Dealing with "dat aint mah jab" type of attitude. (employees, credit)

[artsyguy]

Maybe you should have trained better and provided a more elucidating work orientation. You make it sound as if it is all the fault of the ex-employee.

Originally Posted by Hopes

I fire them. I'll never forget when I stumbled upon a new-hire arguing with the receptionist. The receptionist had called her to pick up a package that was delivered for her. She was refusing to take it, saying it was too heavy for her. I picked it up with one hand, tossed it back and forth between my hands, and swung it over my head, asking, "This is too heavy for you?" I'm a tiny woman. The box weighed 5lbs tops. Then she said, "Carrying boxes is man's work." She was a Russian immigrant---maybe it was cultural. I decided she could be another employer's problem, and I fired her a month later after she proved to be unwilling to do many things.

How do you deal with it as a new employee? Just do the best job possible and don't let other people infect you with negativity.

[h0tmess]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

Maybe you should have trained better and provided a more elucidating work orientation. You make it sound as if it is all the fault of the ex-employee.

and that's the attitude that people get. "Oh well, in my training I was NEVER told I had to pick up boxes...".

Isn't so much easier just to do something and get through the day? The happier everyone is.. the better?

I understand there are limits--like if you are an admin assistant and your boss tells you to go clean the bathroom, that IS an entirely different job. But anything that is related to what you're doing, just.. do it.

[Mrs. Skeffington]

When I started my new job 3 months ago, at a school cafeteria, I was really worried about working with a lot of other women (in other scenarios like that I'd seen queen bees, personality conflicts, hen pecking, etc.) Was I pleasantly surprised! This place runs like clockwork - there's no "my job, your job, her job". We are each assigned areas, but when we have down time, we help each other. Nobody stands around doing nothing, saying, "That's not my job." Such a sense of comaraderie. We help each other finish up, everybody ends up done at the same time, then we sit down and eat a late lunch together.

Anyway, my mother had a saying, "Don't borrow trouble."

[Mrs. Skeffington]

Originally Posted by h0tmess

and that's the attitude that people get. "Oh well, in my training I was NEVER told I had to pick up boxes...".

Isn't so much easier just to do something and get through the day? The happier everyone is.. the better?

I understand there are limits--like if you are an admin assistant and your boss tells you to go clean the bathroom, that IS an entirely different job. But anything that is related to what you're doing, just.. do it.

Did you read my autobiography? LOL. This DID happen to me - I was a legal assistant, and when they started "cutting unnecessary expenses" they cut the cleaning lady's schedule from weekly to twice a month. Guess who got assigned emptying the trash, cleaning the kitchen, and cleaning the bathrooms? I even shoveled the walks on numerous occasions, because their 25-year-old 6'2" ox of an associate said he had a "bad back".

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

Maybe you should have trained better and provided a more elucidating work orientation.

I made it abundantly clear that day. She chose to continue her games for a month.

I expect employees to have common sense. I don't train for that.

Originally Posted by artsyguy

You make it sound as if it is all the fault of the ex-employee.

It was her fault! She had a princess attitude---fresh from college and thought she deserved to be treated like a CEO.

Originally Posted by h0tmess

and that's the attitude that people get. "Oh well, in my training I was NEVER told I had to pick up boxes...".

Isn't so much easier just to do something and get through the day? The happier everyone is.. the better?

It's certainly a quick way to lose a job!

Originally Posted by Mrs. Skeffington

Did you read my autobiography? LOL. This DID happen to me - I was a legal assistant, and when they started "cutting unnecessary expenses" they cut the cleaning lady's schedule from weekly to twice a month. Guess who got assigned emptying the trash, cleaning the kitchen, and cleaning the bathrooms? I even shoveled the walks on numerous occasions, because their 25-year-old 6'2" ox of an associate said he had a "bad back".

This Russian girl claimed she had some physical reason she could take the 5lb box (which she couldn't provide documentation), but her damn purse weighed more!

Years ago, my girlfriend was a geologist for an oil and gas company. They created a rotating schedule where all of the secretaries had to take turns covering for the receptionist's lunches and breaks. They put my girlfriend on the schedule because she was woman. The male geologists weren't put on the schedule! I told her that was gender discrimination. She told me she was glad to have a job---apparently, good paying jobs for geologists are hard to find.

[dnvrsoul]

I've dealt with this several times...with different outcomes-

I worked at big company FULL of this..."oh it's not my job." Or "I'm salary I'm not staying late." Well I have a strong work ethic and I worked my a**& off and was promoted twice in three years!
Fast forward to my last job...the WHOLE company was like this-it was a small company and I found out the first day of work when I was sitting next to my "trainer" and she goes into a half hour gossip fest about how crappy the job is and how no one gets raises..okay well I still try and work my a*& off until I came up with a problem-I had been working on this for a week and couldn't figure it out...I'd think I solved it and nothing was right (it's hard to describe what I do so I'll keep it basic). I asked my trainer for help-"I'm too busy." Finally went to a manager who was old and should have retired years ago...her response " it was wrong last year." So I asked, "should you get the person who completed this last year to fix it for the client"? "Or can this employee assist me in balancing this year?" Her response-"figure it out." I had been there a month..so I sat at my desk and did nothing for a week...no one wanted to be bothered-I was laid off and it wasn't a surprise-

[vaughanwilliams]

Originally Posted by h0tmess

Hellooo!
So I am lucky to be starting a new job on Monday. Can't say I'm thrilled, but hey, it's work.

One of the most irritating things about working with a team, is laziness. I personally believe we should all do what we gotta do.. so we can get by the day and GO HOME!! When I hear things like "DAT AINT MAH JAB!!" or "DIS AINT IN MAH JAB DESCRIFTION".. it.. makes me terribly, terribly angry.

In my experience, it's management who refuses to do anything outside their realm (like clean up their own mess, carry some boxes thirty feet, deliver something that's sitting right in front of them, etc.). Apparently, if it calls for any amount of physical effort or interrupts their Internet surfing, it's not managements job.

Is that a particular accent you're trying to imitate? I don't recognize it.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by dnvrsoul

okay well I still try and work my a*& off until I came up with a problem-I had been working on this for a week and couldn't figure it out...I'd think I solved it and nothing was right (it's hard to describe what I do so I'll keep it basic). I asked my trainer for help-"I'm too busy." Finally went to a manager who was old and should have retired years ago...her response " it was wrong last year." So I asked, "should you get the person who completed this last year to fix it for the client"? "Or can this employee assist me in balancing this year?" Her response-"figure it out." I had been there a month..so I sat at my desk and did nothing for a week...no one wanted to be bothered-I was laid off and it wasn't a surprise-

I have a friend who was laid off after she found over 1 million in billing errors on just three accounts.

The billing errors spanned a few years. She had only been working for the company for a month and found them.

My guess: someone was embezzling

[dnvrsoul]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I have a friend who was laid off after she found over 1 million in billing errors on just three accounts.

The billing errors spanned a few years. She had only been working for the company for a month and found them.

My guess: someone was embezzling

Yikes! It's amazing how some of these companies stay in business...

Well I found a job that I love and most of the people work hard...it's a breath of fresh air.

[FarNorthDallas]

Ya know, it really may not be their job. I work at a big company and I often have to say that what someone is asking me to do is not something I can do, am authorized to do or even know how to do. I can get in trouble with my supervisor for handling something that is not mine to handle.

Now if you are just talking about people not wanting to be taken advantage of - well, you can say you are not willing to do it either. People will take you as far as you let them.

They may not be lazy. I have worked at law firms and it's up to the peon employee to draw the line of what they are willing to do and not do because attorneys will just keep taking you down the road until you say Stop.