Lost interest in my job.

[Gromit]

Your employer obviously doesn't hate the council enough not to enter a service agreement to do recyling work on its behalf does it? Whichever way you look at it, the money you earn starts off in the pockets of council tax payers and ends up in your pocket via the city council and then your charity.

The council isn't going to go bust and you've got an undemanding job that depends on tax money, not the money of customers who can take their custom elsewhere or stop buying your product if they so choose. Sit tight. Just how many other jobs are there out there? And you won't find many jobs in the private sector that pay a day's wages for half a day's work.

This type of comment really p**s me off, I work really hard when i'm on the round for less money than the council employees, Arch will tell you what the jobs like, because she has experienced it. Some days we don't Finnish the round till quite late through the shear volume of stuff we collect. I am employed by St Nicks, our wages are paid by the COB, my contract is with St Nicks.

Both at my interview and in my job description it states that some work around the nature reserve will be done.

 

[cheadle hulme]

You sound really dedicated to wanting to make a difference Gromit.

This doesn't look like a large organisation. If work needs doing around the nature reserve, whats stopping you from doing it? Can you not latch on to somebody else doing nature reserve work and show your value that way?

Or perhaps there is something you could propose within your current remit that needs doing but isn't done now?

Either way, good luck. Don't quit a steady job in this economic climate unless you really hate it.

 

[Gromit]

I do suggest things, went to pick apples for the apple day they had at the weekend, noticed the state of the trees. Most of them are being chocked to death with brambles and other climbers, they haven't been pruned since the centre was opened. Fruit production is down

Monday I went to my boss and asked if I could go and try and free some of them up. He said that it was a job for the volunteers, and made me do something that was no benefit to anyone. Most of the volunteers are A3's, forced to work on the nature reserve for fear of losing their benefit, they would rather sit around and do nothing.

The manager of the centre admitted that he hasn't got a clue how to run a nature reserve, he can't see that the trees are struggling for light through competition.

 

[Amanda P]

St Nicks don't deserve you, Gromit.

Folk do have a point, though, that jobs aren't going to be the easiest to come by just now. If I were in your shoes, I'd work hard at trying to get St Nicks to make the most of you. For instance, if you can see something that needs doing in the reserve, is there anything stopping you from just doing it? Perhaps you could do this on a day when you finish your round early, and there's no-one around to ask? Perhaps with the apple trees, you could prune one or two to show how it should be done. Then the volunteers can use your trees as "templates" to do the rest when you're not around.

Perhaps you need to ask more closed questions. Like, "I've finished today's recyling round - if it's OK with you, I'm going to do x, y and z." Then leave quickly and do it, rather than just asking "is there anything else I can do?" This second question requires your boss to think - the first one doesn't.

Lots of managers are lazy, and can't be bothered to think about how their staff spend their time or how best to motivate them. You can take advantage of this laziness by deciding for yourself what job most needs doing and asking to do it, or just doing it.

It's very hard to sack someone for doing too much work!

 

[summerdays]

I like Uncle Phil's idea of presenting your boss of what you are going to do rather than asking him what to do. The jobs he's getting you doing - could the volunteers do that ... who is supposed to do them (your boss?).

And if that doesn't work, then why not ask him directly for the type of work you were promised in your interview.

It sounds like you are doing a job you believe in - if only you could do it to your full potential.

 

[Arch]

I think Uncle Phil has a good point there. (hey, we can all sit round a bottle of something at the weekend at Wooler, and put the world to rights!) Having done the odd day working with Gromit, and being here in another capacity once a week, I can see that things aren't perhaps done very efficiently, but being me I tend to put that down to the general fact that some organisations (voluntary, commercial, whatever) are never going to be perfect... Gromit has a greater commitment than I do to the idea that things could be better...

Hang on in there, Gromit, and if something better comes up, go for that.... I know you're better than I would be at being proactive about stuff...

 

[rich p]

Perhaps it's a personality clash and your boss doesn't like you for some reason and this leads him to being obstructive. Have you done anything to piss him off; do you get on with him on a personal level?

 

[swee'pea99]

Perhaps it's a personality clash and your boss doesn't like you for some reason and this leads him to being obstructive. Have you done anything to piss him off; do you get on with him on a personal level?

It could be, but I doubt it. More likely, as others have said, is that all he wants is an easy life, and someone being proactive is a drag. Having worked in the not-for-profit sector, there's a definite culture of sloth, and a resistance to anyone wanting to work hard because they might 'make the others look bad'.

I don't know an answer, but as others have said, this may not be the best time to be actively looking for one. Doing stuff off your own back - and simply informing the boss - may be your best option. And who knows, maybe it will begin to make a difference. Cultures have been known to change...

 

[Arch]

I wonder if the whole thing in the job description was a bit of a fudge - they want to be covered in case they need to ask you to help one day, but they didn't really expect you to want to off your own back...

 

[sheddy]

Would it be worth typing up a list of tasks and how you are going to do em, along with the dates. Then pin the list up on the notice board. Tick em off as they are done.

 

[Gromit]

Thank you all for your advice.

Its been brewing for several months now and pushing me back into depression. I original took the job to help me through the illness, but not being able to do some of the stuff I'm good at has brought me back down.

I have a meeting with the boss tomorrow, hopefully I will finely get listened to.

 

[gratts]

Good luck mate..hope something comes of it

 

[Hilldodger]

Tell him what improvements and benefits you can bring and suggest how good that will make him look

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I like Uncle Phil's idea of presenting your boss of what you are going to do rather than asking him what to do.

Yes, try this, it does work. I managed to get my regular start time put back by two hours, simply by telling my boss what time I was going to turn up for work from the next day onwards!
Even if your boss is not as easygoing as mine is, you should be able to get something out of him by trying this.

 

[Amanda P]

Tactics for meetings with bosses:

Try to arrange it so that you meet on your turf, not his. Your office (if you have one), not his. Failing that, neutral turf (common room, pub. Why not buy him a pint?).

Write down a list of things you want to discuss. It's for you to refer to, so your boss needn't see it. Keep it visible though, and refer to it. It signals "I've thought about this in advance, and I have an agenda". It also reminds you to keep the meeting going (or set up another one) until you have resolved all the points on your list.

This is definitely not the sort of meeting you want to have with you on one side of the boss's desk and him/her in the power chair behind it. If that's how your boss wants to do it, try to circumvent this by suggesting a move to the pub, tea room, or somewhere else. Failing all that, pull a chair round to the end of his desk rather than sit opposite him. (You can make this seem natural if you have something written down or drawn to show him and point to during the conversation - you can't both point at it if you're sat opposite each other, so moving the chairs seems natural. It's amazing the differece this makes to the atmosphere of a conversation).

All this is to try to get an atmosphere of cosy co-operation, rather than boss-whose-too-busy-to-care and whining-underling.

The trouble is that, sometimes subconsciously, bosses establish and re-inforce their authority by these sort of subtle tricks - the power chair for him opposite you over the desk while you cringe on a plastic stacking chair; being too busy on the phone or the computer to acknowedge you straight away when you arrive* - and there are lots more. You don't want to play those games, because it's very hard to be assertive or constructive when forced into that "whining underling" role by the circumstances. So you must try to change the set to suit your purposes.

Try these tricks. They work! Good luck.

*This is really rude, but a very common power play. When someone does it to you, just say cheefully "oh, you're busy. Give me a shout when you're free" and leave. Then when the shout comes, you can be busy! It's another reason for meeting on neutral turf - he can't do this away from his own power toys.