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I've also cleaned restrooms, swept floors, and done time at the front reception desk at start-ups.
NO, not even at a start-up should any white collar employee be cleaning bathrooms. You were abused plain and simple. Have some self-respect and dignity. Management was probably sitting in their office LTAO at you.
It's good to be a team player, particularly if you have a personal interest in working there, but anyone that has worked for a normal size corporation would look at a manager like they have lost their mind if someone asked them to assemble their own furniture. It really depends on the environment you're coming from.
Sure, if you're at a start-up it may make sense. But no normal, fully functioning corp is going to have a white collar professional take time out of their day to do something they could hire someone for $7 an hour to do. It doesn't make any sense. You've got someone you're paying $30-$50-$100 an hour and you're going to waste their time assembling furniture? No way. Makes absolutely no sense. Most furniture stores will deliver and assemble furniture or if it is a company beyond minuscule size they already have a maintenance staff to do things like that.
With an attitude like yours you'll talk yourself right out of 80% of the people who come through the door. Unless you're already lowballing your offers and are picking up people who have no options, haven't worked anywhere else, or don't know any better. Your standard white collar people come in to do a job, not the maintenance staff's job also.
thank you. somebody who actually has experience and knows what he/she is talking about.
NO, not even at a start-up should any white collar employee be cleaning bathrooms. You were abused plain and simple. Have some self-respect and dignity. Management was probably sitting in their office LTAO at you.
exactly. if you do that scheit once, they'll have you do it every time they need it. before you know it, somewhere down the line of course, you'll be doing the job of 5 or 6 people while others slack off, the company saves a ton of money 'cos you're the cleaning person now, AND they'll be laughing at you.
I've assembled new office furniture many times. If you want something done right, you do it yourself. Had a place move their office, buy ALL NEW furniture and everyone pitched in to help move/assemble everything, even the President.
lol, I put everything together yesterday.
I was just a bit thrown being that it was my first day..... I showed up in my best work clothes...u know, first day type stuff ....shirt, tie, pressed slacks, shoes shined...and an hour later I find myself on the floor holding up one piece of a chair with my knee while I support the other side of the chair with my elbow as I screw them both together... It's not that I couldn't follow the directions (admittedly it was kind of complicated lol) it's just like "ummm, wtf?" on my first day.
I've only worked at 2 other offices before and never had to lift a finger in regards to facilities type stuff like furniture or trash or building maintenance... I'm quite proud to say im sitting on my swivel chair that I put together as I type this.
So accomplished.
Congratulations! You just passed the first test. You've proved yourself to be a team player and nice guy.
I was a teacher for 32 years and when I was hired they didn't have any furniture for me, so I had to walk around the school asking people for desks, chairs, file cabinets, book shelves, tables, etc. Later in my career, I got 25 new desks for my room, but, you guessed it, I had to assemble them. We live in a wacky world.
If it's a small business and they are making you do this, it's not a big thing. For all you know this could be a test for problem solving. They obviously don't have the resources and they want to rely on you.
Personally, I would do it. I mean, you have new furniture.
But that's just me. I wouldn't have an issue doing it, but I would have been forewarned so I could dress appropriately.
That's one way to look at it, but it could also be viewed as stingy and a waste of time. I'd need to know more about the company and what the OP knew about it going in.
NO, not even at a start-up should any white collar employee be cleaning bathrooms. You were abused plain and simple. Have some self-respect and dignity. Management was probably sitting in their office LTAO at you.
What doesn't being "white collar" have anything to do with it? When you work a startup, you do whatever it takes... What are you going to do? Get fired, quit, or let the company go under because these tasks were beneath you? LOL.
I too... cleaned, took out the trash, etc.. working startups. Recently, we as a team reconfigured the cubicles in our work area because the current configuration wasn't conducive to working as a team. No budget to hire people to do it so we all agreed to do it ourselves. Oh btw.. our manager did a lot of the work too including putting time on the weekend to get it done.
I've learned that the attitude that certain jobs/tasks are beneath you gets you no where very quickly.
exactly. if you do that scheit once, they'll have you do it every time they need it. before you know it, somewhere down the line of course, you'll be doing the job of 5 or 6 people while others slack off, the company saves a ton of money 'cos you're the cleaning person now, AND they'll be laughing at you.
Two different things.
When we rebuilt our work area we were still working 9-5 and didn't expect to work additional hours to cover our daily tasks. A manager worked it into the backlog. In fact, the manager himself was the only one that worked more hours to get he job done. After all, it is his responsibility to make sure his team can work efficiently. The rest of us who showed up did it voluntarily on weekends (not everyone did.. mostly the younger ones without family obligations).
This isn't about making people work the job of 5-6 people. This is about your attitude on whether not the task assigned is considered "beneath you". Its a very bad attitude.
NO company is going to keep a higher wage employee from doing the job they are hired to do to save a few bucks on cleaning crew.
What doesn't being "white collar" have anything to do with it? When you work a startup, you do whatever it takes... What are you going to do? Get fired, quit, or let the company go under because these tasks were beneath you? LOL.
I too... cleaned, took out the trash, etc.. working startups. Recently, we as a team reconfigured the cubicles in our work area because the current configuration wasn't conducive to working as a team. No budget to hire people to do it so we all agreed to do it ourselves. Oh btw.. our manager did a lot of the work too including putting time on the weekend to get it done.
I've learned that the attitude that certain jobs/tasks are beneath you gets you no where very quickly.
I think both sides of the debate make a good point. I can see the "Perform whatever role is required" argument - I did that a lot in non-profit work.
At the same time, it can also become very muddy waters if one isn't careful. Some employers simply don't know how to delegate and dedicate human resources. Over time, this can cause small business owners or managers to undervalue their staff. If a start-up president has IT people moving furniture, who does their networking? And do these owners truly see their IT people as IT people? I think that's the question. If someone can accept that they're a specialist and whatever else, that's fine. But I don't think you can blame someone who says, "Uh, no, not what I signed up for." But I do agree - probably best to move on.
I think both sides of the debate make a good point. I can see the "Perform whatever role is required" argument - I did that a lot in non-profit work.
At the same time, it can also become very muddy waters if one isn't careful. Some employers simply don't know how to delegate and dedicate human resources. Over time, this can cause small business owners or managers to undervalue their staff. If a start-up president has IT people moving furniture, who does their networking? And do these owners truly see their IT people as IT people? I think that's the question.
No company is going to pay a premium on IT personal to ignore their responsibilities to move furniture. No company that will survive that is. I highly doubt its going to result in an undervaluation of staff. We are talking about moving furniture... not build a new room... not run new electrical... not run new plumbing!
If I asked the networking IT guy to reboot a server or to help me move some stuff out of storage and he response with "its not my job", guess what will be on the next review for pay raises or who will be on the short list? Its the attitude.
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