# They don't pay me enough to... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 1, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629 "2011-12-01T00:22:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bhoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@Bhoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bhoe)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/1 "2011-12-01T00:22:20Z")
I was taking to a coworker today. We got on a roll about things we won’t do because they’re not really in our job description and we feel, we make the same salary, we don’t get paid enough to do it. My list: Gofer work Cleaning the actual building. Floors, windows, ect. Answer phones So, what’s your list of things you refuse to do unless it invovles a raise? ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/2 "2011-12-01T01:50:39Z")
Check my work email when I’m not working. ---
**Author:** ![missinformation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@missinformation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missinformation)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/3 "2011-12-01T01:52:58Z")
Go online and research (and order and pay with my own credit card, to be reimbursed later) the must have toys that boss’ grandchild has decided that he wanted last year, one week before Christmas. I did it at work the next day, used grandma’s credit card…they ordered through Amazon from an independent store and paid through the nose…some Toy Story toy and a Thomas the Tank Engine flashlight toy…ended up costing over $200…oy ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/4 "2011-12-01T02:01:08Z")
Cleaning. Though that isn’t really true, because a couple of weeks back, I cleaned out the fridge in the building’s communal kitchen. That was a pretty gross task but there was food in there from 2007. It needed to be done and nobody else was going to step up to the plate. But cleaning bathrooms or stuff like that? That’s not what I was hired for and I wouldn’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/5 "2011-12-01T02:06:43Z")
Cleaning here too. TPTB fired the cleaning company a while back, and they said that the branch manager would handle all the cleaning supposedly to save money. We all knew that wouldn’t happen, because that would take away from his texting and internet surfing and butt-kissing. After about a month of absolutely no cleaning being done, the boss offered extra money to any employee who wanted to do the cleaning. One of the tellers said she’d do it. How the branch manager got away with not cleaning at all is beyond me… He’s special, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/6 "2011-12-01T02:09:48Z")
Work. Been there, done that. Retired is better. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/7 "2011-12-01T02:11:34Z")
I’m not willing to move company equipment any more, especially in my own vehicle. I’m also not interested in running errands for the company, such as picking up stamps or dropping off merchandise for a special customer. If the manager thinks that these things are important to the store, then the manager can do them. I’m WILLING to do them, provided that I’m on the clock and getting paid a bit extra for the hassle. Also, I’ll clean up after myself, but I’m not doing any general cleaning. Not in my job description, and I’m NOT going to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/8 "2011-12-01T02:21:18Z")
It’s weird. The people that claim they don’t get paid enough to do something like clean the bathrooms usually get paid a hell of a lot more than the people that really do it. I don’t think it is the best turn of a phrase for that reason. I am fairly high level but I will do most anything just to break up the day unless it involves personal expense without reimbursement or the potential to damage for something like my clothes. I have climbed up high ladders to string network cables when no one else would do it or lifted really heavy things into trucks. If someone wants to pay me as much as I make to clean windows, I will make them shine like you have never seen before. Like most employees, I am just a whore for hire. The only difference is the pay scale and I will be happy to drop down a few notches on the difficulty side for the same pay. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/9 "2011-12-01T02:36:04Z")
Yeah, the logic of the thread title strikes me as odd. I think it’s better phrased as, “My time and skillset is too valuable to spend doing X” I don’t get paid enough to: supervise other employees mollify irate customers give a shit about your food and labor costs (i.e. I don’t know or care how many X we sell in a day and if you ask me what amount I think we should prep so as not to waste materials, I’m going to pull a number out of thin air. You’re the one with the paperwork on sales; don’t ask me.) ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/10 "2011-12-01T15:54:02Z")
Go to the boss’s car across the street in a blizzard and get his falafel. No joke - there was a raging blizzard and the boss of the tiny office I worked at forgot his falafel in his car. He asked me to go get it. Seriously. I did. Then had an epiphany. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/11 "2011-12-01T16:17:29Z")
When I was an aid worker in Iraq, our security officer had gone off his nut and wouldn’t leave his room. He was peeing in jars in there and would sneak out at night to get food. Before firing him, they asked me to go in and get his guns away from him. I spoke to him for a while, he would not give me the guns and that was as far as I would go with the issue. So they don’t pay me enough to wrestle fire arms away from unhinged lunatics. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/12 "2011-12-01T16:47:20Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It’s weird. The people that claim they don’t get paid enough to do something like clean the bathrooms usually get paid a hell of a lot more than the people that really do it. I don’t think it is the best turn of a phrase for that reason. I’m equally baffled by this concept. I get paid a lot to do a professional job. If you want me to do some menial task COOL! That means I’ll be getting paid a lot to do something that does not normally pay anywhere near that much. I suppose I would draw the line at cleaning toilets, but a lot of what is being described is just tasks. What’s the big deal? CAUTION UNPOPULAR OPINION AHEAD!!! - The willingness to “do anything” is one trait that I have found to result in advancement. Folks who focus on “that’s not my job” do not advance or get the good raises. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/13 "2011-12-01T17:20:00Z")
Kill an innocent child. Not without at least a 20% boost in salary. _After_ taxes. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/14 "2011-12-01T18:48:03Z")
I actually once got into trouble with my boss’ boss for something similar. I was in the middle of preparing the monthly invoices when grandboss popped in and griped that the back office needed to be vacuumed. A couple of keystrokes later, I rolled my chair back to the other counter, grabbed the radio, and asked the houseman on duty to come vacuum. Grandboss was pissed to the point that he told the general manager to write me up for insubordination. I told the GM to save the time and trouble. Only time I’ve ever left a job without notice, but that was the final straw for me dealing with that regional manager. Incidentally, I can and have done things like cleaning bathrooms or vacuuming when they needed to be done. But at that moment, we were paying someone else to do it anyway, and I was the only person on staff with that company who even knew how to do the invoices. Plus, I had my foot wrapped, iced, and elevated due to a workplace injury from the previous day. I recently turned down a job offer from that very same company, because the dickwad is still a member of upper management there… pity, too, because I love everyone else that I know who are still working there. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/15 "2011-12-01T18:59:32Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It’s weird. The people that claim they don’t get paid enough to do something like clean the bathrooms usually get paid a hell of a lot more than the people that really do it. I don’t think it is the best turn of a phrase for that reason. > > I am fairly high level but I will do most anything just to break up the day unless it involves personal expense without reimbursement or the potential to damage for something like my clothes. I have climbed up high ladders to string network cables when no one else would do it or lifted really heavy things into trucks. If someone wants to pay me as much as I make to clean windows, I will make them shine like you have never seen before. Like most employees, I am just a whore for hire. The only difference is the pay scale and I will be happy to drop down a few notches on the difficulty side for the same pay. I think that it’s not that people would refuse to do a task, but that they refuse to do the task for the amount of money that they are currently making. I don’t enjoy cleaning, and if someone wants me to clean up after everyone else, I want more money in order to do that task. Similarly, if my manager wants me to do her job (getting postage and mailing stuff or making deliveries) she needs to either pay me for my time (this particular boss expected me to do it on my own time) or she needs to do it herself, because that’s in HER job description, not mine. There are some things that I flatly refuse to do. I have balance problems, so I won’t climb onto even a low stepstool. I also won’t lift heavy things, because I have a bad back and I’ve already injured it by lifting heavy things. I also won’t endanger my life to get to a workplace. I used to do this, I’d go in during dangerous driving conditions, and then I realized that I was risking my life to earn just a little over minimum wage. The WORST thing that would happen is that some fool wouldn’t be able to buy something if I didn’t show up. And possibly I’d get fired. But my daughter might have had to grow up without a mother. So I quit doing that. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/16 "2011-12-01T20:16:38Z")
There’s very little I won’t do if my boss asks me to. Anything that will make me gag. Anything that is going to cost me money (driving a long distance, buying things when I won’t get repaid). Anything that involves me working when I’m not clocked in (getting people lunch, working at home). If an obnoxious coworker tells me to do something that isn’t in my job description, I’ll tell them to screw themselves (probably not in those words), but that isn’t a situation I’ve found myself in for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/17 "2011-12-01T20:21:43Z")
As a small (in fact it’s tiny) business owner I don’t get paid enough for pretty much anything, but I still get to do all of it, from changing lightbulbs, tax accounting, toilet cleaning, sales… What am I doing in this thread? I recalled a time when my sister said “They don’t pay me enough to answer calls when I’m in the bathroom.” A few years ago Sis was the manager of an internal help desk for a company with branches in several time zones. She covered a lot of weekend hours. She was reprimanded one time because she’d left her blackberry on her desk while she walked down the rather long hall to the ladies’ room. In telling about this she likes to point out that she doesn’t work for the organ transplant network, and the blowhard who reported her for taking 5 minutes to respond was having a problem along the lines of “my kid is using my company issued laptop for his homework and it’s frozen up”, not aything related to the well-being of the company. She hadn’t turned her cell phone off to take a two hour nap. She just went to the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/18 "2011-12-01T20:29:02Z")
\*\*They don’t pay me enough to… \*\* Give a shit. I do not get paid enough to give a fucking shit about the company. You want shit? You bring cash bonus, no checks! I will give a shit all day, nights and weekends, but you pay me well and often. Otherwise, no shit for you! I am not in a giving mood ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/19 "2011-12-01T20:59:42Z")
My last job was working in a monitoring station for alarm systems. The monitoring station was a wholy-owned subsidary of a company which installed burglar alarms. We did their monitoring but also did monitoring for other companies. I started out on 2nd shift. The more senior monitors had to do “courtesy calls” which was a fancey name for collections. Fortunately I was transferred to another shift before I started training on that; I would have quit. #1, doing collections was never mentioned in my interview or job description, and #2 - they didn’t pay me nearly well enough to do collections. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629/20 "2011-12-01T22:56:13Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > \*\*They don’t pay me enough to… \*\* > > Give a shit. > > I do not get paid enough to give a fucking shit about the company. > > You want shit? You bring cash bonus, no checks! > > I will give a shit all day, nights and weekends, but you pay me well and often. > > Otherwise, no shit for you! I am not in a giving mood This. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-pay-me-enough-to/604629.md?page=2)