To have refused to clean it up?

[SickOfRoses]

I’m a cleaner. Got to work yesterday and other members of staff kept following me around - they ultimately recorded me going into the men’s toilets. On the floor was wet torn up toilet roll, toilet roll “balls” splattered on the walls, toilet roll slung all over the toilet and what appeared to be shit smeared all over the toilet and floor (turned out to be chocolate syrup). There was also an elf on the floor holding an empty toilet roll tube.

The other staff members were in hysterics recording my reaction. I didn’t see the funny side at all and walked out suggesting they clean up their mess so I could get on with my job. In my defence I didn’t feel that well to start with, hadn’t slept well and had slipped on the way into work and hurt my hip.

I was called a misery, reminded that it was Christmas and told to lighten up. They have now uploaded the video of my reaction to Facebook and it has been shared twice already and I’m worried it will end up going “viral”. I have asked them to remove it and will be going to management if they don’t.
Am I being unreasonable??

That’s so incredibly disrespectful. Please complain.

Agree with others. Save the video to show HR & manager then report to Facebook

@Gazelda

It's bullying. They've got together as a gang to deliberately target you. They did it in a way to show you they think your role is beneath theirs. And then posted the clip to further humiliate you. Disgusting people who should have the book thrown at them.

Exactly this. They're making very clear what they think of cleaners. If I were in a management role and my staff had behaved like this, the sanctions would be very severe.

The prank would be sort of funny if they were cleaning it up.
Do any of the other ‘pranks’ involve staff members having to do extra work?

I would be fuming with them sharing the video on SM and I would be going higher up and threatening legal action as you have not given your permission.

They sound like a bunch of immature twats.
It’s one thing to play jokes but if that person doesn’t find it funny then you stop and apologise.

It's nothing like pranking a "power person". It's punching down. Where in the office hierarchy - or any hierarchy - is a cleaner? Do they even know OP like they would know one of their desk based colleagues? Presumably they didn't cover "power peoples' " work in pretend shit and add to their workload in the process? That's contempt, pure and simple, for the job that OP does. Not a good look for OP's employer actually, that this sort of contempt is the workplace culture, when having clean premises is particularly vital at this time.

I have a few questions if you don't mind: Didn't you tell anyone when you arrived at work that you'd just fallen over and hurt your hip? I work in schools and have always said hello the cleaners as they arrived and asked how they are. If no-on in your school speaks to you when you arrive and does that kind of generic "how are you" to you as you arrive each day then it doesn't sound a very friendly place to start with.

Were you not suspicious when they started following you round and then recording? I can imagine there probably being some whispering and giggling as they anticipated your reaction. Often if you're prepared for a joke then you find it more funny.

Who actually DID clean up the mess in the end? If they actually were expecting you to clean it all up before doing your usual cleaning in there, and there's no indication from your post that they WERE expecting you to clean it up, then that's really not on.

Did no-one apologise? In my school if a joke had backfired and someone had an extreme reaction like that to a daft elf on the shelf prank then someone would have taken them aside to check they were ok. It's common sense to apologise to someone if something like that has backfired and someone was upset by it, whether you agree with their reaction or not. As you say, there are often good reasons for why someone doesn't find something funny or has a different reaction to everyone else. Sensitive people would try to find out what the matter is, not get all annoyed because it didn't have the intended effect, or even worse, find the recipient's upset reaction funny.

Posting it online to take the piss is bullying.

If they had wanted to 'prank' you there's plenty of other things they could have done instead of making a disgusting mess that it's your job to clean up anyway.

@Dwrcegin

Are these people adults or do you work in a school?

Increasing your workload for fun is not on. You need HR involvement asap. Can you tag the higher ups on facebook so they can see the video?

School children would have been made to clean it up and apologise to the cleaner. And kept in isolation if not suspended for 2-3 days.

It's hugely disrespectful.

It could have been a misguided attempt at a playful prank, but the fact they uploaded the video shows it isn't.

When you didn't find it funny, they should have apologised and cleaned up, as it is they uploaded the video.

Take it to HR, and ask them to get it taken down and point out to your colleagues that cleaners are important members of the team, not lesser beings to be abused. Post Covid, you'd think people would have figured that out..

@MindyStClaire

Get yourself a copy of that video ASAP before they grow sense and take it down. Then straight to HR or management. Awful behaviour and in any decent workplace they will be in serious trouble.

I agree with this. I hope you are okay, those people are horrible

This is terrible. Ask HR or management to tell them to take the video down immediately. Regardless of anything else they had no right to film you at work and upload it anywhere.

It sounds like a silly immature prank, but they should then step in and clean up the mess they made. They should not be leaving extra work for you to do.

Extreme reaction?

I think the OP was remarkably restrained.

I love a laugh and have been pranked a plenty. If anyone had ever tried to make it a degrading or humiliating experience they would have been told in no uncertain terms.

This was a prank along the lines of ‘clean our shit up’. I don’t think it is funny. Not one bit.

Because the filming took it to another level.

Would they have done it to their boss? I doubt it. So why is the cleaner fair game?

OP, please put your complaint to your manager in writing. You must write it down. Please name the bullies in your complaint and ask that this ‘bullying’ is dealt with. You must must take the formal route. Like other said this is bullying as it was intended to humiliate. And then putting it in Facebook is intended as further humiliation. This absolutely must not be allowed to go unchallenged. You are definitely not being unreasonable. And your point about adding to your work is very true.

complain to HR
take a copy of the video as proof.
let them know that if the matter is not treated appropriately, you will be reporting the GDPR breach (publicly sharing a video of you without your consent) to the office of the information commissioner.

Childish behaviour by them. Can you not report fb video under the terms that it's you in the video and you don't want it there!

Report to HR!

That is unforgivably shit and utterly unprofessional. Thick twats abound sadly. Take. Them. Down.

@SickOfRoses

Their excuse is that numerous members of staff have been pranked by “the elf” and I’m the only one that has had a problem with it. What they fail to realise is that everyone else don’t clean as their actual job. For me it was simply adding to my work.

I'd be tempted to have an accident with a bottle labelled as bleach - over their clothes.

Is there a ringleader? There usually is.

Yanbu get the video, take screenshots and go to HR. Who wants to clear that up - even if it does turn out to be syrup. Don't they have anything better to do.

@Dwrcegin

Are these people adults or do you work in a school?

Increasing your workload for fun is not on. You need HR involvement asap. Can you tag the higher ups on facebook so they can see the video?

You could potentially make some money out of this, maybe you make video go viral and name the company. Or tell the you're prepared to do that, see how much you can get out if them.

YANBU. That’s bullying. Report it immediately.

@SickOfRoses, I'm so sorry for you - what a horrible experience these horrible people planned for you, and then to video it and post it online!! They should have apologised immediately once they realised their childish prank had backfired instead of going on to bully you. Please take everyone's advice - take a copy of the video and report it in writing immediately to HR, report the video to FB too and get it taken down.

Hope you get an apology from these idiots and compensation from HR.

Your poor thing, truly shit behaviour from them. HR immediately - that video needs to come down immediately. Hope your day looks up.

And well done you for refusing to clean it up! Let these unpleasant idiots be responsible for cleaning up their own mess, how dare they bully someone working an essential job that's traditionally seen as low in the pecking order. Post covid, shouldn't we all be more aware of the need for scrupulous cleaning regimes, and even more appreciative of those who perform this essential service? I feel very outraged on your behalf.

What a disgraceful thing for them to have done!
It's NOT a joke, trebling your workload as a prank!
If they'd done it to see your reaction, and THEN said "don't worry, we'll clean it up" then ok - but they didn't, they expected you to do it and THAT'S the appalling bit.

Hope HR comes down on them like a ton of bricks.

Bullying behaviour.

I’m sorry you had to suffer this.

As others have said you need to screen record the video now and contact HR.

The bullies are trying to minimise their behaviour which actually make it worse.
‘Oh it’s a joke, others have found it funny’ this is minimising behaviour.