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Coffee was not a right. We were working a weekend beyond our normal work
week. And, I had arrived on time. This coffee drinker got to stay home in
the hopes that I would not call him. But, the work required two people. He
was asking for a courtesy, which would not have been a problem if I could
make coffee. It became a problem, because I could not, and, he ignored my
own incompetence after being informed. He should have gotten in on time and
made his own coffee.
There is no reason for a non-coffee drinker to make coffee. There is no
reason for a non-smoker to light a smoker's cigarette. Don't expect me to
milk the cow either, although I can do that.
Nobody has to ask me to do something job related. And, if I have equity, I
own the problem. Still, I've never worked where we didn't have janitors to
take out the trash, and people whose job it was to take care of things.
Moving a video display almost killed me one time. But, if you file a workers
comp claim when you injure yourself doing work that is not in your job
description, your claim will be denied. At some point it is legally
contingent on you not to exceed your job description. This may not be the
case in a small company, but in larger companies the job descriptions become
very specific precisely for tort and insurance purposes.
I did have a supervisor direct me to tell a third-party sales rep how to
steal my company's software by breaching the licensing functions. I told the
supervisor that it was a legal problem and not a technical problem. I left
the problem with a sales engineer who was reliable. But, the sales rep
didn't like the sales engineer's solution, because it left them in the dark
on how to steal the software. So the supervisor threatened me, because I had
not taken responsibility for the problem. I called the CEO and was referred
to one of the other executives who took on the problem, and made the
supervisor cease and desist. I was doing my job. The super was not.
I know where the boundaries are. And, I will enforce them. If that means I
sabotage your coffee, then don't ask, because I will. Taking notes? Nobody
ever asked me to take notes. Nobody every will.
When I worked for a law firm, I never worked for a lawyer for more than one
day if they didn't stick to doing their job. If they reached into the
paralegal's job, I wouldn't come back the next day. I could always find too
much work, and be too busy. I had enough happy clients inside my company
that I could shift clients at will. I could avoid anything that I found
reprehensible. Breaching the paralegal's black box in discover cases always
lead to trouble and demonstrated a bad attitude on the part of the lawyer
involved. What mattered was could I bring you the document you requested in
five minutes or less, not where I put it while its not on your desk.
Micromanagement helped no one.
It's not a matter of what I won't do. We are simply not talking about the
same working conditions. I don't work for you, you wouldn't hire me anyway,
and I probably wouldn't let you hire me. I'm hiring as much as you are.
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