What do you think?

[TommyD]

> I missed work all of last week due to a severe ear infection,which the manager accepted as fact. I'm not the type to call in sick just to go get a tattoo,like a former female employee did and got away with. The guy that runs the company that owns the store I work in came in Friday afternoon,my usual day off,and point blank asked him why the parking lot looked like shit. The manager's answer to him was that "the guy that sweeps it has been out sick all week". Which is true. The owner told him to make sure he got a doctor's excuse,which he did,and I brought one in. My dilemma is,since when did it become exclusively MY job? There are 10 other people that work there,not including the manager himself. The 58 yr old woman I work with at night doesn't get around very well,so walking the entire area of the parking lot,mopping,and any kind of heavy lifting falls on me,simply because she can't do it physically,or she would certainly help. The manager never does any kind of cleaning or menial labor. Rank carries that perk,so I can't really blame him. That leaves 9 able-bodied people that SHOULD have been asked or told to do it,or that surely saw it needed to be done and not one of them took initiative to do it. This lack of basic job effort caused me to spend 200 bucks to listen to a doctor tell me what I already knew long before I walked in there,that my problem was a severe ear infection. I would NOT have been asked to provide one by the manager if he hadn't received orders otherwise. I was always taught that when you are on the job,and you see something that needs to be done,DO IT! It makes no difference whether that was ever discussed with you as a job expectation,and it doesn't matter if that task is in your job description,or if you don't like that particular task,you should take it upon yourself to do it because it NEEDED to be done,as you doing your job as a quality employee. NO ONE I work with other than the old lady on nights has this instinct. Let me give you a better idea of what I mean. It is a FACT of general business that your parking lot is the first impression of you a potential customer has,and it needs to be addressed,a dirty parking lot might lead people to believe that people there are dirty somehow and don't CARE. I understand this point,so without being told to do it on a daily basis,I do it. It has been at LEAST 2 years since someone OTHER than me has done it. There are 7-8 other tasks that I do daily,without fail,that NEVER get done if I didn't make the effort to see that they were done. I care enough about my job that I see things that over people overlook and take care of them myself,in return for them hiring me in the first place. The rest of them totally avoid routine jobs like changing trash bags,cleaning up messes,taking out boxes and other things,passing them off as "Tommy's" job,or stating that it wasn't "their" job. I came in one day,and got 2 perfect examples of this type of apathy in the same day. This girl Val had been asked to start making breakfast sandwiches for the next morning's business at around 2:00,and she was scheduled to leave at 5:00. Instead of doing as she was asked,she waited until I got there at 4 to get a box of biscuits down off the top shelf in the freezer,when she was perfectly capable of doing that herself,she carrys her child everywhere,and he weighs more than that box did,so any excuse about not being physically able to do it is a load of shit. She got started after I got the box down,seething,got half way through the job and just went home. This forced someone else to clean up her mess. I asked another girl why no one had bothered to sweep the floor,since it was totally trashed,and she looked at me and said "I don't have to sweep,that's YOUR job". I tried to explain this point to a close friend that works as a shift manager for an Arby's. His opinion was the reason that no one else sweeps the floor,or does any of my daily routine is that it IS specifically my job,as if I'm just some bitch that was hired to do the dirty work as opposed to a cross-trained employee that can do everything there. I do all kinds of things on the job,not just janitorial duties. If that was all they hired me for,and was to just leave when those things were done I'd work about 15 hours a week,if that,so I don't buy the bitch-boy theory. Am I right? Tommy D.

[zeegler]

Re: What do you think?

Your manager is an idiot for not delegating the job to someone else while you were off sick. End of story.

[Crusher]

Re: What do you think?

I agree with you, but most people will do the bare minimum to keep their jobs and if someone else is doing all the hard work, why would they "volunteer" or go above and beyond when they can get away with it. I've worked many different fields and have worked fast food, warehouses, offices, manufacturing, you name it and it's the same everywhere.

I would say if everyone is looking at you as "the clean up boy" and you want a different/better role, talk to your manager and see if he/she will accomodate you

[Newc]

Re: What do you think?

Yes, you're right. However, the Manager should be the one to Manage the employees and delegate the responsibilities, not leaving it up to the staff to do what needs to be done. It's one thing to expect someone to have a good work ethic and take the initiative like you did, it's another thing entirely for the Manager to tell someone that doesn't have that initiative to do it as part of their job.

Look at it this way - what use is a Manager that can't or won't manage the workers? Other than locking and unlocking the door and shuffling the money - none.

Now, this is just me talking, but if you work with idiots, start barking orders to them like THAT'S your job. Make them do the work. If they pull any "I quit" crap then low-rate them as loudly as you can and utterly smash their egos in front of everyone. Make them cry like the sissies they are. If the manager says anything, state loudly to him how much that store relies on you - that if not for you doing the work it wouldn't get done by him or the other 9 able-bodied morons: and be sure to use the parking lot as a case in point; that you were not ordered to do it, you did it on your own initiative because everyone else (with the notable exception of the old lady) was either too stupid or too lazy to do it, and the only reason you still do it is NOT because it's in your job description but "because it NEEDS to be done for the sole benefit of the COMPANY, which matters more than the employees, including the manager".

If the owner has a brain and isn't being blown by the manager, you could end up with the manager's job.

Or you could see about getting in at Firestone here in Dyersburg, because apparently we've got a few idiots that should be working with the idiots you have to work with, and we need people that want a job for more than a week because their week is about up [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

If you get hired on by this coming Tuesday you get to participate in Free Steaks [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

Currently we're bleeding the region dry through USA Staffing, so head on down to the slaughter and say you want Firestone in D'burg [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[horns666]

Re: What do you think?

Heres the deal...you are asking the wrong people..

who you need to adress this with your boss..he sounds like a typical schlag that puts off as much work ass possible onto they ones that work right under him..while he reads the paper.

Shit rolls downhill..he get his ass frosted by his superior and it goes from there.

All the points you just wrote here..well put that in writing if neccessary if you don't get any satisfation from him on a one on one..and tell him you will.

I had to deal with Big Time dick head COP bosses...top brass political fuckers..believe me..they ALL can be "broken" when confronted the right way..pick your words wisely and keep it professional..not personal.

when they make the mistake of making it personal..you got 'em.. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[MikeStrat]

Re: What do you think?

Life is too short. Get a new job!

[horns666]

Re: What do you think?

"Life is too short. Get a new job!"

That would be great..

but I think "Jobs" are getting few and far between..everyone I know basically has been or getting laid off this year...things are bad.

[MikeStrat]

Re: What do you think?

[ QUOTE ]
but I think "Jobs" are getting few and far between..everyone I know basically has been or getting laid off this year...things are bad.

[/ QUOTE ]

True. However, when I had an a-hole boss (and I had many), I knew I wasn't going to change them or take their position so I had to make a change to something I had control of. I always found it a motivator knowing that I was always on the lookout for something better. I networked my ass off. Now I own a business. I treat employees with respect and would never ask them to soemthing that I wouldn't or haven't already done. Depending on the day I am Pesident, secretary, janitor or whatever I need to be. And honestly, that is rare. 99% of the people I interview either, don't want to work or have so many personal fucking issues they are just not worth my time. It's truely amazing. I have been in serach of a couple motivated people for years now. I can offer them good money,a nice place to work and a very cool boss. The bottom line is, most people want big dollars to do nothing. Case in point: I have one employee who has been with me for 5 years. I pay her about $37,000 + bonus. And she spends 50% of her time talking with her friends on the phone about her problems. And she has the nuts to complain about how I don't pay her enough. I haven't replaced her because she is the best person I have had in that position to date. I'll tell you this, starting a business and having employees has been a fucking eye opening experince to say the least.

[wilkinsi]

Re: What do you think?

in the uk, we call it "empire building".

[zeegler]

Re: What do you think?

After reading it again, the thing that just blows my mind is that your boss actually said to the owner that the reason the parking lot is a mess is because the guy that sweeps it is off sick. If I was the owner, I would tell him, that since he doesn't have the initiative to get someone else to do it in the meantime, that he either does it himself right fucking now, or will be looking for a new job.

[MikeStrat]

Re: What do you think?

[ QUOTE ]
If I was the owner, I would tell him, that since he doesn't have the initiative to get someone else to do it in the meantime, that he either does it himself right fucking now, or will be looking for a new job.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're right. And this is exactly why there are so many shit head nasty bosses/supervisors. People force them to be!!!!!!! Here my friends is a valuable life lesson. Live it, learn it.

[zeegler]

Re: What do you think?

I don't think it's even a case of being a nasty boss. If the manager was doing his job, all he would have to do, is ask one of the other employees to sweep the lot. No big deal. If a boss/supervisor gets pissed off due to incompetant/lazy people, then can you blame them? There's simply no excuse for such a poor attitude.

[MikeStrat]

Re: What do you think?

No I don't blame the boss. My point here is that after years of "babysitting" and paying people to do a half assed job, and dealing with all their crap, it wears on you. Eventually, even the good guys turn into that boss that we all hate. I try very hard to keep positive with my people but that is by far the most difficult job I have.

[jimbilly]

Re: What do you think?

In some ways you've taken on those responsibilities by being the guy who gets them done, nobody else has to do them, because you will/have, and they think of sweeping the lot as the job that Tommy does. Are there clear job descriptions there? Maybe you could politely talk to a boss about how all the jobs no-one else wants to do tend to fall on you, and that while you don't mind doing them (being a hard worker and all), it's important that the others know how to sweep the lot if you're not there.

[zeegler]

Re: What do you think?

[ QUOTE ]
No I don't blame the boss. My point here is that after years of "babysitting" and paying people to do a half assed job, and dealing with all their crap, it wears on you. Eventually, even the good guys turn into that boss that we all hate. I try very hard to keep positive with my people but that is by far the most difficult job I have.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know what you mean. I'm not the most patient guy in the world, and I have to admit that on more than a couple of occasions, I have yelled at my coordinator, or belittled him because I was just overcome by how stupid he can be. Most of the time, we get along fine, but I think he takes advantage of that, and starts to get lazy. If I'm not on him constantly, I catch him playing computer games all the time.

LOL, I'm such a hypocrite. "Get back to work you lazy bastard!" meanwhile, I'm on the JCF! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]