The jobs nobody wants to do

Juvena points out that there are some jobs that nobody wants to do in the workplace, but eventually somebody has to do them and if it is your turn to sit at the reception desk, do the mail run, put out the boxes, clean up the coffee-bar or whatever then it is something you would rather nobody saw you do.

"When it comes to these jobs, though, there is a limit to what I would do," says Juvena. "If I were ever asked by my boss - God forbid! - to clean up a mess in the office toilets I would consider that request to be degrading.”

“My boss would have no right to fling at me some ridiculous argument about my having a menial attitude in order to consider that type of work to be beneath my dignity."

"If the mess bothered my boss so much - and he truly believes that there is no such thing as a menial job, just menial attitudes," says Juvena, "then what's to stop him cleaning it up himself?"

"Why would he ask me to do it?"

"Quite simply, if my boss were ever to request such a task of me then it would be only with one design. That design would be to humiliate me and to demonstrate the importance of his power, position, rank and, yes, gender over me."

“Menial jobs are by definition the type of job that nobody in a position of power and rank or with high self-respect would condescend to do,” says Juvena. "That’s why they are called menial jobs!”

“Fortunately, most workplaces these days are fairly egalitarian and everyone pitches in - including management - when 'menial' work has to be done,” says Juvena, “but as a downtrodden single mom I still have an ‘attitude’ about anyone seeing me do these menial tasks.”

Read more by Juvena on this issue:

single moms and menial work

separation and child support woes

Unfair distribution of work

Unfair distribution of work is a particular problem of teamwork and if the team leader or manager is not addressing the situation when his or her attention is drawn to it, as Anna took pains to do in her job, then there is an additional problem.

"I have a job specification, I was given good training and I am supposed to be doing the same work as everyone else for the same pay," says Anna, "so there is no excuse for an unfair distribution of work that dumps everything on me."

"I appreciate that this problem is fairly common and is not entirely related to my home circumstances," concedes Anna, "but I did hear some of the other women whispering about how awful it must be to have a disabled child -- and this hurt me terribly and I think they are dumping on me because of it."

"It's an awful situation to be in," says Anna. "I can either refuse to do the extra or menial work and suffer the consequences, or I can find a new job and not be so eager, enthusiastic, willing and open next time around."

"I definitely won't be divulging my personal circumstances to the people at work in my next job because they will inevitably treat me differently -- if not badly -- when they know my situation."

“I am convinced that letting everyone know that I had a disabled daughter acted against me,” says Anna, “and my manager seems sympathetic but has failed to address my concerns.”

“I can appreciate that sometimes this sort of thing happens because the manager just doesn't have a clue about who is doing what,” says Anna, “and this may be a fault of my manager’s, but I am beginning to believe that she is playing favorites.”

“I think it is a deliberate ploy among the existing staff members to get the new person to do everything they do not want to do, and my manager just turns a blind eye.”

Read more by Anna on this issue:

sunshine at home, doormat at work
the workplace patsy