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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that this is absolutely not in my job description?

145 replies

CatThiefkeith · 20/05/2016 15:26

I work in an office. As a receptionist / Administrator. Due to a cock up (not mine) there is one man working outside today rather than the usual three, and two women in the office instead of the usual three. And both bosses are on holiday.

Someone seems to have put a load of poison down in the yard, and now customers who store things here (difficult to explain without outing myself) have begun reporting smells. This morning it has transpired that there are several dead foxes out in the yard, and it seems they have been there a while. They are crawling with maggots. Boak.

Anyhoo - Picking them up is a two person job - one with a shovel, one with an open black sack. Office manager has tried to send me out with yard man and I have point blank refused. Surely that is not unreasonable? It does say in my contract I can be asked to perform extra duties, but surely I can't be expected to pick up dead smelly animals? Office manager has gone off with black bags muttering darkly about me not being a team player and waiting til the boss gets back. Confused

OP posts:
YesYABU · 20/05/2016 15:30

Sorry? Did the office manager offer to be a team player too?

YANBU!

cleaty · 20/05/2016 15:31

It sounds like it is a small firm? Sorry I think YABU.

fuzzywuzzy · 20/05/2016 15:32

YANBU, I'd have refused too in yur shoes. Sounds to Mel ime the office manager thought you'd be easiest to bully into doing the unpleasant task.

cleaty · 20/05/2016 15:33

It is not bullying to ask someone to do a job. And since OP refused, it sounds as if the office manager did it.
I have worked in many small firms and you do need to muck in.

GummyBunting · 20/05/2016 15:33

YABU

I work in an office in a small organisation, and sometimes weird out of the ordinary things happen and one of us has to deal with it. I doubt anybody in your company has that sort of thing in their job description, but some of you will have to deal with it.

You've been very unfair to your colleague. Don't be surprised if this comes back to bite you.

AnnPerkins · 20/05/2016 15:34

YANBU. I work for a small firm and would pitch it with most things but not this.

Never ask someone to do something you're not prepared to do yourself. Why can't the office manager do it?

Original poster
CatThiefkeith · 20/05/2016 15:36

It's not THAT small, but small enough. There should be 9 people here today, and there are actually 3. (One has gone to the doctors)

I don't write the roats or sign holiday off mind, that is the office managers mistake job so she can be the team player! Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
CatThiefkeith · 20/05/2016 15:37

roats? Rota's ffs.

OP posts:
Queenbean · 20/05/2016 15:37

YANBU!!! Office manager needs to contact someone to come and sort them out

cleaty · 20/05/2016 15:38

If you manage specialist staff, you are always asking people to do things you can't do yourself. I can't work out payroll, but I ask others to do it. So not a good principle.
And if none of the bosses are there, the reality is the office manager is already probably doing work today that they would do.
IME in small firms, the OP is the kind of person who expects the most senior person there to do all the horrible jobs.
Also IME small firms are great at being flexible to take account of needs individuals may have. But this is a two way track.

HoppingForward · 20/05/2016 15:39

Yabu, I would have joked with the office manager and said I'd do it if they helped me but I would still have gone out with the black sack and got on with it.

As I did when we had to herd a sheep out of our carpark, and a peacock and help deal with the aftermath of someone shitting on the bathroom floor and a customer walking it through the showroom that was a team building session Grin

DuckAndPancakes · 20/05/2016 15:39

I'd be more concerned about who has spread poison randomly that any animal can get to it. It's obviously not in a proper bait box.

I'd have phoned a local pest control company to deal with it. I don't see how it's in your job description in any capacity to dispose of rotting, dead animals.

cleaty · 20/05/2016 15:40

The Office Manager may have given people time off for very good reasons. She would not tell you about individuals personal situations.
I fully expect everyone who has only worked in large firms to say YANBU. But I honestly think OP you do not understand the dynamic of working in a small firm.

SpuriouserAndSpuriouser · 20/05/2016 15:40

Yeah I can see why you weren't keen to do that particular job OP.

Original poster
CatThiefkeith · 20/05/2016 15:40

I have pitched in with all sorts of weird and wonderful things in the past, but decomposing animals is a step too far.

I have cleaned shit off walls, unblocked toilets and taken a urine sample from the bosses dog though

OP posts:
wasonthelist · 20/05/2016 15:41

Yanbu OP and I speak as someone who had a job removing dead and rotting animals.

Out2pasture · 20/05/2016 15:41

Unexpected things happen and action needs to be taken. Yabu, however I would have safety concerns and would request access to boots, gloves, possibly shower and change of clothing.

cleaty · 20/05/2016 15:42

You really think a local pest control company will come out that day? I know where I work we had to book them for 2 days time to deal with an urgent problem. Sometimes there is no other option but to do it. I also doubt the Office Manager could authorise the expenditure on a pest control company.

Original poster
CatThiefkeith · 20/05/2016 15:44

cleaty I've been here 5 years, I do an awful lot more than is in my job description and promise you my office manager is not snowed under. It's very quiet at the moment. She has also blatantly admitted that she cocked up the rota for today.

I've done all her invoicing for her while she's been picking up foxes though, so I'm not all bad.

Plus I'm going out for dinner after work and the smell might have clung to me.

OP posts:
WhoseBadgerIsThis · 20/05/2016 15:44

I know this isn't the point of this thread, but if you are in the UK, poisoning foxes is illegal:

www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife/inthewild/foxes

If the poison is on your firm's property (and it sounds like it is), I'd suggest someone find out ASAP who put it down (and get it removed!), before other wildlife/pets/people are harmed, and/or your company gets investigated for illegal activity.

Junosmum · 20/05/2016 15:45

I pitch in with pretty much anything. But rotting dead animals covered in undisclosed poison. No.

urbanfox1337 · 20/05/2016 15:46

Oh get off your high horse

DuckAndPancakes · 20/05/2016 15:46

Cleaty - yes they would aim to be in that situation. At least, the one my DP works for does.

If it's done by staff that don't have access to correct equipment who then end up with some parasite or disease, it's going to cost the company a lot more than a pest control call out.

justmyview · 20/05/2016 15:46

Unpleasant task, but I don't assume any of your staff job descriptions include that !

I think YABU. Would have been a great opportunity to show team spirit & muck in. I don't expect your office manager feels it's in his / her job description either

DuckAndPancakes · 20/05/2016 15:49

Also, assuming it's someone within the company that has spread poisons haphazardly rather than having it confined to bait boxes? If it's stuff that's been bought in a regular shop, it must have been a lot of poison that's been consumed and distributed to have killed many foxes.

As a PP said, you're also at risk that a wondering cat or few have had a nibble.