I'm shocked at the entitlement, others think it's normal..?

[Bigstyle]

I work for a small charity. There are three very important, very well paid executives and a small team of "workers".

The executives like their coffee and mostly make it themselves, using the office pod machine. But at the end of the day they bring their cups into the main office for the most junior staff member to wash.

Now, I get that our job is basically to support them, but I can't imagine doing this to my staff. The "junior" doesn't have hot drinks so it's not even like she's going to wash her own cup.

I think it's outrageous, the general attitude it demonstrates rather than the task, but they clearly think it's perfectly normal.

Is it?

This is discusting behaviour. Even the MD should be washing their own mug!

for what reason should he have been exempt? Michelangelo had a team of “juniors” that worked alongside him and did a ton of the filling in. The concept was his but it wasn’t a solo effort. He probably had more time to make his own sandwiches than his team if anything.

Ah… one of those English banks…
Sort code started with 30? 🤔

We were in Northern Ireland.
Still had parity with the Republic of Ireland’s punt when I started. I remember the day the pound broke parity- had to close the doors in the middle of the day 🤣

But what happens when, as is absolutely inevitable, senior people don’t do it?

It can’t be left to the junior non-cleaning staff. And it’s unfair for the cleaners to have to do it without it having been agreed in advance. But one of those two groups will have to do it.

I worked in a big design company in west London in the late 80s. We smoked at our desks, and washed up our mugs (because we brought them in personally) and the big boss sent his PA to borrow my ashtray if he had a client who wanted to smoke because it was a design classic.

Oh, ffs, fine, what if the person's job was at a nuclear reactor, then, if you're going to be pedantic about the specific example used and completely miss the actual point?

from the description it wasn't 'you can only do 5 of these 10 tasks, which do you do and which do you outsource to others'
it was put these tasks in the order of importance
unless I was told otherwise I would assume that all of the tasks were for me to do
and in any reasonable view something that makes money for the business and therefore keeps people employed, or is time/safety critical, or is a core function is more important than washing a mug

it's only a 'gotcha' if someone has the assumption that someone else will do the tasks they don't get round to
if you're already a decent person who would wash their own cup then it would actually be MORE selfless to concentrate on the 'important' tasks that would benefit the organisation as a whole and put up with having a grubby mug as that is only a detriment to yourself

I wonder how much less time was wasted by Mary coming round 3x a day with a cup of tea and a biscuit vs people wondering off to the kitchen to make their own.

If Mary has applied for a job in the company where serving up tea and biscuits is part of their job description that they've signed up to, that's a completely different proposition.

staff being expected to wash up their higher-ups' drinks cups, because the latter see them as their lowly servants, and if said staff members are women (even if the higher-ups are also women), makes this a case of direct discrimination.

The staff could submit a grievance citing direct discrimination under the Equality Act (2010) on the grounds that their job is xyz and they have no contractual obligation to clear up after these people, and that they feel demeaned, minimised and undervalued for the actual skills they bring to the organisation, I bet their behaviour and attitude will miraculously change when they think of the risk of ended up in a Tribunal.

Nope. Clean up after yourself at work. I wouldn’t dream of asking any of my direct reports to clean up after me! If anything I’d be cleaning up after them 🤣

My gosh please do not enable the "execs" behaviour any further. We are not in the 50s. They can wash their own mugs. All of you need to set your boundaries. The execs laughing it off thinking that it's funny the junior says it is not her job and still making her do it would be considered workplace bullying in any sort of reputable organisation.

It’s not very charitable behaviour is it ?

As you say entitled !

Agree completely. Lazy & arrogant. Treating staff with no respect. Wash your own *** cup!

Ime if it's nobody else's job to make your coffee then you clean up after yourself.

can you organise a washing up rota and check with the 3 executives that they're happy to take their turn?

Leave them unwashed. If they moan, say "what do you think this is, a flipping charity?"
(I'll get my coat, and let myself out)

Yeah the lazy people should do it themselves but it's just 3 cups and the most junior person could just leave them.

I don't think it is an issue to get upset over or be concerned about. Do you want to call out the execs on their behaviour? I wouldn't but then doing the washing up wouldn't bother me. Could you suggest a small dishwasher if it is that big a deal.

What’s the job description? Not unreasonable to expect staff to wash up if that’s what they are paid for. Usually it would be the cleaner. Don’t you have a dishwasher?

Leave them in the bloody sink unless it states cleaner in your job description. Cheeky buggers!

They are entitled and pulling rank. How about the junior not washing them because she has to go home earlier than they return the cups.

Interesting attitudes. You might have to make the odd cup of tea or even wash up to get on in a job. It’s not like being a flatmate - good to show willing. I certainly have made a lot of teas over the years. I don’t wash up because the cleaner gathers all the mugs at the end of the day and loads the dishwasher. But I might have done it if asked when a junior staff member.

No, and I notice you say "she" for the junior. Typical.

I'd say in a small office that this set up would be normal. When I started to train as an accountant I was the only junior in a firm with two Partners and two qualified staff, so it was my job to make the coffee and clean the cups, as the person with the lowest charge-out rate. Which makes perfect sense, if you have someone who makes the firm £50ph vs £150ph (back in the 90s) who would you get to do the filing and drinks?

Having said all that, I think it's the attitude that's the issue here. My colleagues were courteous and grateful, making the tea was an appreciated part of the job and not just a menial task for the "lowest", they often stepped-in if I was busy. There was one boss wasn't however, she was rude and haughty, I used to make her drinks with tea bags from the bin.

So, the junior has "pushed back quite firmly" and you see the solution as doing it yourself? As her manager, you should also be pushing back firmly and telling the execs that it's not in your staff member's job description (or yours) to wash their crockery and they need to do it themselves.

Nope. Junior should not be doing it. Different if everyone (and I mean everyone) takes a turn. Thought this shit ended decades ago.

When I started at my current employer 28 years ago as a temp at a junior grade I was 25 and had been made redundant previously. I was informed the junior staff were expected to take in trays of tea, coffee and biscuits (am & pm) and also lunch platters for the all-day senior managers' meeting. There were 12 bloody able-bodied managers! As it was not in the staff handbook I politely refused. The other juniors (most of whom were a bit younger or had started when really young) followed suit. They had to find an alternative.

This is actually great. Whilst the OP may have unwittingly perpetuated the outdated views of juniors/lower ranking staff having to "serve" the "higher powers", you actually set a great example for the others so that they realise they too could say NO.