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.
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.