To think this woman was cheeky and rude

[ScrambledEggAndToast]

I am absolutely snowed under at work as usual Today, I was right in the middle of something and one of the clinicians came in and said, 'can you get this form send out to xx' I told her that unfortunately I was very busy but there is a photocopier and she could make a copy and send it to him herself. She grandly informed me that she was very busy, rolled her eyes at me and flounced off declaring that she would get her secretary to do it.

In actual fact, during her paddy, she did herself a disservice because I was just about to say that if she left me the form, I would (as a one off) get it copied and done by Friday.

Anyhow, I am not a secretary, she has one who should be doing this. I am a support worker but people seem to think I am some sort of general dogsbody. I genuinely think that she thought I should immediately stop what I was doing and rush off to start photocopying.

What would you have done? Was I unreasonable to say no?

Oh I have no time for people who eye roll. Silly woman.
YANBU

See here

As for bring asked to do something by a clinician. I assume they're senior to you. Any job description I've seen includes the general ...and anything else required.

Santas, you're onto something with the vague job titles! Mine was annoyingly vague. Was in the job for 5 years and spent the first year ensuring my team were aware of what my job was. Worked very well for the next 3 years. I'd do bits and pieces for people (I'm not a fan of 'it's not my job' either but sadly it's sometimes a necessity when your own job is suffering). Then during the last year I got a new boss (who reported in to my old boss, adding an extra layer of management) who simply decided he'd rather I acted as his PA, and gave the rest of the team the impression that my role spec changed when he started but title stayed the same. I still had my old commitments, but somehow had to fit approximately 10 hours of random people's admin work on top.

Ah yes, the not my jobbers. I wonder who they'll choose 1st at redundancy time. Surely that counts as support?

While the word "Support" does appear in my job title, it's pretty specific, and while my boss would not object to me helping others if I'm able, he clearly and rightly expects me to put my own work first.

Isn't a paddy a tantrum? off piste

I don't think she was U to ask, you were within your rights the say no if this is something you never do for another senior member of staff, although I'm not a fan of 'not in my job description' type responses when one work colleague asks another a one off favour. Your response as you've written seems a bit off for a reasonable request from a senior colleague.
If the clinician was not in their usual office near their PA then I don't think it is a rude and cheeky request but the way you handled the response wasn't so great either.
Just an anecdote. Nicola Horlick, the 'city superwoman' when working in a merchant bank had to go to another floor to see someone. As she entered the office, one of the most successful bankers there asked her to nip to stationary several floors down to get a specific piece of headed paper for a job he was doing. She was a fund manager herself at the time. She just did it and did it fast; the person was so impressed with her efficiency he offered her a position in his department and the rest was history. She mentions this if you hear her speaking as one of her lucky breaks. No 'not my job' attitude there and she could have easily did what you did.
I'm not saying anyone should become a dogsbody, but a one off reasonable request doesn't warrant a 'there's the photocopier do it yourself' either.

Why, when you have a secretary, would you ask some other random person to do an admin task for you? Answer: when you think you're the Boss of Everyone and no one's time means anything except yours. Her attitude problem not yours OP - YANBU.

Dear oh dear about the Paddy thing

Most of my friends are Paddys and laugh about being called one anyway.

As for you saying you can do something on Friday? what on earth is that about? are you totally rushed off your feet till then?

Being a called a 'Paddy', and a tantrum being described as a 'paddy' or 'throwing a paddy' are two different things. 'Paddy' generally meaning 'irishman' and the etymology of 'paddy' to describe a tantrum still in wide dispute. I don't think the op meant anything derogatory or racist by using it. As long as its origin remains in dispute, I would think labelling it racist is uncalled for.

"Being a called" = being called. Random 'a'

I get called lots of things these day, do I really care.... um no! Im very comfortable in my skin. People that arent are the ones that generally create.

*days

Perhaps the most 'reasonable' response would be to say you're busy, but you can take two minutes to show her how the photocopier worked & give her the address of where it needs to be sent to, just so she knows for next time? (The old 'give a man a fish' idea). She'd have no excuse to bug you for it again, whist still being helpful.

Ge yourself a pair of glasses.

Turn to her and look at her over said glasses

Say 'is that not the sort of thing one's secretary should be doing?'

After the discussion that ensues say 'you could have done it yourself in the time it took you to come and interrupt my actual job that i was doing. If you want me to do anything in future, we will need to set up a meeting with my line manager to discuss which work that i am actually doing needs to shift down the scale so that i can do your secretary's work for them'.

I think she just assumed that your job was admin, although I would have thought that a clinician might know what support work means, given your job has specific duties that dont include other people's photocopying.

While I think it is nice to do a favour if you can and are not busy, it would be better if people did their own jobs. That way people would be less likely to get behind or feel put upon.

I think I would have told her that I was snowed under with my own work, offered to show her where everything is and pointed her in the direction of admin support staff for future reference. I dont really see why you stop doing your actual job in order tk do some trivial task for someone else.

I do have a much more specific job title actually but if I told you what it was then it would out me as there was only about 100 of us in the country. Support worker is just a general term and kind of covers it for this thread. She is not in my team.

To the people saying, shouldn't I help out. Myself and this lady were equally as far away from the photocopier as one another and for both of us, it would have meant stopping what we were doing and getting behind on our work. When she has a secretary who can do this for her, it would seem far more logical that she utilises her services rather than asking me. Also, what I was being asked to do was by no means urgent. If the was being asked to go and speak to a patient then, not only is that my job, then I would have not hesitated to stop what I was doing.

Well then I'd definitely expect her to not just assume you are admin staff.

You both sound a bit overworked, stressed and cheeky. You could have said that you were up to your eyeballs and she'd probably find it quicker to ask her secretary as you had a number of pressing deadlines to meet. 'Do it yourself' isn't going to go down well with a professional who is unlikely to be cruising lazily through her day if she works in the health service.

Forget what's in a job description and who should be doing what- there's no resolution when people go down that route.
Clinician should have gine via the right route-Secretary. For some reason that didn't happen. You Were within your rights to say you wouldn't do it as you were busy. If you were less busy maybe you could have helped explain how to do the photocopy. If clinician was less busy perhaps they wouldn't have had you in their sights and decided to ask you.
Probably everyone is too busy