I’m not happy with the phrasing I chose for the title but I couldn’t come with anything better.
It’s me again, the guy hired to move beds in a hospital, a unit where nurses keep giving me duties out of my job description, nurses who consider me their servant.
Moving people and beds is a chill job I like and I have no problem doing it, doing it according to the job description they presented me during the interview. I want my pauses, I want to go home on time, I want my overtime paid.
From day one the nurses there started treating me like I’m their servant, ordering me to do their job like finding charts, calming patients, toileting them, pausing infusions…
I informed management who basically ignored me, because I’m expected to be a team player. During the interview they never said I’d be doing so much stuff out of my job description daily, it’s like they consciously lied to me because they’re desperate for anyone with a pulse and hoped I wouldn’t stir the pot because they know I need the money. They expect me to work as a nursing assistant when there are no patients to move and to do my job when a patient needs to be moved.
I’m not doing 2 jobs being paid just for 1.
There’s more: Turns out to them, if I’m eating something while waiting for my next assignment I’m automatically on my pause, but I’m expected to jump each time they have a patient to move. Management actually confirmed this and apparently, nurses there work like that.
Call it malicious compliance, work to rule, half ass it, but starting tomorrow I’m using every trick you can give me to work as slow as I can, to hide as much as I can, because these fuckers don’t deserve anything better.
Half assing has to be covert, because as long as I don’t have another job lined up they have the upper hand.
If I wanted to overwork for no extra money, don’t have a full 30 minute pause, having to constantly shuffle people, to have 3 conversations simultaneously, to have people lie to my face, be a hero and a team player I’d have applied as a nurse.
this is a boundaries issue
I only work because I need the money. If I was rich I wouldn’t work. I don’t overwork for anyone unless I’m paid more, something my manager is not doing.
because what I do is what later becomes an expectation: you mean he can toilet patients? he is toileting patients from now on.
I’m copypasting from a previous post: I search for patients (because my job is to transport them, not to find them), move empty beds to be cleaned, calm patients, bring them blankets, take them to the toilet… I do this because sometimes it gets so boring because the charge doesn’t give me any assignment, so I’m open to lend a hand, but then the charge gets a call and I get 5 assignments at the same time (and they don’t lend a hand).
They don’t help preparing the patient for transportation, most of the cases I have to look for the patient’s files because nobody knows who has them, they don’t help moving the patient to the examination table (the fat, demented ones you need 3 people to move), moving him to a unit 1400 yards away (which is my job, something I have no problem doing), pausing infusions or bringing oxygen to the patient’s bed before transporting him…
I don’t mind helping a bit, but things that should happen occasionally happen every day.
they also don’t help when other units are understaffed and I have to wait for a nurse to come or hear how they decide who should help me transfer the patient because me being a man means I should do it alone.
that’s the place my manager told me I may wait for my next assignment. It can get boring very fast.
This seems to be an expectations issue: I think the rns on the unit expect me to be their servant and go several extra miles for them with no extra pay whatsoever, but I only want to do my job according to the job description they presented me during the interview when they told me doing other chores would mean helping the rns reposition patients in bed.
Going extra miles don’t mean more money for me, so what’s my motivation?
I like your post and at the same time I don’t believe many people will read this wall of text.
do you go above and beyond for your job?
What you consider to be “above and beyond” is what others consider to be a standard part of any role. Other comments on other posts you’ve made have said the same thing: a general “additional duties as assigned” clause is very normal, and nothing you’ve said has given the impression that what you’re being asked to do is atypical.
Your manager considers helping out your coworkers to be part of your base responsibilities. This is a normal expectation. If it’s one that you have no desire to meet, then your best bet is to find a new job. The problem there - as both I and others have pointed out - is that any other job you find will likely have this same expectation.
I was in your shoes about five years ago. I felt it was completely unfair, I tried other roles in an attempt to find a job where it wasn’t expected, I asked coworkers how it was possible that such a thing was normal… I get it. It’s not fun. But living at this time and in this place under these conditions - it’s normal. I personally chose to suck it up and deal with it, and ultimately I came around to understanding that it wasn’t as bad as I was making it out to be. It’s not perfect - I’m not saying that - but part of having a job is working with other people, and that includes the give-and-take of what you’re experiencing right now.
If you honestly, truly can’t bring yourself to work under these circumstances, you might want to change careers. Contract and gig work could potentially give you the strict adherence to tasks that you’re looking for, but it may come at the cost of pay, benefits, or difficulty in finding work. Starting your own business will at least mean all the work you do directly benefits you, but that again comes with its own set of risks.
Final thought:
Being employed so you don’t end up homeless. Nothing grander or more meaningful than that. You need a job, so you’re doing what it takes to keep your job. Same as the rest of us.