One of my coworkers is an older lady, probably in her 50's, maybe 60's (I'm terrible at making age estimates, but it doesn't matter). She's also ex-military, so she has a very structured way to her, and not a fan of lazy workers. I think she's great, but her point of view is…well, outdated. (Oh and for the record, she isn't a supervisor or manager or anything. She's just a base worker like everyone else.)
She came up to me today at my work assignment, and we got into a conversation about some of our coworkers. Specifically they're not doing their jobs. Now mind you, it annoys me too when I have to pick up their slack, but she wouldn't listen to me as to WHY they aren't doing their jobs. She just kept going on about them not doing their jobs, always on their phones, etc.
“They DON'T CARE,” I said, “The admins have been treating us like shit and ignore us when we ask for change! Remember when they were stationing us outside in the freezing cold and refused to try to winterize the shelter? Do you really expect them to work their best when its apparent we are just schlubs?”
She says, “They [the workers] KNEW that was in the job description when they took the job! So that's not an excuse!”
The funny thing is this same statement has been said by the supervisors and the managers: “You knew that was going to be part of the job.” It's one of their favorites when we peons get restless and complain about poor conditions.
Cut to later today. The manager wanted to talk to me. See, I sent her an email the other day saying that a link on our website was too hard to find. We were getting LOTS of calls asking for help. I'd have to direct them where to find the link, So I sent an email saying the hidden link needs to be on the front page.
“Hey I got that email you sent. The reason we don't have that link on the front page of the website is because its only me and [other manager] taking care of those. Lots of times I'm doing those after work at home!” says Manager.
So basically we'll keep that important link hidden so the managers don't have to deal with them.
My only regret is I didn't think to say, “You knew that was in the job description when you signed on!”