Was this an unreasonable request at work?

[user1471867483]

At work, in our office, we have been without a cleaner for a few days. She was due to come back today (she did turn up later), but in the meantime, four bins in our office were overflowing with rubbish. A male worker in the office, who isn't my boss, somehow managed to obtain a big bin liner and said to me, "Gis a bit of help with the rubbish will you"? I said I wasn't touching it, in which he replied, "But it's your rubbish too. Don't you do the rubbish at home"? I replied that of course I do, but I'm not at home now, plus I don't get paid any extra for doing that here".
It was him who wanted to rubbish bins collected in the first place. They weren't smelling and I was happy to wait for our cleaner (who turned up anyway).

It was a reasonable request and you were a bit arsey about it.

Gosh, I thought this was going to be a ‘male office worker expected female to sort the bin out’ thread.
I’d have just helped.

I'd have given him a hand without a thought. Fair play to him for helping out.

Completely reasonable request.

I agree that it was a reasonable request, and I think your response was unreasonable.

I think it's perfectly reasonable. Overflowing bins are a pain and it presumably wouldn't have taken more than a couple of minutes of you time. You come across as very much not a team player. Plus, I think it's just nice to help people out. You never know when you might want a favour from them.

Totally reasonable request. But well done for making it clear to your colleague that 1) you’re happy to be a slob and 2) you think you are above doing bins.

I really like people at work who get on and help make the environment better. I'd have helped in a heart beat.

This is exactly what I assumed .

our cleaner has been off - we have mopped , cleaned , done the bins .

I assume you think it is beneath you.

Jesus people like you are just hard work in the workplace. It's your rubbish too, it's unfortunate the cleaner isn't there but assuming you don't want to sit amongst the rubbish you could just bag it and bin it.

Wow. I thought it was going to be man asked woman to do domestic chore situation, but he was doing it and asked for a hand? You were a proper arse IMO. It would have taken a moment and you're happy for others to do it for you. Why on earth wouldn't you?

You remind me of a colleague I worked with years ago who said that she couldn't empty a bin when our cleaners were very stretched because she had a degree and she didn't think she should have to.

I lost all respect for her at that point. I imagine many of your colleagues will have a similar response to you.

Perfectly readonable request. Why wouldn't you help out?

Most people wouldn't have thought twice about it. Weird

I think it was a reasonable request.

If you use that kitchen and put your rubbish in the bin then I don't get why you'd not want it to be a hygienic clean area.

A tad me-me-me

If you had to do it everyday and no one else ever helped, that's a different discussion.

Yeah, completely reasonable and I don't understand why you were so snarky tbh, it just makes you look like a dick.

How much extra would you expect to be paid to empty a bloody bin?

Even if the cleaner was expected back, it's still nice that the first thing she sees isn't overflowing bins.

Gosh not something I'd get annoyed about at all. If I see something that needs doing I generally do it, whether that's at home or at work. Wouldn't bother me emptying bins if they needed done, even if it wasn't written down in my job description!

Of course you should've helped him. Poor bloke!

OK. Thanks, guys. I put my hands up. 😳

Emptying into in a bin bag is hardly challenging, I’d have just done it.

Are you always this rude to people?

thanks OP. Not often someone comes back after a unanimous condemnation like that.

Yup

Well done for accepting the feedback, OP. Not all posters do.

Make your colleagues a cuppa and say sorry. It took you longer to write the post than it would have to help with the rubbish.

I do litter picking to keep our local park clear of rubbish, it’s not even my rubbish!
You are setting yourself up to be “ that person” in your office. I used to work with someone like you they used to whip out their much used copy of the Blue Book ( where all the job descriptions were detailed) every time time they got asked to do something they didn’t want to do, it was always straight forward stuff nothing outrageous. We called them Blue Book when speaking about them, when they weren’t in earshot.