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

[CatThiefkeith]

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.

I mean not unreasonable in the sense that as nobody had considered the environmental health, the manager had a very small pool of people who she could rope in to help, none of whom had a job description that made it their responsibility. The way the manager behaved towards the OP was wrong, without a doubt, but I'd probably brush that off as her lashing out a bit because (without anyone having stopped to think of the correct solution) it looked like she was going to have to be the one holding the bag of fox soup. That's enough to rub anyone up the wrong way.

But if it's nobody's job description and it's a shit job, the fair thing is for the person in charge (who's presumably being paid the most!) to do it. Trying to bully the most junior person there into doing it, especially when you're not busy yourself and they're more client facing than you and therefore their need not to smell like putrefying flesh is greater (can't believe I just typed that sentence) is dickish behaviour.

I can't sympathise too much about her being left holding the bag of fox soup either, since it was her own fault it didn't occur to her that this is not a situation that can be solved by a few binbags. Hopefully she does indeed tell the boss and the boss has a few things to say.

Agreed, hence my comment about her poor judgement

We ocassionally get human crap in my works car park, amongst other nasty things. I've never been asked to clean it up. The nurse does because she has a strong stomach and jabs against hepatitis.

Theunsullied -
Bagging up dead and rotting animals is actually definitely in my DPs job description. He does this shit professionally. HE (or someone like him) is the person that should have been called in to do this job.

The police would have been a bit foxed as to who the culprit would be.

HeartsTrumpDiamonds yes! We absolutely can have a meet up on the boat.

The waste ground is part of our land for those that asked, and the area where the poisoning occurred is in a locked compound. Still very wrong though.

Will update once in at work.

Been a bit hectic here this morning.

1. I am not in any trouble whatsoever.

1. Boss is furious about the poison

1. Boss is also furious that decomposing bodies have spent 2 days in a hot shed wrapped in bin liners. The smell is horrific, we can't have any windows open

1. Environmental health are coming out this afternoon

That's a relief! Not the smell part obviously, I bet that's just delectable on a warm day. But the rest, yes. I really want to hear what Environmental Health have to say about this.

BonerSibary I just love your turn of phrase:

I really think you've got to raise that Keith, not just to justify your decision but also because, you know, what the actual fuck.

Brill.

I'm not squeamish and at various times in my career have been elbow deep in dissected guts, etc, but there is absolutely no way I'd be exposing myself to a semi liquid fox that's been poisoned with Christ knows what. It's a massive safety risk. A liquid decomposing corpse can be seething with virus/bacteria/parasite plus the danger of the poison. No way.

Foxes shouldn't be at risk from properly laid bait. Your company is at risk of being liable not only for the foxes but anyone or anything that it's exposed to.

Consider this scenario: white van man with little dog that jumps out into the yard and goes sniffing around

Or far, far worse, someone's clothing getting exposed to it, or someone treading on it, then their inquisitive toddler picking up clothes from the laundry/chewing something.

The gore is the least of this. You need to call environmental health NOW and get them to come in and clear the poison. Now, today, immediately.

Zaurak the EHO is here now. We phoned them first thing this morning.

Keep us updated, OP!

Dp wants to know the latest news (he woke me from a nap to ask what was happening ) He also said if the company is in the South East and needs a proper pest control company to give you the details of who he works for lol.

I do hope it all gets sorted out. Glad (and unsurprised) that there's no repercussions for you!

I didn't realise that the dead foxes were going to be stored on site for a few days. Horrible idea.

Not much to report. Office manager, boss and EHO are all in the bosses office with the door shut. I did make drinks but they all fell silent as I took them in.

Should I put a glass to the wall?

Yes, glass to the wall indeed! Must discover what is happening.

Cleaty, what do you propose they did with them? They may well need samples taking from them to identify the poison.

I've worked in a small office.
No I would not do this. They can pay to have it sorted. It's not about 'mucking in' being part of a small office doesn't suddenly mean you have to also be the cleaner.

EHO is gone. He is coming back tomorrow with a specialist and they are removing the foxes.

Sadly I am not in tomorrow, and nobody is talking about it. There is a definite atmosphere in the office. I think the Office Manager got a bollocking.

Why thank you hearts. Kind of writes itself when you have a situation this ridiculous though. And I'm glad OM got a bollocking. Not to take joy in the misfortune of others, but what she did was wrong for so many reasons. I have to say as well, those people who thought you were BU OP, I really hope none of them are any kind of manager.

I agree that when there's a random horrible unexpected job, the most senior person does it and others pitch in if needed

When i worked in a small shop, sometimes the customer toilet was left in a truly foul state, and generally the assistant manager (manager had finished for the day when I worked) would sort it. I honestly don't think I could've stomached it. And for minimum wage with a job description of shop assistant, I don't think I should have to! People that do deal with disgusting things for minimum wage (care staff, cleaners etc) have my utmost respect and should be paid far more than they are!

I'm glad you're not in trouble OP, and that environmental health are now dealing with it