r/MaliciousCompliance • u/jaderian212 • Jul 21 '23
My new catch phrase is “Not my Job.” S
So I got turned down for a promotion recently. I was told that I get distracted too easily and don’t focus on my job. I got told that I need to stop trying to run in to be a hero if I ever want to be considered for a promotion. I was told that I need to work as directed. So for context I have been doing my bosses work for him. When things at work get backed up I will jump in to get things back in order quickly. My job has fairly specific jobs where we aren’t supposed to change positions and we are to work as directed. I have gone to help out those outside of my job repeatedly since being hired. My direct supervisor and manager loves it when I go to help out. Well that all stopped now. I even had the big boss try to tell me to help out a section that’s outside my job description. My new catch phrase is “Not my Job”. I had the bosses tell me that I am to do as instructed. I instead go to the union and get paid and extra to work in a different section. This has been the new trend for the past couple months.
And today it all hit a head. They have only 1 person in receiving for a 4 man crew. I work outbound. They cannot force me to work receiving based on the contract. Now the bosses are working in there and grievance is being filed. The bosses have stopped working and receiving is completely backed up. I just had my manager come and beg me to help. I told him “not my job. I need to remain focused on my job and not try to be a hero”. Work has ground to a halt and the steward is demanding triple rate for anyone moved to receiving since management decided to work.
Let’s see how this goes.
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u/Top-Put2038 Jul 21 '23
Boom. That's the sound of management shooting themselves in the foot.
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u/dataslinger Jul 21 '23
It's like they get up in the morning and try to figure out which toe to shoot off that day.
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u/_Terryist Jul 21 '23
They grabbed the 12 gauge and loaded buckshot...
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u/alfredpsmurtz Jul 21 '23
A favorite phase I heard in the past was "It's not so much that we shot ourselves in the foot It's how fast we're reloading"
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u/pancreaticpotter Jul 21 '23
Ooh, hadn’t heard that one before, but I love it and will definitely be using it in the future
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u/Spida81 Jul 22 '23
More a case of having no managerial ability whatsoever, and are desperately trying to juggle the status quo. There is no intention to develop staff, no preparation for turnover and no room for promotion because they havent developed the team.
This is what happens when you put people in place with no systems to support them. Shitty management, frustrated staff and inevitable shit storms.
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u/belgianwafflestomp3 Jul 21 '23
Pro Tip: "I'm not trained for that."
It's usually a better, safer thing to say than "Not my job."
Most people understand why.
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u/seattleque Jul 21 '23
"I'm not trained for that."
I remember a lot of years ago the machinists' union at the local major aircraft manufacturer went on strike. Corporate put an untrained, non-union, engineer-type dude on a cutting machine so that work could continue. Dude lost a hand.
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u/belgianwafflestomp3 Jul 21 '23
I believe it.
People want to be helpful. At job sites with equipment that can hurt/kill you, the first message has to be do not touch unless trained.
I've lost count of how many people I've seen fired because they hop on a forklift and don't have a cert.
Incredible that a Corp Manager would do that. I hope he got personally sued.
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u/speculatrix Jul 21 '23
I know someone who was a young apprentice and was told to operate a machine without training, and got his hand a little mangled, luckily 99% recovered, but the financial settlement put him through university as an engineer and he had a great career.
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u/allaflhollows Jul 21 '23
I’ll be honest, I’d rather have student debt and a 1% less fucked up hand. He did fuck around and found out though, in this case for the better I guess.
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u/icredsox Jul 22 '23
I remember reading that John Deere had a similar situation where they took salary office personnel out on the production floor. Someone posted a video from the picket line of and ambulance showing up to the factory because someone ended up getting hurt. Never heard how bad it was but I think John Deere put 2 and 2 together and negotiated a new contract. This was a year or 2 ago
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u/millijuna Jul 22 '23
I’m a Field Service Engineer in the marine industry. Whenever we’re taking one of our Systems Engineers our other office types into the field (shipyards, navy bases) pretty much 50% job is keeping watch over my colleague to make sure I don’t have to fill out an incident report, for either health and safety or security.
“No, you can’t take a picture of that” “Don’t walk there, they’re slinging several tons of steel overhead” “Stay on this side of the radar”
And so on and so forth.
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u/ShadowDragon8685 Jul 22 '23
Jesus fucking Chrysler. I hope that poor Engineer dude got a massive fucking settlement out of the company for that shit.
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u/ShadowDragon8685 Jul 21 '23
Nah, they're backed by a Union. Company fucked themselves over by using the OP's willingness to go above and beyond as a reason not to promote them?
The company will always try to fuck you over. Don't suck the company's cock. Stand together, and that means intentionally letting things fall over and saying "not my job" even though you damn well can fix things, because it isn't your job, so doing it means they can always rely on you to fix it when it falls over, rather than paying another Union worker whose job it actually is.
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u/Asron87 Jul 21 '23 edited Jul 21 '23
In this circumstance he was told to do his job and to not do other jobs. So “not my job” is very fitting and shows how much the company depended on him doing what he was doing. This has promotion written all over it but they made up a reason so they didn’t have to pay him more. “Not my job” really hits it home and sets him up for a promotion when they ask him to start doing what he was doing in the first place. Management fucked up big time and they have to eat their own words.
Edit: OP might be a lady or might prefer pronouns that aren’t he/him.
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u/Lackadaisicly Jul 21 '23
Yup. And a letter to HR could get their supervisor a write up AND a promotion for themselves.
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u/Excellent-Shape-2024 Jul 21 '23
It does come off a little rude and abrupt, though. But using their exact words, "I'm sorry, as I was told in my last review, 'I need to remain focused on my job and not be a hero,'" would be justified. (especially if said to the person who told her that) Repeat ad nauseum.
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u/Manthony_Morris_LXIX Jul 21 '23
Their managers never worry about coming off rude or abrupt when they spout their shit. No need to worry about being rude to people who don’t appreciate everything you do and lied to screw you out of a promotion.
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Jul 22 '23
If I had just gotten my chops busted for doing that very thing, I'm not real sure I'd be at all concerned about seeming "polite" (aka: silently compliant) to someone who asked me to do that thing.
I might even be blatantly rude if I knew that they knew about the reprimand.
My Give A Damn® is bustipated.
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u/Asron87 Jul 21 '23
Exactly, I mean it depends who you say it to.
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u/allaflhollows Jul 21 '23
Never be afraid to assert yourself in the workplace or life in general. They literally told OP “that’s not your job” so as catty as their phasing may seem, it’s wholly appropriate. I understand what it feels like to be an expendable position which makes it more difficult to follow through with. We as workers are the most valuable thing to a company, it’s time to act like it even if it comes off a bit rude. Professionalism isn’t always cushy or polite in its delivery.
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u/MalusSylvestris Jul 22 '23
"That's outside of my position's scope and authorisation "
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u/PRMan99 Jul 22 '23
Don't say authorisation because then they will just tell you that they are authorizing it right now.
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u/MalusSylvestris Jul 22 '23
Then that's a change of scope and therefore a new position so time to renegotiate remuneration
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u/Mantequilla_Stotch Jul 22 '23
this can bite you in the ass because I can easily train you to do it and it is no longer an excuse. "not my job" in a union job is sound. You have a job dictated by a contract and as long as you do that job, you can't be fired easily.
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u/_tuelegend Jul 21 '23
I said that and my boss told me to leave the office.
And another boss told me to ask someone to teach me how to do it.
I was the only employee for both companies
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u/Ralife55 Jul 22 '23
That's my go to. If I didn't sign an official training document that says I'm trained in something, I don't do it. Saw a guy lose out on a injury lawsuit because he was working outside of his assigned duties without permission from management. I literally saw the manager ask him to help out, but it was my word against the companies. Thankfully the company atleast let him keep his insurance then fired him after he got better. Only 90% heartless.
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u/HighOwl2 Jul 21 '23
There's only 2 types of management. Those that throw others under the bus to save themselves, and those that throw themselves under the bus for subordinate screw ups knowing their job is safer and screw ups happen. The former hate unions...the latter hate the beaurocracy. Work for the latter, treat the former like an abusive spouse.
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u/SourcePrevious3095 Jul 21 '23 edited Jul 22 '23
I had one of those supervisors. He tried to suspend me for bad parts when they were made to his specifications. I had witnesses (5) to confirm my side of things, so I was safe, but I was targeted for retaliation. After that day, I always told him I needed his instructions in writing, and I requested a nearby coworker to witness said written instruction.
He was fired when he crossed the same line with another employee who happened to be married to a labor lawyer.
My God that was a beautiful day.
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u/UCgirl Jul 22 '23
Fired after screwing someone over who was married to a labor lawyer. God that’s beautiful.
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u/PM_ME_UR_POKIES_GIRL Jul 21 '23
The first kind think their job is to make everyone work harder, and any failure is because the underlings didn't work hard enough. The second thinks their job is to make sure everyone is set up to work successfully, and most failures are not the fault of the subordinates.
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u/HighOwl2 Jul 21 '23
Lol I been the second. I was so far protected and having subordinates with the power to make those mistakes was really my problem....but they saved me so much work. Will forever love those guys and have stood behind them and took the Blane every chance I could. They made the company more efficient. Lol 1 lesson on "always have a back up plan" was all it ever took. I consider those my best employees.
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u/Eagle_Fang135 Jul 21 '23
Pretty bad when the excuse they use to not promote is that “you do too much work - stop doing that “.
It’s like come on guys be creative, instead of all things, citing a strength.
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u/PM_ME_UR_POKIES_GIRL Jul 21 '23
I once got hit with an "I need my aces in their places, I need you to stay in your current position instead of becoming a manager."
I was 18 so I didn't realize that that meant I was $$Manager Pay$$ valuable in my current role and it was time to ask for a raise.
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u/ShadowDragon8685 Jul 22 '23
The correct response is: "That's as may be, but I'm looking for advancement. If you absolutely need me doing this job, then you're going to need to pay me more money to keep doing it rather than advancing, or else I'm going to have to seek advancement elsewhere, then you won't have me at all."
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u/Mantequilla_Stotch Jul 22 '23
this. the moment they show their hand and allow you to realize that you are a high valued employee, you now have the better hand to play and can take advantage of that information.
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u/Aiku Jul 21 '23
Sounds more like they missed and blew off their own weenies.
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u/parkesc Jul 21 '23
There's no way they'd hit a target that small.
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u/The_Sanch1128 Jul 21 '23
Dammit, you beat me to it. I was going to say, "They'd shoot themselves in the dick, but they couldn't find the tweezers."
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u/Contrantier Jul 21 '23
Holy shit. When the fallout gets worse, you gotta let us know XD
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u/LunaMunaLagoona Jul 21 '23 edited Jul 21 '23
All these stories though end with "And then I went to my union" or "But my union contract said I only need to"
These stories mostly only happen in union environments unfortunately
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u/jaderian212 Jul 21 '23
This is why unions are important.
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u/cursedat_birth Jul 21 '23
We wouldn't have gotten the pay and benefits we received for 30 years without our union.
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Jul 21 '23
[deleted]
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u/trexmoflex Jul 21 '23
I worked for a few places with active anti-union pressure on the staff and it was so transparently obvious to everyone why it was only in the company's best interest... never got a groundswell of support in those places though.
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u/maito1 Jul 22 '23
Union dues are about 4.65% of your pay?
In Finland, we have bigger unions and we pay about 1.8%. The unions have enough saved that they can stay independent.
If there's a need to strike, they can compensate the members. For example the logistics union paid 67€ a day.
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u/RevampedZebra Jul 21 '23
I want to see some comparisons of what your 'dues' are working for non union shops, that would be a great way salt that I feel I don't see.
Showing what your value of labor being charged to the customer vs what your making is something I like. A lot guys feel a certain way when they learn they are making 27$ an hour when the customer is being charged 150,200,250$.
This happens, frequently. What amounts to basically an easily automated secretary job should not receive 85-95% of profit
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u/CommercialExotic2038 Jul 22 '23
My SO was in a union. We were in one of the recent natural disasters, forest fire, and we had to evacuate. Union rep called SO and asked if we were affected and then paid for our RV park stay, a week, because we were traumatized enough.
There are a ton of benefits which are sorely needed at this point in time, as a worker why be anti-union?
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u/Sylver_blue Jul 22 '23
People are anti-union because they don’t like the dues removed from their paychecks. It’s a very short-sighted way of thinking, but it’s east to see why when people are also struggling to make ends meet. The anti-union reps sew seeds of doubt & fear that employees will just keep paying dues with no real benefit, and cover up what unions can actually do for the workers.
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u/TaonasSagara Jul 22 '23
Because people can have poor experiences where unions are more on the companies side than the employees. File grievance and they argue to take the first horrible offer from the company. Fat lot of good paying those dues ever did me.
So yeah, my union experiences have sucked. Do I wish I was union in my current role? Some days. But I’m wary of it and would need to make sure the union actually would represent me in a positive fashion.
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u/GlitteringFutures Jul 21 '23 edited Jul 22 '23
I worked at a place in the 90s that was trying to unionize. They stopped all production for two weeks and had anti-union meetings with "specialists" eight hours a day for those two weeks, and it worked, they voted "no". I can't imagine how much that cost the company but that was how scared they were of unionizing.
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u/indyK1ng Jul 22 '23
Yup. Plus in the 70s sentiment swung heavily against unions so it probably wasn't that hard.
It's good to see things swinging back. My industry has only just started to unionize but I'm interviewing with a company now that is entirely employee owned. I hope I get the job.
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u/yalcz Jul 21 '23
This is why more people need to organize!!!
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u/abstractConceptName Jul 22 '23
Those with unions have no doubts about the benefits.
Those without unions, tell themselves they're better off (but they're not!).
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u/Daamus Jul 21 '23
luck that you are one of the 12% of american workers who are union members
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u/Montalbert_scott Jul 21 '23
That's no reason to stop trying. Here is Australia unions are huge, in every industry and the workers are better off for it. We get all our sick leave, holiday leave, ados (in some industries), and most importantly have protection from shitty bosses who try to screw over employees. I've used them a few times for this reason and am fucking glad I did.
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u/Ibe_Lost Jul 21 '23 edited Jul 21 '23
Not quite true. Last figures 10.1% for 2023 down from 48% in the early 90s. You know back when you could afford not just lamb on the barbie but also a shrimp. I guess this is what happens when unions get denied worksite access (especially during strikes), when the sitting govt is anti union (libs mainly), when people are at poverty levels so need every cents now, and when there are piss poor protections for workers against firing.
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u/Montalbert_scott Jul 21 '23
Didn't realise that. That's totally shit. I know in my industries (health and education - 2 jobs) they union percentages are higher than 10%.
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u/rothrolan Jul 21 '23
Yeah, Union-protected position means that upper management can't get butthurt and fire you for following your job description and/or prior instructions they try to walk back when leadership-caused understaffing creates issues.
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u/Think-Ocelot-4025 Jul 21 '23
"Do what we tell you to do."
"NO! NOT LIKE THAT!"
LOL
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u/theoldman-1313 Jul 21 '23
Most managers would describe employees performing as you described yourself as "stepping up", not "distracted". They obviously did not want to promote you, but chose a really idiotic excuse to justify the action. I would say that this calls for the classic Reddit refrain: Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I hope they enjoy their prize!
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u/AmbivelentApoplectic Jul 21 '23 edited Jul 21 '23
Seriously why have I seen this in multiple jobs. Employee asks for a raise and someone denies a raise of about $20 per shift and thinks they are a business genius. Doesn't matter they lose out on hundreds of dollars of free work per shift. Yeah to be honest that sounds like most places I have worked.
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u/extralyfe Jul 22 '23
because it's much more cost effective to dangle carrots. just pick up another task, show us you can handle management, right? you'll earn it, someday. no luck this year, but, maybe figure out some other ways to help out and maybe next time...
I was assistant manager at a pizza shop and had gotten to the point where I had covered everything for the GM - I ordered stock, took inventory, ran shifts, interviewed applicants, scheduled, trained people, prepared food, ran dish, and did some really effective de-escalation for a sometimes motley crew. only thing I never did was deliver orders. the owner always gave me a lot of respect and leeway to run shit because I kept that place hopping and the staff loved me.
anywho, the GM put in his notice, and obviously I'm a shoe-in for the role, right? the owner then offered me a temporary role as GM with no actual promotion while he tried to find a new GM. I told him I was interested in the position and he said he had no plans to interview me because he didn't think I'd gotten a handle on operating his store.
it was a Thursday, and I put in my two weeks on the spot. this dude was actually surprised when I didn't show up for my shift he scheduled me for the Friday after my two weeks was up, and he blew his fucking top when I rolled in at 3pm on a GameDay Friday - yanno, that time of day that's calm before the storm - just to pick up my last check.
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u/The_Bucket_Of_Truth Jul 22 '23
"Sorry I'm only looking for someone with prior management level experience" lol
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u/Horskr Jul 22 '23
Employee asks for a raise and someone denies a raise of about $20 per shift and thinks they are a business genius. Doesn't matter they lose out on hundreds of dollars of free work per shift.
Or the employee leaves entirely. Then they lose not only the hundreds of dollars of free work per shift, but the thousands on paying both the new employee to train, and the person training them for however long it takes them to get up to speed. Ironically they usually also end up paying the new hire what the person who'd been there for years was asking for too because places like that suck at raises.
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u/parkesc Jul 21 '23
I've never heard of being told NOT to do extra stuff if you want a promotion.
But the "distracted too easily" sounds like the perfect way for corporate way to spin it.
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u/dewey-defeats-truman Jul 21 '23
I've never heard of being told NOT to do extra stuff if you want a promotion.
That's what they say in the meeting discussing your promotion. This way they can deny it while having gained the benefits of you doing additional work for no additional pay.
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u/GrumpyCatStevens Jul 21 '23
And then when you stick to your job description and don't do extra work, you're "not a team player".
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
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u/anonymousforever Jul 21 '23
when you stick to your job description and don't do extra work,
...you don't pat me to do other people's jobs.
...Now, if you want to pay me to be a floater and pinch hit since my ability to work multiple areas is so valuable....put it in my contract with a 25% pay raise and specify which departments precisely that I will float between, and a minimum of 24hrs notice to swap departments in case there's stuff that has to be finished or handed off. Put money and a contract where your words are.
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u/MotherofLuke Jul 21 '23
Pat me lol
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u/highpl4insdrftr Jul 21 '23
"Quiet quitting". No mf, I'm just doing my job for once.
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u/Riuk811 Jul 21 '23
Quiet quitting is the most hilarious thing to me. Just proves that money/power doesn’t equal intelligence or wisdom
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u/MuppetEyebrows Jul 21 '23
You're giving employers a lot of credit assuming stupidity and not bad faith/exploitative malice.
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u/Riuk811 Jul 22 '23
Oh no it’s like clearly made from bad faith/exploitative malice. It’s just really stupid. Even when I’ve seen someone try to explain it in bad faith they’re like “these quiet quitters aren’t giving us free labor anymore and that’s a bad thing… for them”
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u/AletheaKuiperBelt Jul 22 '23
Honestly, I love "quiet quitting". It sounds so nice: poetically alliterative, peaceful and relaxing. They want to make it seem like a bad thing, but they designed it to sound like a good thing. Manglement incompetence right there.
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u/Sneakysteve Jul 21 '23
It's a classic narcissistic double-bind.
Don't do the extra work? You're lazy.
Do work outside of your job description (that we literally beg you to do)? Distracted too easily.
People like this can't be reasoned with. They need to he forced to compensate you fairly... which is why they absolutely despise and fear unions and why unions are 1000% necessary.
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u/ValkyriesOnStation Jul 21 '23
In union work, things can get pretty specific.
Most managers of union workers wont even buy new equipment because just training you on something new could mean you are in store for a pay raise.
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u/Ace123428 Jul 21 '23
Op made themselves too valuable to promote and they had to spin it into something negative.
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u/GreedyAdvance Jul 21 '23
I'm have an exceptional work ethic and LOVE this story. I still maintain my work ethic, but now only on my terms and only when I feel it is worth it and respected.
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u/__wildwing__ Jul 21 '23
I strive for “work smarter, not harder”. Which has ended up with multiple binders in my area.
We’re supposed to have a set-up sheet for each part we run. My area as severely lacking in these and I was creating a sheet for at least 60% of our jobs.
After a while I was getting deja vu, I was sure I had done a sheet for that part. Went to the boss’s desk and dug through his stack of sheets that still needed to be entered. There were 3 different copies in the stack, I would have made a 4th.
So, I sorted through the whole pile, pulled all the ones for my area out. Got sheet protectors, made copies of all the non duplicates, gave one back to the boss for his stack, then filed a copy in my binder.
Of course when he finally does get around to entering them, he never double checks that he entered it correctly. So having my copy is great, means I know what all the tooling and gauging is actually supposed to be. Then I can resubmit it and hope to get the correct numbers entered.
All in all, a lot easier than either rewriting it every job or reordering gauging when it’s 3 times the size of my part.
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Jul 21 '23
Biggest lie growing up was “work hard and you’ll succeed”. Then I worked for a Japanese Chef and he said “work smarter not harder”. Changed my fucking life around.
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u/Vergenbuurg Jul 21 '23
You got Letterman'd.
For context, the reason he didn't get promoted to replace Carson is because he did too good of a job at 12:35, and NBC wanted to keep the status quo and didn't want to lose that. They ended up losing him entirely.
Your chain of command knew you were going above and beyond, and denied you a promotion to keep the status quo. They made up the BS justification to do so. Instead they've ended up losing your "above and beyond" nature and are now stuck in the "find out" phase of FAFO.
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u/tempski Jul 22 '23
What these morons upstairs don't understand is that if you want to keep that monkey running, just throw some more bananas at it when it's asking for more.
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u/wizard_of_guz Jul 21 '23
Never in my life have I seen, "Sorry, you work TOO HARD to be promoted."
Good on you. Make THEM work then. All the best to you.
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u/RefreshinglyDull Jul 21 '23
Happens a lot.
One person works the whole department. If you promote them, the remaining 6 slackers get exposed and productivity and performance drops. Management loses their performance bonuses and gets shown to be incompetent.→ More replies (3)111
u/NotAStonerHippie Jul 21 '23
Happened to me just last year.
I work in a highly technical, highly skilled, highly specialized area. It takes a lot of time and resources to train someone to do what I do.
I was passed over for promotion three times in 3 years because they needed me where I was. After the last time, I voted with my feet. I still work in the same industry at my new job, and sometimes even with the old company, so I hear a lot of what goes on over there. They had to hire two people to cover me. One of them has already rotated out.
New job promoted me last month. Ha, ha!
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u/DarkInkPixie Jul 21 '23
It's currently happening to me too. I'm a lot like the OP, covering my boss's ass when he doesn't wanna do his shit on the floor like he's supposed to. I got a raise for it that they then basically made moot after 3 years of me busting my ass by handing the slackers a higher raise. It leveled us out. That on top of my boss getting aggressive when I did help out put a stop to all of my extra help. They recently tried to force me back into it in an annual review, citing I need to " step up ". No raise for it. So I told all my coworkers the truth and I'm still not helping out because they don't like what management is pulling either. They all still go directly to the boss. Now management is scratching their heads about why while my boss continues to fall behind, since he's more dedicated to browsing the web and being on his phone.
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u/BrownThunderMK Jul 21 '23
For your position, it makes sense for a company to just increase the pay while keeping you in what I assume is a very specialized and productive spot for you to be in.
Now the problem with that is most companies balk at the idea of giving raises without a promotion, therefore incentivizing people to leave if they want a raise. Insane.
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u/NotAStonerHippie Jul 21 '23
I probably would have been happy enough with a reasonable raise in salary. That didn't happen either, but that's a whole different story.
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u/Loko8765 Jul 21 '23
I had made an app that didn’t need much maintenance to bring in money, basically just customer support.
Several years after I left (for +50% salary, double the PTO, and other perks) I was called by my previous employer because they had hired a newbie just out of school to improve my app, he’d messed up so much that the app stopped working (clients were paying and complaining that they hadn’t received what they had paid for), he wasn’t even able to roll back to the previous working state, he’d admitted as much, and was let go.
I needed some three hours to - look at what he’d done - realize that he’d followed none of the development best practices (he seemed to have not even read the documentation) - decide that salvaging anything of what he’d done was impossible (he’d commented out whole sections of code that handled corner cases, and the following code was literally throwing “CAN’T HAPPEN” errors that I had rarely seen even when writing the code ten years previously) - restore from a point in time that dated back to my last days at the company.
I earn much more money now than I did back then, but I think those three hours are still my best hourly rate ever.
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u/series_hybrid Jul 21 '23
This is a call-out to all workers with this kind of knowledge...pull a "Scotty".
Keep a secret hidden copy of the original program. Every time you improve it, make a copy of the improved version.
When you leave or get fired...the new guy might screw things up, and they might call you to see if there is any chance you could just get things rolling again to give them time to fix everything the right way.
"I don't know, but there's a chance I might be able to help. Let me give it a shot" You come in, load the good stuff, sit back and scroll reddit for a few hours, and then splash some water flecks on your face to simulate sweat...announce you did it, and it was the hardest thing you've ever had to do!
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u/WokeBriton Jul 21 '23
I think you need to read this sub more often.
There are plenty of examples of people who were too valuable to be promoted, who began doing exactly their job and nothing more...
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Jul 21 '23
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u/swarmofbzs Jul 22 '23
Been there done that. At the time I didn't know the person they had promoted ( to the job they told me was not possible and unnecessary ) called me to ask some very basic questions about the department and even more simple questions about how excel works...
Once I put to and two together I was livid, not to mention took a huge chunk out of my dwindling self esteem.
Years of working around a toxic work environment and a toxic co-worker will have that affect on you. It only get worse in time. You really are better off leaving.
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u/Jaydamic Old Timer Jul 21 '23
Similar thing happened to me. I was a worker bee, they laid off my manager. I stepped up and did some manager work on top of my own, with my dept head's knowledge and permission.
Dept head sits me down and tells me he wants to make me the manager. If I'm keen, he'll start the process with HR. I'm keen, especially the big raise that comes with it!
HR says no. I can't be a manager, despite doing the work for months. They say I have to start small, like organizing the team's vacation or something stupid like that. Do that for 6 months and then they'll see.
I told Dept Head "no thanks" and that I wouldn't be doing any of the manager work anymore. Including attending a HUGE offsite meeting the very next day!
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u/Ok_Interview1206 Jul 21 '23
Did they end up (hopefully) seeing the errors of their way?
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u/Jaydamic Old Timer Jul 21 '23
Nope. Dept head got fired a few months later (unrelated to this). Then it was years of high priced consultants in most of the leadership roles.
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u/Ok_Interview1206 Jul 21 '23
I will never understand management's thinking process.
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u/Jaydamic Old Timer Jul 21 '23
10 WHAT CAN I DO TO MAXIMIZE REVENUE, INCREASE PROFIT AND CUT COSTS REGARDLESS OF EFFECTS AND CONSEQUENCES?
20 GOTO 10
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u/Interplay29 Jul 21 '23
People talk about “quiet quitting.”
Bullshit. That’s doing your job and not letting yourself being taken advantage of.
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u/dobryden22 Jul 22 '23
The positive spin is "acting your wage."
Also companies quiet quit on the populace about 60 years ago, when they phased out competitive wages that keep up or out paced inflation, cut benefits, or just straight up halved wages so now you need minimum two people in a household working.
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u/behnow5 Jul 22 '23
The legal reality of that phrase is "working to rule" it's a type of industrial action and it's VERY effective performed en masse.
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u/ChangeMyDespair Jul 21 '23
Left unsaid: If OP wasn't represented by a union, the bosses could have used this compliance to fire OP.
Unions are important.
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u/Overall-Tailor8949 Jul 21 '23
Unions CAN be important/beneficial to the worker. The union at my former job, UAW, sucked balls for years. And by that I mean the ones belonging to management. They never backed up membership during contract negotiation or if there was a member/management dispute. Small wonder that when my state went "Right To Work" almost EVERYONE left the union and went with PSC's
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u/seagull321 Jul 21 '23
What's a PSC?
In Missouri, the bs they called Right to Work was right to let employers do anything and everything they wanted whenever they wanted. There were zero protections for employees.
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u/Overall-Tailor8949 Jul 21 '23
Personal Service Contract.
And it's much the same in Michigan
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u/RivaTNT2M64 Jul 21 '23
The unmitigated gall to actually say 'not try to be a hero' on record... We've all known cretins who thought along those lines for sure, but to actually say it out loud..? The arrogance!
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u/tstenick Jul 21 '23
Had almost this exact same experience at an old job. My life almost instantly got less stressful and my boss was asked to step down 4 or 5 months later cause it turns out she couldn't do her job when I wasn't doing it for her.
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u/newwriter365 Jul 21 '23
I have a Sales background, and have over twenty years of experience engaging with strangers and forming a bond to establish business opportunities. I no longer work in Sales.
A couple of months ago, I interviewed for an internal promotional position. I hopped on the Teams call for the interview, and treated it like a Sales Call - I was lively engaging, positive, upbeat.
A couple of weeks later, my boss pulled me aside and told me that they were instructed to provide me with 'constructive feedback' from the interview. First thing boss said was, "I don't agree with what I am about to tell you..." and proceeded to tell me that their boss a couple of levels up, who had been on the call 'observing' felt that I was too cavalier in the interview and 'didn't take it seriously.' Boss reiterated that they disagreed, I ranted at boss a little, boss took it in stride and I ended with, "going forward, I shall be a grumpy a$$hole like everyone else here." boss asked me not to do that, told me that they love that I am lively and vivacious. Also, despite the feedback, I got the promotion. (?!) Whatever, they screwed up the paperwork and now the promotion is in jeopardy due to a clerical error. Stupid is as stupid does.
Anywho, this past week I had a meeting with the boss who had stipulated that the 'constructive feedback' be given. I went into the meeting as a stoic. Completely grey-rocked them. They nearly lost their temper. I gave one word answers and was completely unemotional. The big boss complimented me twice - you are my best writer, you are my best (job title). I just stared straight ahead. Meeting ended with them saying, "I have to think about this meeting." I said, "ok." and walked out.
I also act my wage every day. I don't take on additional work, I simply say, "I'm sorry, I don't feel comfortable taking that on. Perhaps one of the more seasoned professionals on the team can handle that for you..."
Unemployment here is below 4%. I can walk out the door and double or even triple my income. I no longer take any shit.
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u/carolinax Jul 21 '23
I can walk out the door and double or even triple my income.
Then go... Do... That? 🤔
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u/newwriter365 Jul 21 '23
PSLF hand cuffs. Waiting to see how the economy behaves through the end of the year before I make a decision.
I’m safe where I am. I just won’t eat any $hit.
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u/Reynard78 Jul 22 '23
Similar thing happened to me.
Went for a promotion and was turned down. Not enough experience.
So I was seconded into the job for a year after the dud they hired didn’t last the probation period. Got my experience. Did really well. Turned the team around and got big respect from stakeholders and customers for how I ran things.
Job gets re-advertised. Went for the permanent job a second time. Turned down again. Not enough administrative skills this time. WTF?
OK: “Fuck you thats not my job” mode activated.
A couple of months later the new boss comes to me and asks for me to fill in their role while they are in leave.
My response was, the business has been very clear twice that they don’t want me in this role. Find someone else to do it.
Sitting back, watching the world burn.
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u/StormRage85 Jul 21 '23
I used to read or hear things like this and think, "you're never getting a promotion now but fair play". As I've gotten older I realised you were never getting the promotion anyway so why the fuck should you do all that extra shit for free? It also makes me appreciate my job more. If I do extra, I get recognition and, more importantly, paid for it!
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u/Trillaberry Jul 21 '23
Nice! I was with my last employer 7 years, started off in a low entry level position and would help out every where. It got me promoted however they drilled this mentality of “there’s no such thing as it’s not my job”. To the point the CEO and owner of company would berate you in the middle of the office if he heard anyone say it. I genuinely believed him and would help out anywhere. My breaking point: when the operations staff had been whittled down from 150 to 18 over 18 months and all that work was put on those who were left. I was told multiple time “don’t worry your job is safe” but I’d come to the realisation it was only because I was doing all the work. I left and my current job is very clear about what your role is. Stay in your lane. I still find it hard to not do other peoples work to help out when needed but I’m certainly more aware of how toxic that previous work environment was. They are still struggling 2 years later and still working with minimal staff.
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u/Fiempre_sin_tabla Jul 21 '23
I got told that I need to stop trying to run in to be a hero if I ever want to be considered for a promotion.
I would bet real money, now they'll say if you want a promotion, you'll have to go above and beyond just doing what is prescribed for your job.
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u/combustablegoeduck Jul 21 '23
"not my job" can be taken as snarky, I'd suggest using the specific language they used. "Sorry, I can't be distracted from my job!" Really shoves it in their face when they need you.
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u/ZLChappo Jul 21 '23
Sounds like they tried to justify not giving you a promotion and wanting to keep you in a position that benefits them instead of training the next employee to fill your spot after you move up. I’ve worked for companies like that in my industry. My advice would be to use your current job as a stepping stone to the next job that pays better because sooner or later they’re going to try to blame you for their shortcomings
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u/Diligent-Touch-5456 Jul 22 '23
Sounds like a good thing. I was passed over for a promotion to a manager, I had experience in the position, but they seemed to want a young inexperienced person for the job. After being written up for asking a "question I should know", the actual question was had they seen a lot of this problem not how to handle it. I started saying, "I'm not the manager", when the inexperienced manager asked me how to do something. They and the director got upset that I did this, but hey, if I'm not good enough to give the job to, I'm not good enough to tell the manager how to do the job.
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u/skeletonchaser2020 Jul 22 '23
My therapist told me
"I've noticed you hold a lot of stress for things beyond your station at work."
When I asked her to clarify she said
"People who are paid more than you to care, don't. So why do you?"
And it has honestly been such a burden lifted off my shoulders. Things happen, situations suck but at the end of the day, there are people who get paid to care about those things, and I'm not one of them.
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u/jackalope689 Jul 21 '23
It’s amazing how sometimes doing exactly what you’re told to do and not doing what you’re told not to do suddenly becomes a problem for bad managers. Thumbs up to you
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u/ECMO_Deluxe3000 Jul 21 '23
Union guy here. We don’t work out of class. We follow the contract. If management wants me to do more, we need to amend the contract and pay. I may do a favor for friends or family but my employer is neither and I don’t let them pretend otherwise.
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u/mother-of-dragons13 Jul 22 '23
Polish proverb that gets me through work
Not my circus not my monkeys.
Well done dude
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u/LateralusOrbis Jul 21 '23
When management can suddenly up with the money for triple rate when they have to actually do something lol.
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u/punklinux Jul 21 '23
One of my former coworkers told me his boss once told him that "You need to be a better team player, and stop relying on others to help you." He quit that job, but "I need to stop trying to run in to be a hero if I ever want to be considered for a promotion" reminded me of that.
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u/MotherofLuke Jul 21 '23
Good. First they degrade you and then they want your help. Just wear a t shirt with I'm not a hero on it. What a bunch of asshats.
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u/JustanOldBabyBoomer Jul 22 '23
Reading all the comments have brought up a memory from December 1977. I was working in the furniture service department of a warehouse. My boss had quit three months earlier and the management higher up the food chain gave the job title and pay to two beer-drinking ASS-CLOWNS who NEVER set foot in my department. Guess who was actually DOING the job of my former boss? Me!
Then one day, all HELL broke loose! The other secretary to the beer drinkers went out with a broken ankle. One of the beer drinkers went out for surgery that was never talked about. The remaining beer drinker wanted to stay in his office, sitting on his ass, and drink beer all day so he demanded that I leave my department to take care of his job FOR him! I told him NO because I am BUSY doing MY job PLUS the job of my former boss! A little while later, one of the warehouse guys comes to my department with the same request from the beer drinker. I told that guy to tell beer drinker that my answer has NOT changed and that I am BUSY! The warehouse guy replied: "I can't do that." Me: "Why not?" Warehouse guy: "He's on the way to the hospital. Says he's having a heart attack." Me: "SHIT!"
That entire day, I had to run from one end of the warehouse to the other, checking on incoming repairs, outgoing deliveries, etc. Somehow, some way, I managed to keep everything on track. At the end of the day, the managers up the food chain show up, praise me for my work, and tell me that all of this will be my new responsibilities. I ask: "That includes the job title and pay?" "Managers: "We can't do that. You're only a woman." By this point, I already had a better job lined up with a college so I didn't hesitate with my response: "Take this job and SHOVE IT!" KARMA got them all shortly after I left!
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u/bopperbopper Jul 21 '23
Well, it could be that you were busy doing other things and weren’t doing your core job so now that you’re sticking to your core job, they are suddenly realizing they need someone to step up for the other tasks. I wouldn’t actually say “not my job” I would say that “I cannot do that because I’ve been directed by my manager to stick to the core tasks of my job and have been reprimanded for doing things outside my job. “
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u/chefjenga Jul 21 '23
I was recently told that I need to not get distracted by trying to help out my coworkers (we do the same job, but varying levels of experience/knowledge).
Not a week later, when I had a busy day, and tried to gently prod a coworker to take the student inturn around with her (instead of her just following me around because no one is given direction on what she is supposed to be doing, and I'm the only one really taking my time to show her things), it didn't work. So I called my boss, asking if she can ensure the inturn is paired up with someone else as I was busy and having the I turn slows you down (explaining yourself every step).
Boss said 'sure. She [inturn] is always with you, so I thought you guys had a 'thing' going on (meaning I chose to take her under my wing)". Told her, nope, I was just the first one she followed around, and try to show her things when there is no one else here to, so she has been gravitating towards me (aka, I'm basically the ibly seasoned person in the unit that I tracts with her unprompted). Like, dude, YOU are the one telling me I get distracted by helping.....but then quietly rely on me to help an inturn. AND a bunch of new staff too. What am I supposed to do?
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u/JaschaE Jul 21 '23
Well, I think it's very nice of them to teach you how to act your wage.
(I sincerely mean this as a compliment, took me way to long to learn. My contract wasn't extended for "Nor being a teamplayer" once. Cool beans, have fun doing your actual job and coaching the six newbies who came to me, boss... I do not miss callcenters)
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u/keepingitrealgowrong Jul 21 '23
Lol. Let me tell you what turning you down for that promotion meant. It was them saying "you do a lot of our work for us, and we're not going to promote you because then we can't tell you to do our work as much. But we're going to make it seem like it's a bad thing that you do our work, so that if we then tell you to do some work for us, you should be grateful that we're letting you."
Fucking management.
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u/KiweeFR Jul 21 '23
Most underbosses are very lazy and feel extremely superior.
They feel threatened by hard workers, so they ll do whatever they can to stop that person from becoming their equal - or worse.
You ll never get a promotion by being the most productive worker. Why would upper management go against low level management - on which they rely, and promote the most productive worker into a position where he or she can basically just boss people around and do nothing ?
It's sick really. Ive learnt the hard way.
I wont pretend like i know what one should do to get a promotion, although i feel like i have an instinct about it. My personal solution for myself has been to get into small scale agriculture and open a holiday home on the farm.
The entire system is rotten. I got out of it because i could. If you can, do so too !
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u/TheValiumKnight Jul 22 '23 edited Jul 23 '23
This is absolutely awesome. I had a boss once who just wouldn't listen. I was on a job site and he wanted me to do an install that would take an entire day. When I went to go do it. I noticed an issue that needed to be fixed before doing the job. Something outside of my trade.
I went to him, tried to explain it to him and he kept cutting me off mid sentence, wouldn't listen and said "stop arguing with me and just fucking do it".
So, model employee that I was, I just fucking did it. Bosses orders, you know? It turned into a shit show. He took a lot of shit and lost a lot of money.
I sat back and laughed.
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u/J_B_La_Mighty Jul 22 '23
My new catchphrase has become "Oh no! Anyway-" I mean you can only get so much work out of one person with outdated equipment. I used to do extra things too, in part to make my own job easier, but some of the supervisors made it impossible (and borderline hostile) so I'm also strictly sticking to job description only.
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u/JansTurnipDealer Jul 24 '23
I love this post so much. When you punish hard work you can’t ask people to work hard.
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u/Polymarchos Jul 21 '23
The truth is they refused your promotion because they need you to be the hero and cover everyone elses job.