My first meeting at work.
I was asked how we could generate more revenue.
I said get more bowlers.
All eyes "deer-in-headlighted" me.
You could have heard a pin drop.

Later in the meeting I was held up as an example of someone who goes the extra mile by picking up trash, whipeing down tables, cleaning up messes, etc., all the stuff the frontend employees are supposed to do.
A mechanic comming up front to do that.
All employee eyes glared at me.
I really only done it to stay busy inbetween wrenching and stuff.
And it kept me from reading to much "Tranny-Grannies With Chocolate Who-Ha's" just to burn up time.

After the meeting I was called into the office by the same manager and told not to clean up anymore.
It's not my job.
I said I thought I was helping & rah rah teamwork & having each others back & you know, all the stuff they pounded into me in corrporate orientation.
He nicely said I was doing more harm then good.
I was making people lazy.

Strange days.

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And they said one to another, "Behold, for here comes the dreamer. Come now, let us slay him and we shall see what then will become of his dreams." ~ Genesis 37: 19-20

I think the message there was to go ahead and find things to do. Just don't do someone else's job because it makes them lazy.

Leading by example doesn't work as well as it should. Its really a shame. Glad to hear that you're doing well at the bowling alley anyways, and I would have gave a very approving, knowing nod and a smile at the "Get more bowlers" comment.

I am happy to see you are working so hard but I see this ALL to often. One of my clients is PG&E here in California. In speaking to one of the managers who is responsible for their communication equipment, he gave me some insight into their "help" issues. He is 100% responsible for the equipment, programming, and installation. He installs the unit in a rack after programming. The unit has a power cord and a data wire.....TWO CONNECTIONS that simply unplug. He has to stand there idle and wait for the cabling guy to arrive to plug in the 2 connections. If he does it, he gets written up for taking someone elses job away from them.


In a nutshell for you, you now can do less and make the same amount of money so I would enjoy it.

When you see someone doing your job, the job you are susposed to be doing, shouldn't you feel somewhat responsable and get down there and do it?
Tell the person thanx for helping out while you got backed up, but you got it now?
I mean, instead of seeing someone doing your job and saying, "Cool, I didn't want to do it anyway." and not lift a finger to do it?
I mean, I don't enjoy doing it, but the faster it gets done, the better it looks for us.
Happy customers ***** less & spend more.
The business makes more money, the employees make more money.
If everyone goes the extra little bit, everyone wins.
I mean, right?

Hmmmm, maybe I got a lot to learn about the big city & big business.

[This message has been edited by Boondawg (edited 03-10-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: [My manager] nicely said I was doing more harm then good.

Listen to your manager. You really want to help and go the extra mile for your employer. That's good. But ask your manager for suggestions how you can do that without stepping on somebody else's toes.

Something to think about: What happens if you were allowed to clean tables and bus the area regularly, to the point that they depended on you to do it, and then one day your primary job of maintaining the equipment took all of your time and you couldn't do all that other stuff? What would your customers think then? Do you think that some of them might be offended by the trashy conditions and not come back? That is the kind of thing your manager worries about every day.

It also helps if your co-workers realize that you're trying to help them do a good job rather than trying to do their jobs for them. You're the new kid on the block; back off a little bit until your co-workers realize that you aren't a threat to them. "What can I do to help you?" is a much better approach than "Here, let me do that for you!"

[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 03-10-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: My first meeting at work. I was asked how we could generate more revenue. I said get more bowlers. All eyes "deer-in-headlighted" me. You could have heard a pin drop. Later in the meeting I was held up as an example of someone who goes the extra mile by picking up trash, whipeing down tables, cleaning up messes, etc., all the stuff the frontend employees are supposed to do. A mechanic comming up front to do that. All employee eyes glared at me. I really only done it to stay busy inbetween wrenching and stuff. And it kept me from reading to much "Tranny-Grannies With Chocolate Who-Ha's" just to burn up time. After the meeting I was called into the office by the same manager and told not to clean up anymore. It's not my job. I said I thought I was helping & rah rah teamwork & having each others back & you know, all the stuff they pounded into me in corrporate orientation. He nicely said I was doing more harm then good. I was making people lazy. Strange days.

Some will be along to call you:

"Company man."
"Management wannabe"
"Suckass"

I call you
"Dedicated"

quote Originally posted by Marvin McInnis: Do you think that some of them might be offended by the trashy conditions and not come back? That is the kind of thing your boss is worrying about every day. It also helps if your co-workers think that you're trying to help them do a good job rather than trying to do their jobs for them. You're the new kid on the block; back off a little bit until your co-workers realize that you aren't a threat to them.

Got to agree there, better to find something constructive to do that doesn't step on anyones toes if you can, if not spend some time getting to know your co-workers and rather than do their job, ask them if they need a hand.

Sucks when hard work and good intentions are discouraged I know but there are "politics"(for lack of a better term) everywhere.

quote Originally posted by Marvin McInnis: You really want to help and go the extra mile for your employer. That's good. Ask your boss for suggestions how you can do that without stepping on somebody else's toes. Something to think about: What happens if you were allowed to clean tables and bus the area regularly, to the point that they depended on you to do it, and then one day your primary job of maintaining the equipment took all of your time and you couldn't do all that other stuff? What would your customers think then? Do you think that some of them might be offended by the trashy conditions and not come back? That is the kind of thing your boss is worrying about every day. It also helps if your co-workers think that you're trying to help them do a good job rather than trying to do their jobs for them. You're the new kid on the block; back off a little bit until your co-workers realize that you aren't a threat to them. "What can I do to help you?" is a much better approach than "Here, let me do that for you!"

I think every bit of the above is "nail on the head".
It is what I think they think and also what I will do.

[This message has been edited by Boondawg (edited 03-10-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: When you see someone doing your job, the job you are susposed to be doing, shouldn't you feel somewhat responsable and get down there and do it? Tell the person thanx for helping out while you got backed up, but you got it now? I mean, instead of seeing someone doing your job and saying, "Cool, I didn't want to do it anyway." and not lift a finger to do it?

This is life. Just the other night I went upstairs and was disgusted with all the dirty dishes sitting on our counter, so while the one girl who cooks and eats every other hour of the day, and then just leaves the aftermath laying on the counter. So I started washing them, while she sat in the living room watching the Food Network (I was in plain sight, our living room and kitchen are just separated by a bar). After awhile another roommate came in to the kitchen, and helped dry the dishes and put them away. NOT ONCE did she even think about getting up from the couch.

Honestly, what good is living with 4 women if I have to do dishes?!? (joke )

[This message has been edited by 1988holleyformula (edited 03-10-2011).]

quote Originally posted by 1988holleyformula: Honestly, what good is living with 4 women if I have to do dishes?!? (joke )

If you were "doing" it differently, you would never be doing any dishes at all!
Or cooking, or cleaning, or laundry, etc.

Tell 'em all off, grab two beers, and jump out the fire exit. You'll be a hero.

quote Originally posted by tbone42: Tell 'em all off, grab two beers, and jump out the fire exit. You'll be a hero.

Easy there, I'm only 20. (And they are all at least 21, so they are good for certain purchases )

Must be a union shop and you are a mechanic not a table cleaner so you are taking workd from the table cleaner's union members. Shame on you. Showing up the slackards who are not doing their jobs.

We must have that same boss!!

"Good Job today!! Now do it again and you are fired!!"

"Let no good deed go unpunished."

I can't really add anything else to what the others have said, except that I certainly wouldn't call it a "repremand".

Since I'm always on the lookout for good literature of all kinds, but especially the edgier stuff, I searched Amazon and GOOGLE for "Tranny-Grannies With Chocolate Who-Ha's".
No results.
I even tried "Chocolate Hoo Has".
Nothing relevant.
Who is the author? Publisher?
I MUST have this!

[This message has been edited by NEPTUNE (edited 03-10-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: When you see someone doing your job, the job you are susposed to be doing, shouldn't you feel somewhat responsable and get down there and do it?

That is so 50's. Get with the program, this is 2011.

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: My first meeting at work. I was asked how we could generate more revenue. I said get more bowlers. All eyes "deer-in-headlighted" me. You could have heard a pin drop.

HAHAHA!!! That's classic!

Sadly, it's also typical of management types (and management wannabes) to ignore the obvious in favor of clever schemes (which seldom work as planned). But that's OK. A dose of the ole Boonie Truth Sauce will do 'em some good.

Sorry, read your OP, then hit reply, not sure if anyone mentioned this:

This sort of "going the extra mile" stuff is largely frowned upon in some companies.
(Even if you were just doing "busy work")

-You're doing other people's work
-You're showing everyone that that other person is lazy (isn't doing their job)
(Only their supervisor should be telling them to work harder/faster)
-if you got hurt or in a fight or something somehow doing something othetr then your job... it would be bad.
-If you have "free time", then they need to make you work harder/longer/faster/sexier/etc...

An idle cog is a terrible, terrible waste of a cog...!

One problem is, if you do this sort of thing, if/when you mess up at YOUR job, they can/ (and might) TOTALLY hold it over your head "Maybe If you were doing YOUR JOB instead of *whatever*, you might not have made that mistake"
And you really can't say much in your defense.

I know you're just being "YOU".

I did (and still do) the same type of stuff. Thanksfully, I'm no longer in a Union shop which has specific rules against it.
(Even within the same union, there were differences in how people acted. NY pretty much all worked together to help out. NJ...woa, they were so specific - "I only do EXACTLY what is in my job description, NOTHING more." Very much like robots over there...

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: When you see someone doing your job, the job you are susposed to be doing, shouldn't you feel somewhat responsable and get down there and do it? Tell the person thanx for helping out while you got backed up, but you got it now? I mean, instead of seeing someone doing your job and saying, "Cool, I didn't want to do it anyway." and not lift a finger to do it? I mean, I don't enjoy doing it, but the faster it gets done, the better it looks for us. Happy customers ***** less & spend more. The business makes more money, the employees make more money. If everyone goes the extra little bit, everyone wins. I mean, right? Hmmmm, maybe I got a lot to learn about the big city & big business.

We are so alike. If the others were busy and I were them, when it got slow, I would find you and give you a high five. The last long term employer I had ( network operations ), any big outage I would check the others guys work. The tickets would get looked at by other companies executives and would be compensated based on fault. I would not really do any of the work but, inform them of issues I had seen that are relevant but, not in the ticket and offer to do updates, prep for a plan B, call additional resources, or take over their other work. My co-worker liked it and the bosses loved it.
Good luck finding a balance.

quote Originally posted by NEPTUNE: Since I'm always on the lookout for good literature of all kinds, but especially the edgier stuff, I searched Amazon and GOOGLE for "Tranny-Grannies With Chocolate Who-Ha's". No results. I even tried "Chocolate Hoo Has". Nothing relevant. Who is the author? Publisher? I MUST have this!

Is bacon involved or can it be?

quote Originally posted by FieroRumor: ....... -if you got hurt or in a fight or something somehow doing something othetr then your job... it would be bad. .......

the only legitimate reasoning I've seen

I know the feeling. At the last company I worked for, a 150 million dollar a year multinational technology leader, I worked my butt off and was the best at what I did. I did it because I considered everyone downstream of my work tasks as my customers and I really wanted to make them happy. I put myself through training to understand the products better and was able to catch sales mistakes as a result (I was in shipping/receiver/material handling), helped out in the tech department (with approval of our bosses), and on and on. The repair department manager called me "the best receiver the company ever had" in their 40 year history. I wasn't doing the things I did for any reason other than as stated and because I took personal satisfaction from the quality of my efforts.

My co-workers hated me with apoplectic rage. They went out of their way to sabotage my work, trash-talked me with anyone who would listen, did what they could to poison my reputation with other employees who didn't know me personally, and tried to get me fired at several opportunities. They back-stabbed, lied, distorted and misrepresented facts, whatever it took to get me gone. They spent more effort trying to bring me down to their level than it would have taken to work as effectively as I could.

When I got my degree I left the company. By then the company had gotten a bad infection of MBA types and the upper-management to worker ratio had gone from about 11:1 down to about 4:1 as the managers brought in more of their fellow cronies. Within three years after I left the company was so weak that it got bought by a competitor, stripped of assets, and dissolved. I still miss many of the people I worked with aside from my co-workers. Because of my efforts to undo the slander and libel from my co-workers I found myself making good friendships with many of the people that worked there outside of my department.

I never did bow under the pressure to lower my work quality and personal standards despite the terrible cost to me, and that's something I'm proud of to this day.

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Bring back civility and decorum!

It's possible to understand someone's point of view without accepting it. It's possible to disagree with someone without being rude and nasty about it. Sure it's hard, but nothing worth doing is ever easy, is it?

[This message has been edited by JazzMan (edited 03-10-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Nurb432: That is so 50's. Get with the program, this is 2011.

Agreed.
I am definatly "out of time".

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: Later in the meeting I was held up as an example of someone who goes the extra mile by picking up trash, whipeing down tables, cleaning up messes, etc., all the stuff the frontend employees are supposed to do. After the meeting I was called into the office by the same manager.... Strange days.

Well, that manager may not be able to motivate his front-side workforce properly, but he has learned ONE lesson:

Give praise in public, but criticisim in private. We should ALL note how that's done, even if the point may well be totally beyond us.

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: My first meeting at work. I was making people lazy. Strange days.

That’s our Boonie!

Steve

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Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.