f13.net

When you are going to ask someone for help, knowing full well they they are extremely overworked, underpaid, and in the middle of a very large, very important project with a tight deadline, there is a sequence of events you do not want to carry out.

1) Ask "are you busy?" when you damn well know the answer is an obvious "yes".

2) Act like you're clever by responding to that "yes" with "hahhah, well here's some more work for you then". That joke has never been funny. Ever.

3) Ask a really stupid question, or request something that you are more than capable of doing, and should fucking well know how to do yourself.

4) Act as if the aforementioned unimportant mundane task is somehow urgent, when it clearly isn't.

5) Insist that the overworked colleague drop everything ASAP to take care of your problem and/or train your stupid fucking ass on how to do your own goddamn job.

6) Threaten to say something to their boss because you don't agree with their response, or don't like the estimated turnaround time they've provided.

7) Try to play big-shot because your business card says "Major Accounts" on it, even though you hit a whopping 63% of quota last year, and are probably about 10 weeks away from the unemployment line.

8) Get uppity when the aforementioned overworked colleague points out that he out-ranks your boss, and that his boss is another 4 steps up the corporate ladder.

9) Say somethng completely unprofessional while walking away, yet still within earshot of this colleague...even if it was intended to be under your breath.

10) Complain loudly enough to other co-workers about it that the guy can still hear you.

11) After the guy finally gets sick of hearing you badmouth him, says "fine" and spends the next 15 minutes teaching your stupid ass (with painstaking detail) how to resolve the problem on your own as every curious party in the office looks on (and realizes you should already know this stuff, because it's something that even rookies have to do every day, and you have been expected to do for the past 5 years with the company), say "that's why they pay you the big bucks", when you know damn well that this colleague makes a pittance relative to your income.

See, you don't want to do that....especially not when I'm the overworked colleague. Someone in my office just went 11-for-11 on this list with me....so as a result I said (in front of everyone):



Once the laughter died down, the rep in question was called into his boss's office to be reprimanded for not playing nice with others, and I have  since received an apology from this particular jackass, as well as 3 offers to go out to lunch tomorrow from other colleagues.

I rule.

Bring the noise.
Cheers............

Happens to me almost daily. I'm using that paragraph in the future, if you don't mind.

Pika?

I just quietly move their request to the very bottom of my list of tasks every time they violate one of those rules.  Some people stay down there for months.

Luckily I work in accounting. The aura of number-nerd keeps people from giving us trouble.

My posting in a thread about Dark Vengeance's career successes greatly accentuates my own career failures...

However, I will say I've never been the guy that harasses the overworked, underpaid guy to have them perform my job for me.  I've been on the receiving end of that and can sympathise.   Heck, in a way, that was my whole last job (the main difference being I was paid to be the one that gets harassed).

For those that missed it, the moral of the story was that if you fuck with me, you will be publically humiliated for my amusement.

I, on the other hand, get a free lunch and a great story to share with others.

Hence, the reason I rule.

Bring the noise.
Cheers..............

So I've noticed, we've certainly quite the history to back that up on these hallowed boards.   Rule thou dost indeed.    I've found the best thing to do is stop caring - saves me a lot of energy that way.

But that's more on a personal note in a different context, not to deflate your victory over the far more important field of real life office politics.

Well, are you going to share that great story or what?

Grats on the lunch though, and ofcourse for telling your annoying coworker to shove it.

This is something you have to start the second you enter the job. My Mum works in the same field I entered and while good, frankly isn't as good as me, yet still gets others asking her question all the time and expecting her to answer. Having grown up hearing her bitch about this, the very first thing I did when entering this job was to make sure everyone knew I didn't take any shit at all. Then when it became known I was good at what I do, I made sure everyone knew that the right way to get my help was supplication.

Seriously, people are creatures of habit, if your manager comes in and says "I need this done right away" and you say "I'm sorry but I'm busy" then proceed to tell them your job description and how it doesn't include doing random shit for them, it leaves an impression. They will not ask you for help carelessly again. It is however a very difficult proposition to remove a "bitch" tag. Then you follow it up by occasionally asking if they have anything they need help with. That way you eventually look like a nice guy but everyone knows not to bug you. "Nice yet assertive". This is important, without the nice part the label will be "asshole". If you could help, you would be helping, if it's urgent they can ask but they better ask nice and be ready to be refused anyway.

My greatest glory was when the head of our department at the state level was in the office and my manager replied to their question "Well, X might help if you ask him". Was so good to see her try to comprehend the fact that someone might refuse to help them. I did help them though, I was busy, not stupid.

The reason you get treated the way you do is because you allow it. You should be more proactive rather than reactive if you want to craft the way the office treats you.

There's a large chasm between being a doormat and being a raging tool. There's also nothing wrong with telling people that have no real direct control over you to fuck off if they decide to start acting unprofessional. However, if someone asks you for help and you are busy it pays not to be a cock about it.

I disagree with not doing things your manager tells you to do ASAP unless its completely outlandish. Picking up personal items from places, getting beverages/lunches, or scheduling events is usually the job of an assistant, and if that's not you, then tell them so. However, if it's anything else and its within your abilities at the office, going that extra mile for a boss is huge. It's the difference between the 30 year old staff accountant and the 27 year old controller. It's initiative and it's good sense.

Well, that's not my experience. If it's something she needs to give a subordinate and she chooses me thats fine. If it's part of her job and she wants to palm it off onto me then she can go shove it unless I'm offering/not busy (rarely ever not busy). If it is a job for a higher employee but she wants to give it to me she better promote me 'cause I'm not doing a "team leader's" work when I'm below one. This policy has me at a position directly below hers, so my thinking is it works. I also have an offer to go to Canberra, the land of quick promotion, which I may take but for now I wont because I hate Canberra with a burning passion.

I also have the option to go back where I came from as I left in good standing, and worked well within the team. So that leaves me where I can risk the job because I'd rather go back to programming than be the office bitch.

It's more about office politics than it is about DV....But go ahead and pat yourself on the back for making it about Geldon.

I wasn't really trying, but I have to say that it can't really be done without posts such as this.  Well done, my astute accomplice.

That's all well and good, but if you were truely hooked up, you'd be in a position where people just wouldn't fuck with you in the first place.  Not having stupid dumped on you at work is a good thing.  When you can get it.

You both sounds like idiots. I'd want neither of you working for me or any company I was a part of. The guy acted like an unprofessional moron, so you did the same right back - wonderful story!

Decaf man, give it a try.

What kind of spineless boss do you have?  If one of my subordinates replied with that, I would first note to them that "I wasn't asking."  Failing that, they'd get written up and I'd file a personal note to bitch slap them on their review.  If that didn't get the message across, they'd be gone.  Not because it's fun to be mean to people (it makes my job 10x harder), but because as a manager, you can't manage people if they decide to spend their time against their manager's needs (note that some fields don't work quite that way, but most do).  If the Big Boss decides something needs to happen, then it happens - it doesn't matter how busy I am, or what else I may need to be doing.  I work at their leisure, and can do what they want, or leave.  And I do hold that option in reserve.  The decision can be debated, discussed, and counter proposals made, but ultimately, it's the boss' call.

I agree with Margalis, I don't see anything except unprofessionalism.  I guess good for you if you can get away with it, but IMO it's a pretty lousy boss that lets people get away with that kind of divisive attitude.

You seemed to have missed this part:



Roac, if you think being a manager is about handing out your work, then you're the one that's being "unprofessional". Employees are judged on how they do their job (y'know, the one they were hired for?), not on how they didn't fulfill "your needs".

Do you really want to people to go that extra step? Then get them to like you: Do a favor for them first, stay out of their hair, and stop being a prick. Believe me, soon enough, you won't even have to ask.

That, or hire an assistant.



Lucky for people like you, I'm self-employed.

Its fairly common in very technical areas for the 'manager' to be less educated and less well paid than even the most noobler engineer on the team they manage.   They are literally there simply to ensure that the teams needs are met, to interface with higher management and that someone is tracking day to day activity.

In those circumstances telling an engineer to do something can generally get that manager fired or shuffled off to a less critical area of the company.

I can say that in the offices I worked at, I've had some stupid managers. Stupid with people but never with their job. You get to the top in accounting because you know the rules, you know the system, and you know how to get things done. I've never had a boss ask me to walk his dog, pick up his laundry, or do something of that nature. If you can do it in the office, then guess what, IT JUST BECAME YOUR JOB DESCRIPTION.

Stop holding onto your description or title like it's made out of stone and you'll go further in the world.

I'm not sure what your post has to do with office politics. It just sounds like a disagreement between two people, neither of whom have a clue what office politics actually is...

Seems to me you both need a lesson on how to properly communicate in an office environment.

I would consider doing something a manager/boss requires a subordinate to do as being part of just about any job description. If someone stuffs up a DB entry and she wants me to fix it then I'd be ok with that because she is perfectly within her rights to give it to me. I wont be all "but fixing DB entries isn't in my job description" or "it wasn't my mistake", I'll do it. If on the other hand she wants to hand me something that is either her job, or far and away beyond the scope of my job then she will be told in no uncertain terms that I will not do it.

If I do 100% of the work that legitimately comes across my desk, anything she says in my reviews will be ignored unless it's really severe. And if I get called up before review and tell them I refused because she was trying to palm her work off onto me it would make her look much worse in comparison.

Also, a boss is different than a manager. If a boss wants you to do something you do it or expect consequences. A manager however only has powers they are allowed by higher-ups and have a variable amount of influence on your progression within the company/organisation depending on the structure of your workplace.



As an aside, in my current position I can defer ALOT of things her way instead of doing them myself without it showing up in my performance review. If she sent me random crap for subordinates it could end in me sending her at least twice as much work that she cannot pass on, and I can even re-delegate the work she sends me. I think she realises this as I haven't had even the smallest request outside of my job description from her since my new position. Or it could be because she realises that my time is best spent doing my actual job (which ironically is based on helping others).

I was under the impression you get to the top with blackmail.

I wouldn't really know, I slept my way to the top.

Misread 4tw.  No, that's not what I said.  Managers [generally] decide what the job of their employees are to be.  He's normally the guy that assigns projects and deadlines (hopefully with input).  

Scenario; manager comes to employee asking about information.  There's a meeting he was only just told about, and he has to get stuff together for the exec who wants it.  Employee says "no, not right now".  Wrong answer.  Piss about it all you want, but that's not how an office is run.



They do like me.  I have about a third of our department under me, and the other two thirds are begging to be transferred.  When I need things to get done, I need them to be done.  I realize it's demoralizing to have a "top priority" item get thrown in one's lap, but it's only because someone did the same thing to me.  It screws up my projects and deadlines too.  They like me because I do what I can to put a stop to it, but there really are last minute "must have"s that screw with our ideal schedule, and saying "not now" isn't an option.

Unfortunately, there are unforseen issues that come up that absolutely must be delt with, because handling these issues are also our jobs.

Here is my 'twist' on this. I'm one of those annoying highly paid software consultant types that is brought in to write working code. I'll do whatever you ask me. However, I have a fiduciary responsibility to my client to point out when they are failing to use my skills in the most productive manner possible.

If they want to pay me gobs of money per hour to walk their dog, fine by me. It's fucking retarded, and it is my JOB to tell them that it is fucking retarded. But if that's what they want me to do, so be it.

Worst case scenario, I decline to renew the contract at the termination date and find something else so I don't have to play on the short bus any more.

*shrug*

That's a good point. Productivity is an important part of any job. If I think I'm being misused, I ask them about what their priorities are. I'll tell them what I have on my plate and how they'd like it ordered. If I have two people that need to things done, I follow the one that's higher on the food chain. I'd rather neglect my immediate boss than piss off the top dog, and I can explain that easily.

This tells me we have a misunderstanding here. I don't think anyone is arguing that you should refuse to do things because you are busy. What I am saying is that I wont do things that are not part of my job, and as I said, doing something that a manager has a right to pass on to a subordinate is in every job description.

I notice the other section heads tend to pass on things they should do and it's just plain wrong. For example, about a week before my holidays we had to send in a review of new software we had been given. It was given directly to the section heads a month prior and we were told to monitor how the system was working and gather responses from our section and write up the review at the end of the month. I was the only section head not to pass the responsibility to a sub-ordinate. That's the kind of thing people should refuse because it is NOT your job to do it.

Within the first fortnight of working at the office the manager asked me to go over a number of forms and correct as necessary when that is specifically her job. That's the kind of thing I refuse to do on principle if someone justs asks me. If she gets a "generic person needs to do this" I'll do it, if she gets "X person/job needs to do this" and tries to hand it to me when I'm not "X" then she will be refused.

I'm not there to do another person's job for them. If I offer to help then I'll take on whatever they need help with. If they come to me pleading for help and they aren't a chronic pleader then I'll most probably help too. Otherwise, I'll not be their little pass-to boy.

I'm not saying that people should refuse to do stuff because they're busy/cbf'd or should be anal about their job description. What I'm saying is you shouldn't roll-over and do someone else's job just because they ask you to. Even if they are your manager.

Bear in mind, this wasn't a case of me being asked to do something by a superior. It was a case of me being asked to do something by what I'll term an "internal customer".

Now with what I do, there are several instances of things that I would do for this person. Basically things related to his sales territory, giving him tips on uncovering opportunity, using the various tools available to him for territory management, and so forth.

When said person dogs me about how to use Excel, especially when I am under the gun on a deadline, I get irritated when they get pissy about it. Proficiency in Excel is supposed to be a job requirement for that position, so it kind of irks me when a guy easily making 2-3 times what I do has to ask for my help to do a sum on a spreadsheet.

It wasn't a matter of "it's not my job", it's a matter that when your boss tells you "this project takes priority over EVERYTHING ELSE", you don't set it aside to teach someone how to do basic formulas in Excel. To be fair, this was a tad like a guy walking into Burger King while they had a fire raging in the kitchen, and vehemently demanding that they serve him a chalupa.

Unfortunately because one of my job duties includes maintaining our sales database, some reps get it in their mind that I'm another IT guy, or that I'm somehow their resource for all things related to computers.

Just understand, 999 times out of 1000, I'm fucking delightful. A joy to be around, and interact with in the workplace. But when a co-worker evokes the DV within me, mildly amusing anecdotes ensue.

Bring the noise.
Cheers.............

You're right, that does change things a good bit.  Still, I would say the preferred method would be to do it anyway, and followup with emails/talks complaining about the item.  Some bosses would either write you up for "that's not my job", or decline to pass out raises/promotions to you because you're not a "team player".  

But, I've found that depends a good deal on corp. culture where you're at.  Some places rigidly enforce position descriptions, while others don't.  We don't where I'm at - if someone drops the ball, it's your responsibility to pick it up.  The catch is that you can now show to your boss that you're doing someone else's job because they're too incompetant.  They get fired for that.

And quickly thereafter, the task(s) they perform is added to your job description without any additional pay or authority.

HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES!!!

Stephen hit that right on the nose.

Bring the noise.
Cheers.............

Yeah, that is true. As a government department our roles are strictly defined, and there is little variation in the work we do, so it's very easy to see what is your job and what isn't. Plus there is an external review process for promotions in addition to promotion through superiors, so it's easy enough to fall back on that if you piss your manager off. Transfers are also relatively easy to come by after a few months of being on the list.

This story is (mildly) related, so I thought I would share it:

About 5 or 6 years ago, I was working for a very large chip manufacturer (chief microprocessor competition to Intel, so I'll bet you can figure out which one).  I was designing chips at the time, and I got put under a new boss.

This guy was pretty cool at first.  He had been at the company for a long time, and had a kick-ass-take-names kinda attitude, which I respected.  I had dealt with him in a lateral sort of fashion before:  I consulted with him for information on my projects, however I did not report to him in any way directly at the time.

For about one year, it was pretty good.  I received good projects, always got them done in time.  Then came Project Disaster.

What basically happened was this:  my boss got romanced by a new chip tester company, and decided to spend 6 million dollars of R&D cash (about 30% of our groups budget for the year) to purchase a very advanced testing system.  He did this against his own managers recommendation (the director of the division).  So one fateful day, he appears in my work hole and asks me to help him bring up this new system.

Like some of the others here,  I figured "what my boss says I do, I do".  I figured this was my chance to hit one out of the park by saving his ass, with the side benefit of me being able to trumpet this fact come time for raises for the forseeable future.  He knew my background was in software (I dual majored in college, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, because I didn't know what I wanted to do out of college), so he told me I was the only person in the company qualified to do this job.  What he really meant to say was that (most) hardware designers wouldn't touch a software project with a 100 meter pole, either due to technical snobbery or lack of understanding, but I digress.

So I began bringing this test system up with one of our current designs.  This thing came bare bones: with a compiler and an instruction manual, that's it.  What my boss failed to tell me was that he was expecting me to accomplish this miracle in addition to all of my current design activities.  This became abundantly clear when our current project schedule slipped, and I was called in to get reamed out for allowing it to happen.

So I basically started working from 8 in the morning untill about 11pm at night.  I would do my chip design work from 8 until about 3pm, then I would put on my software engineer hat, and go down to our lab and write C code from 3pm until about 11pm.  I was working two complete jobs, all for the same pay and recognition (as a poster stated above).  This lasted for the better part of nine months.

Fast forward to the unveiling of this project after nine months of work.  All in all, I thought it was a great success.  There were a total of 46 test routines that needed to be applied to the chip, I had successfully completed 45 of them, all by myself (each one entailed around 500-1,000 lines of code, along with a 'pattern instruction' library which is like assembly code).  The last one would not work due to a quirk in the hardware of the tester, for which I could not find any software workaround, and for which I got the tester manufacturer to write me a letter stating it was a design flaw, which would be fixed in the future.  During the unveiling, another manager asked me about this problem, and I explained there was nothing that could be done.

I was called into my bosses office later that day, and he was in a fury.  Apparently he got yelled at for the failing test, as he did not properly ascertain the suitability of the system for our needs.  I held up my hands, saying that the project was presented to me after the purchase was complete, and that I would not be held responsible.  I was docked 30% of my yearly bonus, and my raise for the year was cancelled.  I was given a less than satisfactory review because my software work 'hindered project development' for my 'other' job.  Needless to say I immediately started looking for a new job (the one I hold presently).  Sad thing is I hear word that this system has been used to qualify half a dozen chip projects based on my work, and I never even received credit for doing it!

I call this effect 'Trickle Down Ass Reaming'.  This is where someone gets yelled at near the top, and the blame is cast down through the ranks before it ends up sticking on the poor engineer at the bottom. :)

I learned a valuable lesson during this exchange.  The first and foremost is that when your work load/job responsibility is changed, get it in fucking writing.  50% of my problem with this guy was that I could not prove to my HR department that he had even told me to work on this new project, to say nothing of how much extra time I had spent.  Hence it would not be added to my goal sheet, which means I could not get credit for it!  My new boss is very good about this:  when he comes to me for something short term or really important, he sends me an email, then adds the goal to my goal list.  Since our incentives are goal based, any extra activities that I take on outside of my pre-agreed goals are compensated for directly.

So doing whatever the boss wants without question can be a disaster, especially if he/she/it is vindictive in nature.  You can rest assured that your higher-ups are going to be covering their asses, so it is wise to do the same yourself.

Around my workplace, this is known as the "shit rolls downhill" theorem.

This is the gospel truth. I have an archive of over 15,000 emails, including sent and received. Our sales managers here have a nasty habit of reassigning accounts, or revamping territories without ever communicating that change to the sales rep....and then forgetting they requested the change in the first place.

Thus, when an irate rep or manager comes to me and asks "why did this account get reassigned without my knowledge", I can produce a dated email with the manager approval on it.

It has hit the point where I'm rarely questioned on that stuff, because managers and reps alike realize I am meticulous about saving any emails relevant to business. About the only ones I delete are jokes and "found: a Palm stylus, if you lost one, please claim at reception" type of inane messages.

I don't do verbal requests. Ever. If you want it done, you put it in an email. Hard-copy is limited to official company forms....I have 2 file drawers, both of which are less than 60% full. Managers that got used to submitting requests on restaurant napkins got a rude awakening when I put that policy in place.

Bring the noise.
Cheers.............

I ran into something similar myself before I became an Independent Consultant in my field (Healthcare IT).

When I got out of the military, I had a very dusty BS-SC, and no real commercial background, so I accepted a job as an "interface engineer" (read that as universal translator for data formats and protocols) at a pretty hefty pay cut.

In 9 months, I not only had maxxed out all the training the company provided, but I was actually teaching project management courses to the entire 200+ employee company--including travel to all corporate sites.

On top of this extra duty, I was juggling 5 separate projects continuously, with positive customer satisfaction surveys at the end of each projec, plus excellent 3 month and 6 month evaluation reports.

I found out that the company was billing my time in excess of $150 an hour, of which I received approximately $25-35 an hour including bonuses. I also found out that independents in my field, and even engineers in my exact same position at other companies were making 30-100% more than I was. Of course, I asked for a raise.

I was told basically, "you've only been here 9 months, and don't qualify for a raise until the 1.5 year point, sorry." Screw that--I'm teaching engineers with 15+ years experience above mine in the field how to actually design a fucking project, yet I can't get a raise. Obviously, I quickly found another job.

Now comes the kicker: At the time I got in this position, I was working 4 different client's, one of which included on site time (massive travel). Once I lined up the new job's start date, I kicked into crunch mode and jammed out 2+ months of work on these projects in less than 3 weeks. 1 week into this crunch mode, I let my manager know I was moving on, and outlined the reasons why. He immediately said "ahh, now I see why you wanted to finish that last training class! (which was complete even before I asked for the raise, much less found a new job).

I completely finished 3 of the 4 projects more than 6 months ahead of combined schedules, but the client on one of the projects wasn't ready for design yet, so it was stalled. I wound up handing the project over to my manager (along with all the other completed ones, as well as a record bonus for the team for the quarter based on billed hours that I didn't even qualify for because I was leaving), and proceeded with my exit interviews.

Two months later, I get a call from this guy pleading for help on the new project. As it turns out, he never bothered to add a new resource to it, and the client was demanding progress, and he had lost my design notes I had taken while working for him. I recreated from memory what had been decided as best I could, and helped bring a new resource on board for him. A month and a half later, he calls me again to help him bring yet another resource on board, since the one I trained on the project "didn't have time for it after all (can you say shitty resource management?). I went through the process again, and that's the last I heard.

A year later, I had elected to go fully independent, and was trying to land a massive project that would have netted me quite a good income. As part of the standard consultant due diligence, the customer called my two previous employers, and (as you've guessed by now), this particular manager completely slandered my entire work history at the company, and focused pointedly on the project he fucked up managing as being "my fault because I was greedy". To this day (healthcare IT is a pretty tight community), I get customer questions about "so what happened with you at XXXX?". Fortunately, I've built up enough of a reference base of elated customers that I can overcome the black mark, but damn dude, take some responsibility for your own fuckups and stop holding a grudge!

You, sir, may have grounds for a lawsuit, believe it or not.  My very large corporate employer does not allow current employees to give references outside the company, because it opens us to legal liability if we slander an ex-employee.  This is apparently common practice in corporate America, with most companies refusing to give negative references, period.  The logic is, "If you have nothing good to say, just refuse to give a reference."

Admittedly I am no legal expert, but this is what I'm told by our H.R. geniuses.

In retrospect it might have worked, but at the time there was no way I could have afforded the legal work, and since I didn't document nearly enough, nor could I get anyone to actually admit what the guy said word by word, I wouldn't have a case anyway. I was quite pissed when it looked like I had the contract, and then they stopped calling me--so I checked up and found out that they "had an issue with one of my references". I would up checking with buddies still at the company and they confirmed that the manager hated me and blamed me for the project, so it's all really hearsay unfortunately.

Bear in mind that if a former employer refuses to give a reference, that can be seen as quite damning to a prospective employer. They don't even have to badmouth you in order to create "an issue" with one of your references.

Your buddies may know what the manager thinks or had said around the office, but that doesn't necessarily mean he gave a negative reference.

Bring the noise.
Cheers............

Legally, the questioner can only ask if, when, and how long the potential employee worked. Beyond that, the referencer can volunteer any information they wish.

Not to mention the fact that if you put a job on your resume, or provide a contact, you are basically saying that you consent to that employer/reference saying whatever they damn well please about you.

So if you keep things in your email as a version of "keeping things in writing", I cannot recommend this highly enough:

http://desktop.google.com/

Just today, I needed a picture someone sent me 2 1/2 years ago. Google Desktop searched 5+ gigs of mail archives and found it in less than a second.

A thread like this just wouldn't be complete without mentioning George (http://chroniclesofgeorge.nanc.com/).

My personal least-favorite co-worker was the evil sales rep who'd see that the production schedule was full, and then backdate a production order for work to be scheduled for the next day, slip it into the middle of the stack of pending orders and claim it had been there for two weeks, and that my supervisor must have missed it when he'd done the scheduling...

Sure, it was bullshit, but my supervisor didn't care.  He just re-assigned the work to me or the other producer anyway, so it's not like he was put out any.  What did I do about it?  Bitch under my breath, do the work, and bill for the overtime.

...

I work full-time, and my wife and I also run a business, so I get stuck with both the employer and employee side of things. In both cases, there's one general rule:  the line in the employment agreement about "other duties as assigned."

Sure, it might not be part of the regular work I was hired to do.  It might be someone else's usual work.  I might not even be qualified for it.  But my time at work is used at the company's discretion.  If they decide they want or need me to do something, then it's up to me to do it (as long as it's not illegal or unsafe), even if I think it's a waste of company resources.  Hopefully it won't be, but that depends on the quality of the management.

This is fine, except when the other duties as assigned fall directly under another job specification that starts out at $3 an hour more than I make.  But I don't complain about it, because I would get bored to tears sticking with my specified job duties all day, which mostly entails watching students play Math Blaster all day and reminding them not to add their name every time they play.

Just because you're doing something that falls into a different category, doesn't mean you necessarily automatically rate a higher salary.

However, it does mean your manager should take your efforts into account when it comes time for raises, promotions, or bonuses.  If your management won't learn that lesson, then at least you're getting experience that might get you that better job at a company that has learned it...

I've done a lot of things over the years that weren't part of my official job, but it was beneficial to everyone that I learn to do them instead of waiting for (or paying for) the 'proper' person to take care of it.  It's never once come back to haunt me.

(Edit for coherent spelling)

It does when my duties are almost exclusively categorized by a better paying position.  I also scored 83/85 when I took the test, but they currently aren't hiring because of California's giant budget deficit.

Since I like the duties more than what my classification would be doing, I don't complain.

It's also a misnomer to believe that employees are paid what they're worth, because this isn't the private sector.  School district employees automatically get a raise every year for the first five years, then their salary remains the same unless everybody gets a raise across the board.  Both the worst and the best employee gets paid the same, and everybody in between.

You're in a little different boat then.  I've seen it happen--my regular full-time job is for a state university; people leave and we're stuck with positions we can't officially hire for due to the hiring freeze, but someone has to do the work all the same.  Then again, I've never accused any educational institution of having decent management, my current employer most definitely included...

No, I was thinking along the lines of someone who picks up a few extra or different duties, not someone who's basically been shuffled into a new role entirely.

For instance, just because I learn enough networking to deal with our office needs without involving the network admins (as we used to do) doesn't rate me their salary (at least $6k a year more than mine).  It does mean I get a higher rating on my annual evaluation, though, as well as the goodwill of the already-overworked network folks.

I will admit that you, on the other hand, are getting the short end of the stick and should rightfully be re-classified if what you say is accurate.

(I'm not sure how you got that idea I said people are always paid what they're worth..?)