many of them are due in five minutes (or five minutes ago). And every minute you spend on these tasks is a minute you don’t spend on your own work.
Perhaps you’ll be asked to work on a Vice President’s presentation (because you’re quick in PowerPoint), or a financial report (because you’re good at formulas in Excel), or the invitations to the company’s holiday party (because you’re so creative).
You may find this merely inconvenient from time to time. You might also find it more than a little frustrating, especially when you are told point blank that someone else ought to be doing this task, but instead of making that other person do their job, you are going to do it for them. To “reward” your excellence.
What should you do?
Manage it. The bottom line is that you have succeeded in making yourself both valuable and popular. This position actually gives you a little power. People tend to be slightly more respectful and considerate of others when they need them. So feel free to push back a little bit and turn down those extra requests if you really can’t handle any more on your plate. But as long as you can shoulder the burden, do it.
The Dangerous Jobs
It is unlikely, but not impossible, that you will be asked to do something illegal at work. It may be something semi-minor, like copying a confidential document or emailing data that ought to be encrypted. Sometimes bosses become fed up with rules and protocols and just want the job done, so they will ask you to do it the fast way, instead of the strictly correct way. I can’t advise you how to handle a rule-bender situation. You will have to decide for yourself whether the task is really illicit, whether there will be consequences, and whether you personally will be held accountable.
But it might also be something major. Your boss may tell you to scuttle a project, or fire a good employee, or falsify data. Or, just as a random example purely from my imagination, to walk into the Pentagon with a bag full of power tools to do a little unauthorized remodeling of a Department of Defense facility. That’s a fictional example, mind you. Completely made up.
What should you do?
Well, you’re in the hot seat now. You can say “No” and risk all sorts of angry-boss fallout. You can try to find a non-illegal alternative course of action. Or you can do it and hope for the best. None of these are great options, and you’re well within your rights for feeling angry at the world (and at your boss) for putting you in such a position, but there it is.
This is the sort of moment where you learn something very fundamental about yourself. What are your priorities? Where are the lines you won’t cross? What are you willing to risk or sacrifice for an ideal? What really matters to you at the end of the day?
That’s life. It’s not fair, but I already told you that.
Joseph Lewis
Joseph Lewis is a writer and editor who has worked in the public and private sectors, including military, health care, and technology firms. Visit Joe's blog
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C’mon man, really? This isn’t the 19th Century, and workers aren’t serfs. It’s one thing to be helpful around the office and make yourself valuable at work, but quite another to pick up your boss’ dry-cleaning or in-laws, or even do something illegal.
Where’s “Talk to HR”? or “Keep good documentation and file for unemployment if you’re let go”?
And not running personal errands for your boss isn’t about ego, it’s about setting clear boundaries between work and life. If you agree to run out and get him a cheese tray, before you know it, you’ll be getting calls at all hours to do other errands for him too, even on your days off.
Too many young people in the workforce are already inclined to let their boss walk all over them, and too many bosses are all too happy to do so. Workers don’t need to be thankful for their jobs; they do work in exchange for money.
Jamie,
Unfortunately, in the US most people are employed “at will” which means you can be legally terminated at any time for almost any reason (or no reason). If you work for someone who does not respect professional boundaries, then you are already dealing with someone who is more likely than others to replace you with someone easier to “manage.”
While it is good practice to document infractions and report them, as I mentioned in an earlier article, the reality is that many HR teams are not white knights eager to ride to your rescue, especially if that means confronting a powerful executive. In fact, HR may blatantly avoid a conflict over anything less than egregious sexual harassment.
You say that workers don’t need to be thankful for their jobs, but I must disagree. We are facing 10% unemployment in the US right now. If you are young and flexible, then perhaps it is easy to stick to your guns and risk hurting your career at a particular job. But if you have a mortgage and a family to support, then financial survival is much more important than anything else.
I should add that these sorts of requests are not likely to come from your immediate supervisor. These are more likely to come from high-value clients and from your executives. These are individuals who are quite used to getting whatever they ask for, and who leave you no convenient recourse for declining (or objecting to) their requests.
The type of individual who makes these requests is also the type of individual who rewards allies and punishes enemies within the office. So these requests really boil down to whether you want to be on the CEO’s good side, or not.
This is far from ideal, but it is a reality.
Best way is to politely explain why you can’t do that.
“Sorry, I cannot go to the grocery store becuase that would mean delaying project XX”
Once you let it happen ONCE.. it will continue to happen !.
Oli,
That is an ideal response, but a boss who is willing to make unreasonable requests may well say, “Oh, it will only take a minute, and you can finish your project tomorrow.”
Once they introduce unprofessional demands on your time, they are announcing that they don’t value/respect actual work over their personal needs.
And if this person is a very high-level manager, and your supervisor is unwilling to shield you, and HR is unwilling to confront them, then you’re stuck.
Wow…so true: brilliantly written article and i couldn’t help nodding and agreeing the entire way through.
Although, i think you’ve overlooked a topic!
How about “The crappy/skivvy jobs”, i.e: get a degree in business management and on your first project, you find yourself making tea and fixing the printer.
How about working in retail? No matter what position you are, you’ll find yourself having to do jobs, (be it a compulsive responsibility) or an order from a senior that simply aren’t in your contract!
Regards,
Adam
What a brilliant post. I had a situation yesterday when a client asked me to do a thing for his blog.
“Can you crop some images for me, and then put it on my blog”.
Like, why should I do that? It’s not my job to work for your blog?
Gah!
At the last company I was with my boss had been doing printing favors for co-workers for years using our big plotter to make birthday banners and such. As for me I disliked the idea of my department being used as everyone’s “free” Kinko’s and put a stop to it once they had to start coming to me (I guess I’m a jerk but I have no interest in dealing with countless individual’s bizarre creative input).
Our VP had used me to design ads and signage for his wife’s business on a number of occasions but, for obvious reasons, I did this for him even though the CEO had made a special point of asking us to stop. So long as it was during work hours I didn’t care just as long as SOMEONE was paying me for the work. If the VP were to ask me to do the kind of personal favors listed in this article I would’ve declined. Sure, he would’ve liked me more but I demand a certain level of boundaries and some of those listed were just too much. My car is doing badly enough without having to run insane errands for people who should/can hire personal assistants.
When I saw the picture with this article I was expecting something about washing dishes in the break room or taking out the trash. Janitor work I wouldn’t mind so long as I wasn’t targeted to do this alone. If I were targeted then I’d ask myself “why just me?” and “will they still respect me tomorrow?”. My answer to my own two questions are “because they might not respect you” and “probably not”. Becoming someone’s occasional personal assistant might make them like you but they certainly won’t respect you. There is a big difference and sometimes you have to turn down the opportunities for a little bit of butt kissing to keep your career on track.
Avery,
The worst part is, as soon as someone asks you to do one of these tasks, they are signaling that they already don’t respect you (or probably anyone else). It’s really a lose-lose scenario. Either you do the lousy job to keep everyone happy (except you), or you don’t do it and start making people unhappy with you.
I think it all depends on how much do you want to keep this job.
And sometimes, when you can’t (won’t) do extra job, you can tell your boss that it will disturb your regular tasks.
Exactly. When you are younger, it is easier to leave a lousy job and find a greener pasture. But when you have a mortgage and a family to support, and you’re a more senior professional yourself, it can be much harder to hop from job to job.
Note that a boss who is willing to make one of these requests has already decided in their mind that their request is more important than your work, so it may be difficult to convince them that your work is more important than their request.
Great article.
I have been battling with this kind of thing at work. I am a graphic designer at a newspaper. The company knows that I freelance web design on the side and have tried to get me to do web related things at work. I have let them know that I don’t mind a few things here and there but a line must be drawn. They have been pushing me to do Flash work to which I refuse simply on the grounds that I usually charge double to triple of what I make an hour. Guess I might feel better about it if they would give me a raise or something.
Turning things down is hard, especially when you usually go above and beyond most of the time.
Conrad,
I know exactly what you mean, I think a lot of us have been in that exact same position. There really is no good solution, and the situation requires you to make some hard decisions about your priorities. If you can sacrifice some work or a client to keep your standards, great. But if you need the work and can’t afford to anger the client/boss, then you’re stuck doing the lousy job.
I had somewhat of a similar experience except it was dealing with my still developing illustration abilities. They wanted me to go online and download known cartoon characters to print and hang on the wall of our new store’s kids area. This wasn’t going to be OK so I decided to offer illustrating a company related comic that we could use instead. It took a while but they were impressed. In fact they were so impressed they wanted to update it every few months…oops!
I’ve never been very competent when having to illustrate in a timely manner (and environments are the worst!) let alone coming up with additional coherent short stories. So the second comic was dragging on for MUCH longer than they liked and suddenly people that liked me weren’t liking me so much anymore. It’s sucks because I shouldn’t have been expected to do this in the first place and co-workers with the same responsibilities as myself didn’t share in this task because they couldn’t draw at all (or maybe they were just smart enough not to volunteer something they couldn’t do consistently?).
It’s awesome trying to explain to someone who has no art skills at all that your illustration abilities that looked so good before just comes and goes and that I’m not lazy so much as just not “in the zone” so maybe later. Which is of course where my “somewhat similar experience” statement comes in since you are obviously much more talented at web design than I am at drawing.
> It’s awesome trying to explain to someone who has no art skills at all
> that your illustration abilities that looked so good before just comes
> and goes and that I’m not lazy so much as just not “in the zone”
> so maybe later.
So true.
Also, do you notice how, when assigned 5 tasks that takes 2 weeks each ends up having to do all 5 tasks in 2 weeks rather than 10 ?
Or the typical thursday conversation: being announced that we’ll discuss monday a new project, basically just being told the name and a very vague idea of what it is, while you’re finishing in a rush (because they know other way to setup deadlines) for that same monday, ends up with the guy coming back the day after (friday, before monday then) askin for updates on preliminary work on that new project you know nothing about given he said earlier we’d discuss it the week after.
I also love how, when you’re that “best guy who can do things quickly”, you end up being given a friday afternoon a task for monday (of course, overtime isn’t paid: if you can’t finish in time, that means you’re lazy isn’t it), to redo the project your colleague had 8 monthes to do, and how they’re so disappointed when you end up succeeding to not only do it in two weeks instead of 8 monthes, but fix tons of nasty bugs.
Nicely written article but I severly disagree with your advice.
1. NO NO, NEVER!
2. Maybe, depends on so many things. It’s called project management.
3. NO NO, NEVER!
Your principles and personal values are worth far more than money in the pocket! In these situations “NO” will almost always be a winner.
Ragnar,
As I have noted in response to other comments, the types of people making unreasonable demands on you are the types of people likely to be unreasonable as managers/executives/human beings.
I have never met an executive who respected someone more, or rewarded them, for saying No. “No” signals that you are not a team player, that the executive cannot rely on you, and thus does not need you. And, depending on the extent of their unprofessionalism, they may actively hamper your career.
And as I’ve told others, money in your pocket keeps a roof over your family’s heads and food in their bellies. This article is not about ideals, it is about realities. I wrote it to prepare young professionals for being put in unfair, unprofessional situations in which there is no good solution.
In my experience, the best solution is to find a job/boss who takes good care of you, rather than stay and fight a bad boss.
I agree with Conrad. Once you start saying yes to everything, the things that you *honestly* can’t do, become almost impossible to say no to.
It’s one thing to pitch in and help out, but it’s another to stay back until 8pm when everyone else has gone home, researching the value of infomercials in the USA (I actually had to do this. I live in Australia).
I also find that I’m more than happy to do those random/weird/unrelated/boring tasks when they’re lumped on me by my manager or his manager – but then other employees see me doing them and think that they too can ask me to upload files to the internet, or look up someones details in our database.
end rant.
Belinda,
You’re right, it is a slippery slope. Unfortunately, it can be hard to realize when you’ve crossed the line from being friendly and helpful to being a doormat. And in some office environments, with some coworkers, standing up for yourself can just make your office life miserable.
And also unfortunately, your best bet for fixing your work world is usually not to confront these people but to find a better work environment. It can take weeks to get managers or HR folks to seriously address these issues, and the odds of a truly positive outcome are slim.
Many people don’t want to be involved in a spat over personal errands or semi-professional requests, especially if the requests are coming from a senior manager.
The doing something illegal part is tricky. I had a boss who knew the rules but kept asking me to break them because he thought-his words-it was the “right thing to do.” Once he knew what he was asking was wrong, I’d simply ask him to send me an email detailing what he wants so that I could get right on it. Then at least I knew someone else was going down with me if things got hairy!!!
Joni,
Keeping records is always advisable, but at the end of the day, you need to decide whether to actually take the questionable action. It would easy to say, “Don’t break the rules” or “Ask for help when something bad happens” but the reality is that you might find no one is on your side.
If an executive asks you to do something bad, and your supervisor goes along with it, and HR claims it’s not an HR problem, then it’s all up to you, and whether you’re willing to risk your job to keep your nose clean.
The best advice is to get out and find a better job with better bosses as soon as you can!
I do the same thing Joni – whenever someone asks me to do something that I don’t quite agree with (even things that aren’t illegal, just things that are a bit out of the ordinary like placing orders without receiving a deposit, etc) I just smile politely and say “sure thing, can you just pop that in an email for me?” Glad to know that I’m not the only one with that outlook! haha.
Good grief – this article sounds like it was pulled straight from “The Devil Wears Prada”.
I’ve been very fortunate in my career to not have bosses or CEO’s or VP’s etc, expect me to do them personal favors on my free time. I did have one psycho boss that asked me to house-sit for her and that sort of thing, but she always paid me for my time.
Boundaries are IMPORTANT – and YES, even in the workforce. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been at my current job because I told myself when I started that I would STOP saying “yeah, I’ll do that” to every single request brought my way – most especially if I’m too busy or if it’s beyond my abilities (and beyond can also mean “beneath”).
It’s a major misconception that you’ll only get respect if you are “helpful” and do whatever is asked of you. It’s up to each individual to define their boundaries, but the more you let people trample them, the more miserable and resentful you’re going to make yourself.
This doesn’t mean be a hard-nosed Grinch and block everything coming your way, but if there’s any possibility that you’re going to feel taken advantage of in doing a special favor, then you’d best say “Thank you for thinking of me, but I will not be able to do that for you. Let me know if you’d like some recommendations on who could do that for you.”
Respect comes when they see you will speak up for yourself and stick to your boundaries and do so in a respectful manner yourself.
Being a “Yes Man” will only get you so far. And if you think it’s the only way to keep the peace at your job, I’d suggest pulling out and reading some materials on co-dependency, because being a “people-pleaser” is what co-dependency is all about, and it is NOT a fun place to be.
Kelly,
It’s great that you have had good luck with your bosses/jobs, but folks need to be aware that unreasonable and unprofessional bosses are very real and not confined to movies/TV. The examples in the article were all taken from my personal experiences and those of my friends and colleagues.
A person who tries to walk all over you is already a person who does not respect others, and is not going to change because you say “No.” Their unprofessionalism and immaturity will likely just motivate them to make your life a little worse if and when they can.
I can’t agree to a single word of this article.
As I found many years ago, be too helpful and you’ll soon end up running errands 24/7 and not doing the job you were hired to do.
The art of saying “no” politely and non-confrontationally is a more important workskill that helping out with every little task.
I’m glad someone else is of like mind here; I read this article and was fairly outraged that someone would ENCOURAGE people to just suck it up for such reasons as “It’s a tough economy” and “Life isn’t fair”.
I get your points there Joseph; they just come off a little like my grandfathers “When I was your age…” stories.
Jon Clark is 100% correct in regard to the art of saying ‘no’. Yes; your boss or client may still insist that you do it and place you in an awkward position, but if all you ever do is cave in to every little demand everyone at your work place is going to walk over you anyway – and why would you want to work in that sort of environment?
@Rob, it’s nice that you are outraged that some people should suffer in a bad economy. And it’s too bad you don’t put much stock in your grandfather’s stories.
But if you asked the 8,000 people just laid off from Johnson & Johnson, they might tell you they would rather feed their children than their self-esteem.
By all means, look for a better job, but don’t fly off the handle every time someone tries to take advantage of you, and certainly don’t jeopardize a paycheck you can’t afford to lose.
Having read the article I agree that there are going to be times when you will be asked to do something that isn’t quite in your contract / job description however from experience doing these things whether they are for colleagues, friends, people more senior than you is good if you want to build bridges with these people however you should always be mindful of the tasks / objectives in your job profile.
Being only 23 I am still a ‘young pup’ when it comes to experience in my working life and only having been working for this particular company for 4 years. Until recently I have always been very receptive and accommodating to requests, mainly because I like to help but sometimes because I’ve felt compelled to when asked by senior management.
It is in my experience that doing this too often hurts your job more than it helps I have been placed on a certain capability plan not because I’m unable to do my job but simply because I do too much and help people out too often.
My advise for anyone as mentioned above is to stick to the tasks and objectives set out as part of your job description / contract if you are asked to do things outside of these then it’s your absolute right to judge whether you feel you should do it or not. Telling people you can’t do something because you are far too busy already is more than reasonable make sure you have something to hold as evidence to show people what you are currently working on because this will give you some ammunition to go back.
There is always union support if you feel like you are being treated unfairly often employers don’t give you details of the union when you first start in a job but it’s worth querying with HR who the union representatives are in your place of work.
I believe ENRO is the best way to deal with any requests that you can’t do due to heavy work loads Empathy, No, Reason, Options – this simply means empathize with the person making the request you understand it’s important but you have things on your own priorities that need to be done, No is very important and it’s important that you say it with some authority, Reason backs up why you are saying no and is very important if you want to be taken seriously, and options gives the person options on how else they can get this done if you can’t or potentially you may feel you’d like to facilitate at a later time.
Hope this helps anyone in a similar situation!
Jay, I’m not sure what it means to be placed on a “capability plan.”
Office workers today (at least in the United States) typically do not have any resources that resemble a union. As I mentioned in another comment, most people are employed “at will” and can be legally terminated at any time for any reason.
Also, check your job description. Your boss could just say that these random tasks fall under the “other duties as assigned” bullet.
Excellent point. In this day and age, it can be difficult to say definitively what is or is not “in your job description”!
As someone who occasional hires people (and as a former employee) I can’t believe all the whiners in the comments.
Your job description is always do whatever the person writing your pay check wants (within legal limits). If you don’t like picking up your bosses dry cleaning find a new boss. With 10% unemployment they will have no problem replacing you (likely at well below your current salary).
Bitching about it will get your no where. When its time for a raise who do you think your boss promotes? The guy that documented this “abuse” and made a scene at HR, or the guy who picked up his dry cleaning and was smart enough to stop off at Starbucks to pick him up a latte knowing he had a long day ahead of him.
The answer to that would be neither candidate.
Go-fers just don’t get raises like you’d think they would (or should). Go-fers have basically turned themselves into an Administrative Assistant (AKA Secretary) and that’s all the person using them will see they’re good for. And that’s all fine and great to be a Go-fer if that’s what you like doing. Nothing wrong with it. But if you feel like you’re being taken advantage of, then it’s NOT worth it.
The people getting the good raises are the ones who stick within their job specifications, going above and beyond where their work expectations are concerned (and I mean WITHIN their true job description, not the “Go-fer” tasks) and hold their ground with respect, not complaints.
I agree with Rob. “Why would you want to work in that sort of environment?”
Tanking economy or no. This just sounds like a way to give upper-crusts an excuse to disrespect their employees. “Oh, you want your job? Then clean my underwear. Muuaaahahahahaaa!”
Folks, there are no victims. Only volunteers.
There is only one true solution:
Grow some balls and be your own boss!
Seriously, go and make some serious money…. dont know how? go figure it out and do something usefull with it for e.g. help other people or animals with it… you’ll feel much better when your nearing the end of your life… just trust me.
This is why freelancing is so much better for me. If I am stuck doing menial tasks then how can I get better at what I do?
Being my own boss, just like having a real one, is about having clear boundaries.
Sure I could run my errands in the middle of the work day but am I respecting myself professionally for doing so?
Live life how you want. Don’t listen to people who say they are higher than you. Just show them your unique and enjoy your self!
What’s wrong with a car that has manual transmition?
I read through all the comments and can’t help but take the stance-
In today’s economy, how many of you are willing to tell your company, or boss, to pack sand when it comes to personal or non-job description tasks? If your in a position to be able to do that then congrats. Unfortunately, most people aren’t.
I have to remind myself everyday that at least I have a job. I’m renting a room in a house that’s 1051 miles away from my wife and three daughters and have been doing so for a year now. I’m missing school/church/sporting events that they participate in, my oldest daughters senior year in high school, the oldest two getting their license, family time, birthdays, anniversaries, daddy-daughter dates, and the list goes on. At least I have a job that allows me to put food on the table for them, clothe them, and pay the mortgage so they have a roof over their head.
Does that mean I wouldn’t tell file a complaint or quit my current employer over egregious requests/actions like lying or sexual harassment? No. But it does mean I wouldn’t bat an eye about performing job functions that aren’t necessarily within my ‘job description’. Why? Because at least I have a job.
I’m not asking you to feel sorry for me but giving you a little perspective on what people are willing to do in order to keep their jobs right now. If you do have a steady job you should be thankful for it and be willing to flex a little bit in order to keep it.
Who knows, that job the boss is asking you to do, that isn’t in your job description, may have been something he or she might have asked the person they had to lay off the last week.
There is a definite difference between ‘helping out’ and being taken advantage of. I think that is a line that must be defined by each individual, and likely on a case-by-case basis. Certainly if my boss asked me to do something as a one-time thing I would consider (and likely do) it.
But that’s not how your article comes off. It’s not apologetic about the situation, it doesn’t offer much other option than “Suck it up at least you’re employed”
And that’s a poor argument “The economy is bad so you have to suffer”. That’s the sort of argument used by poor managers for the sole purpose of taking advantage of a situation. “Sorry to ask this of you Bob; you know how the economy is”. “Gotta have you do this Bob, no one else can and you know how the economy is” and eventually of course “You know how this economy is Bob; you better do this”.
You make a very valid point that sometimes it’s just easier and BETTER to dip your hat and make the concession; but the manner in which you make it comes off more as an unfeeling boss / manager than as an employee who is actually going through the situation.
@Rob,
I have never been a manager of any kind, and as indicated in the article, I have often been an employee actually going through these situations. But since I don’t see any point in feeling sorry for myself, or even angry at the world, I feel no need to be “apologetic about the situation.” It is what it is.
So my advice is, similarly, to get over your feelings and get on with your life. It won’t punish your evil boss one jot to fill yourself up with anger and resentment, and in my experience it won’t do any good to fight the system. Go find yourself a better system (job).
I wonder what would happen if every single person refused to do these types of things, like a global united front against bad bosses?
Sometimes though, it seems that this bad economy is actually exposing companies that are badly managed and people that take personal advantage – isn’t that what got us into this mess in the first place? I guess it’s easy to say to refuse to do anything that is unreasonable (without a family or mortgage) but I’ve seen people given tasks that would otherwise be required of a much more senior position (READ = HIGHER SALARY) than what the person was on. Bosses and accountants will always try to push the envelope but that only hurts the industry in the end. This is something that I would take a stance on (as well as illegal requests – good advice to keep records of people asking you to do them!).
I hate how people mainly employers of small business are using the economy as an excuse to mistreat and abuse there employees. I’ll give you an example of my work place.. its a garage ( popular in the county ) I work at all 3 of the establishments the oil change, the service center and the inspection station. When I was hired I was told I would be at one of these 3 buildings doing regular duties oil changes, tuneups and other mechanical and or state inspections…no problem thats what I do… I dont have a problem doing any of these tasks. I do have a problem with the owner being a cheep skate ( Mr.Crabs) and wanting me to dig a ditch 6 inches deep from one building to the next 300 -500 ft with a shovel. He wants to extend the security service from his building to ours but does not want to pay the security company to dig the ditch …only to install the line and cameras. I have to do this tommrrow its cold and the ground is hard redclay I am a mechanic not a construction worker. But some how he thinks he has the right to have me doing this… plus I have cars to work on… Im about to just quite… Ive been with the company for 8 yrs and talking to him is not an option… he has become a greedy rich man.
Sorry about the typos and lack of punctuation.
I couldn’t agree more….
Business find inside the crisis an excuse to lay off people, cut off their sallaries e.t.c. especially now that many goverments to avoid raising the unemployment levels let businesses behave any way they like …. I think the way out of this is freelancing… Freelancers do not have to put up with such a behavior… and the Internet with so many different freelancing related sites, makes it easy for anyone to find projects…….just to mention some of them are
http://www.getafreelancer.com
http://www.rentacoder.com
http://www.auctionsforbusiness.com
freelanceswitch.com
It is very common today to go to an interview and have people (HR usually) promising all this nice things and showing you a great list (with only a few bullets) with your day to day duties…and after putting down your signature to see this “Duties” list double or triple in size….and in reality have nothing to do with the job they promised you…..
People throw around “at will employment” in a manner that implies it is an excellent excuse to give up and just tolerate what an employer does to you because you have no other choice.
That is not entirely the case, but you have to know your rights and be willing to push back and possibly lose your job- and if you don’t lose your job, you have to be willing to tolerate being treated like a leper for the rest of your time there.
Retaliatory firing + employee handbook that states you should only have been written up for what you did = opportunity to make them wish they hadn’t.
When you are lucky enough to have a job which has a job description, they tend come with a description that includes “and other duties as assigned”, so, in most cases when they ask you to clean the nuclear reactor, it’s just your way to discover that you are not unlike a square of toilet tissue to them.
While I hate to agree with the “just do what they’re telling you to” way of thinking, in a lot of cases, what’s wrong with the picture is what’s in your head.