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Need Advice: How to get out of being the office 'moving guy'

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by Jeremiah, Jul 31, 2008.

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  1. Jeremiah

    Jeremiah Member

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    Well, it's a little more than the title.

    I work in a small, 3-man IT shop in Pediatrics at UTMB. Since it's Pediatrics, it's mostly (90%) women. The three of us are really the only youngish (27-36), strong guys, so we get asked constantly to help move furniture. But that's not what we're here for and we certainly don't have time to drop everything to do something that is out of our job descriptions, let alone pay scale. And if we're nice and do it once, those same people call us over and over again.

    I don't want to be rude, or worse, piss off the powers that be by saying no. What makes it worse is that there are resources here for moving- they just have to pay for in-house movers. So it boils down to poor planning and/or cheapness on the part of people who call us.

    It reminds me of being the only guy with a truck in a group of friends. You're constantly being asked to move stuff.

    Anyone else ever deal with this issue? It's super irritating and if I could have some magic kind of response it would be awesome.
     
    #1 Jeremiah, Jul 31, 2008
  2. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost Member
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    Make yourself unavailable.
     
    #2 DonnyMost, Jul 31, 2008
  3. SwoLy-D

    SwoLy-D Member

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    I'd say you have perfect reasons to report this to your immediate supervisor, and express the same concerns you outlined. I think you could say it EXACTLY the way you phrased it here, you'll be okay.

    Sounds like you can communicate effectively, since you did it already. :cool:

    If your immediate manager/supervisor/director/boss doesn't listen to you and it continues, then move your complaint/suggestion/recommendation/observation higher to the next level after you let your boss know you still aren't happy.
     
    #3 SwoLy-D, Jul 31, 2008
  4. rrj_gamz

    rrj_gamz Member

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    Yeah, I get stuck doing that every once in a while...I just tell them my back hurts, which today it actually does...

    I would just tell your boss what you outlined above...It's not whinning, as that's not in your job description...
     
    #4 rrj_gamz, Jul 31, 2008
  5. MoonDogg

    MoonDogg Member

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    Fake a back injury and file a workman's comp claim....
     
    #5 MoonDogg, Jul 31, 2008
  6. MoBalls

    MoBalls Member

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    Agreed; It seems like poor planning on their part.
     
    #6 MoBalls, Jul 31, 2008
  7. a la rockets

    a la rockets Member

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    Like DonnyMost said, make yourself unavailable.

    People keep asking you because you keep saying yes. Once you let them off 2 or 3 times, they'll stop asking you.
     
    #7 a la rockets, Jul 31, 2008
  8. SwoLy-D

    SwoLy-D Member

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    :( I've grown up.

    Now I only F'up seldomly. :D Before, it was OFTEN.

    Here, they use "other duties as assigned" to almost every job description to "cover themselves" about things like what Jeremiah is going through, and you can't really complain.
     
    #8 SwoLy-D, Jul 31, 2008
  9. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Member

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    I would just politely explain the next time someone's asks you to move furniture:

    "We've been getting so many requests to move furniture that it's actually become a bit of a distraction from our job. So we're now referring everyone to the in-house movers - here's the number"
     
    #9 Sweet Lou 4 2, Jul 31, 2008
  10. Sooner423

    Sooner423 Member

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    Sell your truck.
     
    #10 Sooner423, Jul 31, 2008
  11. danny317

    danny317 Member

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    "accidentally" drop, break, or destroy the piece of furniture. then theyll know better than to ask again. good luck :D
     
    #11 danny317, Jul 31, 2008
  12. alexdapooh

    alexdapooh Member

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    I feel that would be the best answer right there. Be honest and say "Sorry, I'm working on something and simply don't have the time to help you out right now."

    And maybe follow up with the phone number to the in-house movers like Sweet Lou 4 2 suggested.
     
    #12 alexdapooh, Jul 31, 2008
  13. Jeremiah

    Jeremiah Member

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    Swoly pegged it; we have that pesky 'other duties as assigned'. I'm a team player and we stress customer service, which is why it's such a sticky situation.

    Also, we got a new administrator last year who dumped the inventory on us, and when my boss mentioned that he felt it was far below his pay grade and skill set, he got dinged on his evaluation. Not that us complaining about being day labor would get the same result.

    It's hard to make myself unavailable since being available is the nature of what we do here. And I don't like to lie to get out of stuff. I've been trying to lead by example to raise my son properly, so honesty is something I need to do 100% of the time. Of course, it is the truth that I'm always working on something else.
     
    #13 Jeremiah, Jul 31, 2008
  14. pmac

    pmac Member

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    There have been some good responses that you should think about using here. I'll tell you what i usually do when people ask me to do things for them all the time. I reverse it on them. I'll ask them to do things for me, ALOT. Then, wait for their excuses. Then, use their exact same excuses on them, no matter how silly it sounds. They always get the point after this because they then understand how you feel.
     
    #14 pmac, Jul 31, 2008
  15. The_Yoyo

    The_Yoyo Member

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    just accidently break something that isnt too valuable but something that anyone not really clumsy wouldnt break.

    or just move it somewhere they dont want it and then say you're busy when they come back to ask to move it somewhere else.

    start to pick up the couch and then yell out "oh my sciatic nerve!" and hobble away.

    that sucks man the owner of the company always expects me to move crap around the office and all i always say i'll get on it but never move it and then he'll finally ask someone in his dept to move his dept stuff. not sure if you can get away with that personally but it does get annoying when you keep getting asked. I'll move our dept stuff no issue and only one other lady's stuff here because she has a really bad back problem other than that i let others deal with their depts stuff.


    maybe if you are busy you may just tell them nicely that you are in the middle of a project/debugging code and cant be taken away from your desk at the moment. after a while they may ask someone else or hire the in-house movers.
     
    #15 The_Yoyo, Jul 31, 2008
  16. meggoleggo

    meggoleggo Member

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    I can appreciate the wanting to be honest about it. So how about you start a running tab of things you've been asked to do... Your tasks that fall under clearly defined job duties take priority, and then all "other" requests get handled on a time allowing basis.


    This way you can honestly say, I've been asked to do A,B,C,D... through M. You're N. If you can't wait that long, feel free to contact the in-house movers. Otherwise, I'll get back to you as soon as time allows.
     
    #16 meggoleggo, Jul 31, 2008
  17. Yonkers

    Yonkers Member

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    Just look at the ladies and say, 'I'll move something for you alright. You know what I mean. Right? Hahaha. Right. Oh yeah.'
     
    #17 Yonkers, Jul 31, 2008
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