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“It’s Not My Job.”
By: Patrick Maguire
Book Chapter: Introduction
Posted: 12/22/2009
I hate when I hear the statement, “It’s not my job.” It implies laziness, selfishness and that someone isn’t willing to do whatever it takes to help their team succeed. Whether it be within a family, a work environment, or on any type of team, I despise it. The following story takes “It’s not my job” to a whole new level.
While enjoying breakfast this morning at Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe, a Boston institution, I read in horror this story in The Boston Globe; Woman dies after EMT’s refuse aid. The allegations are that two New York EMTs refused to help a stricken, pregnant mom during their coffee break at Au Bon Pain in Brooklyn. They allegedly told the staff to call 911 and left without attending to the woman. The woman, who had a 3-year-old son, died at the hospital shortly thereafter. Her premature baby was delivered at the hospital but died two hours later.
According to the New York Post, employees of the Au Bon Pain approached two EMTs asking them to help a co-worker who had collapsed. The EMT’s were apparently concerned about getting in trouble for not following proper protocol while off-duty on a coffee break. They indicated that they couldn’t touch the woman unless a call to 911 was made first. According to one co-worker of the deceased, “They said they couldn’t do anything. They said they were trainees. They showed no sympathy at all.” The article also indicates that the EMTs work as dispatchers, one with six years on the FDNY and the other with four years FDNY experience.
Of course there are two sides to every story, but common sense tells me that the two EMTs dropped the ball. They should have immediately evaluated the woman, called for critical care, monitored her vital signs and condition and stayed with her until help arrived. Who knows if the woman and her baby would have survived if the EMTs responded with a sense of urgency, but it’s appalling that they were indifferent and two people died. I’ll wait for the investigation to conclude before passing final judgment, but it sure looks like the situation wasn’t handled professionally, according to industry standards and common sense…
On a much lighter note, after breakfast I walked into the FedEx Office on Dartmouth Street. This could be considered insane three days before Christmas, but fortunately there was no line and I was greeted immediately by Antonio, a gentleman from behind the counter. I explained my challenge, one that required IT expertise far beyond my capabilities. Antonio immediately offered a solution that was less expensive than I had anticipated, and he personally walked me through the steps with the self-serve scanner and computer to complete the job very efficiently. He was knowledgeable, engaging and smart, and he didn’t make me feel stupid. He could have just pointed to the computer section and rattled off some instructions, but instead he took the extra steps to make me feel like a valued customer. He didn’t drop the ball. After completing some self-service copies, I asked another employee if there was any mechanism for customers to compliment the staff. He looked at me as if I had two heads and smiled, then gave me a card with a toll-free number to call for customer relations. I hope Antonio gets a little recognition for being an ambassador for FedEx and taking pride in his job.
These two events today inspired me to reiterate something that is critical for readers of my blog to know. Some folks have a misconception of where I’m coming from because of the title and sub-titles of the blog and forthcoming book. My mission is not to elicit sympathy for lazy, incompetent, indifferent workers. I know that some people believe that is the case because of a few emails I’ve received and because of a few folks who called NightSide, the Boston radio show I was on Friday night. Here is an excerpt from the introduction of my book that will help to clarify my position:
I want to be extremely clear on one premise before I proceed. Doing a great job means showing up on time, prepared for work, trained and dressed properly, knowing your job, being pleasant and attentive, and hustling your ass off to provide exceptional service. Great customer service workers are resourceful, resilient and determined to do whatever it takes to get the job done right. Ideally, employees should be invested in what they are doing and act as ambassadors for the company that they work for. Understanding and embracing hospitality is crucial. Sometimes you need to suck it up, put your game face on, and do a great job even though you don’t want to be there. Even when they’re at the tail end of a double and ‘the dogs are barking’ they persevere and accommodate customers as much as possible. I realize that if you’ve been a server for a long time, and you’ve been beaten down shift after shift, year after year, that it’s hard to be pleasant and on top of your game all of the time. However, the job is still a choice (in most cases), and you have to keep trying, or get out.
Antonio, thank you for doing a great job.
I welcome your thoughts, comments and stories. Thank you-PM
13 Responses to ““It’s Not My Job.””
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Permalink | Posted in Introduction | 13 Comments »
Hear Hear. I hate the “its not my job” attitude. And those EMTs need to be fired immediately if they let that woman die. And if they were afraid of losing their jobs because of ‘protocol’ then we need to find out who the hell instituted that protocol. Sounds like a lot of info has to come out on this one.
Sidenote: I go to Fedex/kinkos alot and they are always super helpful. That is a company that knows how to get the right people for the job.
That is a phrase that I have a difficult time understanding why people can be so indifferent at times. In case of the EMTs, they could have helped as “private people” as others do who know CPR, etc. I am very curious about the outcome of the investigation as well.
Ha, when I was still married and I asked my then husband if he would mind cleaning up after himself in the bathroom and hes said “that’s not my job”, I was speechless (doesn’t happen too often). I am not a clean freak, but as he was not working for many months, I didn’t think it was too much to ask. I also encountered “that’s not my job” at work, and that was when we were supposed to recycle and I made a certain person aware of it (in a nice way, not condescending or so). I also see it more often than not with work related tasks that are usually performed by our facilities staff.
Unfortunately in this techno age, we forget the “human element” as we are becoming so very accustomed to banking, shopping, paying bills, etc, etc with only a “voice”, not a real person.Because of this, many in the service industry as well as their clients, have lost the true meaning of “service.” Our servers become robotic and forgot to add the customer service and we forgot to add the thank you for a job well done, or conversely, the constructive criticism when it is not a job well done. Hopefully we will not become such an automated society that the word service becomes as obsolete as the the 8 track!
A socially conscious and interdependent (rely, not depend, on each other) community believes and demonstrates that “it’s everyone’s job.” Individuals assume personal responsibility for their work and look-out for ways to support co-workers. Being a good neighbor and colleague means doing quality work, including “stepping up” in circumstances, in the work environment, that may occassionally fall outside typical, expected duties. Love one another.
In context of your “Server Not Servant” theme, the “It’s not my job” topic brings up something that overlaps both.
I’ve raised three children and often took the kids to restaurants. It was great when a stranger at another table would come over and compliment our family because the kids were well behaved. They weren’t perfect, but more often than not behaved appropriately. We never expected the waitstaff to have to take over our parenting responsibilities by counseling or controlling our kids. That is one thing that a waiter or waitress should not have to do but unfortunately have had to do in order to avoid being tripped while carrying full trays by kids out of control running in restaurants.
To follow on what Hank says, if we can extend that community to the world at large we would all live in a better place. Sometimes it is hard to give, not knowing what we get in return. All “servants” take a leap of faith when they give and expect nothing in return. Our society has somehow enabled us to say it is OK not to “give” or step up when it makes logical sense. What have we come to when we can’t help one another simply based on need?
To Steve in #5: You are right. I hate it when patrons let their kids make all kinds of noise and mess, even letting them run through the restaurant. I have, on way too many occasions, had to be the dispenser of discipline to these kids. When I tell them to stop running because they can get hurt, I get the look of ‘you mean an adult is telling me no??’ Very frustrating.
The people who allow their children to run wild, scream and make a mess are enabling the next generation of entitled, narcissistic prima donnas. It’s no mystery why the 175+ current and former servers who completed my questionnaire state that 19% of customers are impolite, disrespectful or downright rude. A lot of parents have been too lenient, and their arrogant children have grown up to become obnoxious adults. Some people think nothing of allowing their children to ruin everyone’s meal with their antics. To add insult to injury, many adults don’t find it necessary to apologize for their children’s actions, offer to clean up after them, or tip handsomely for the trouble. I’ll be discussing this a lot more in future posts and in the book.
Hank… it couldn’t be said any better than that.. Love one another….isn’t that the simple damn truth???? Let’s step up and love one another, do the right thing and contribute to civility everywhere!!! Not just at this beautiful time of the year… but every day….it’s really not that hard!!!
That blurb is absolutely true. It’s not always easy, but hospitality is crucial.
To add something, as a customer who expects constant friendliness from his server, I am very displeased when someone who is beaten down, on top of being pleasant and smily like they should, tries to trick me into thinking that they are not beaten down. I dislike even more the idea that could succeed in tricking me. I realize this is demanding of me, because a lot of people don’t agree. But I find that kind of deceit unfriendly. I don’t like it when I’m on a date, and I don’t like it when a friend of a friend does it, so I certainly don’t like it when I’m paying for excellent service. I shouldn’t have to be a regular customer to be treated like a human being.
Al
I don’t care for the “It’s not my job” attitude, personally. Certainly, I come across it many times in my workplace. Does it rankle me a bit when it crops up in others? Oh, sure. Because normally, when others say “It’s not my job”, I, being low girl on the totem pole in my current workplace situation, picks up the slack.
I do like my job. Most of the time. I work hard and am eager to please. I just don’t care for the “workload dumping” that gets put on me a lot of the time from the higher-ups that would rather spend more time chatting about MySpace and/or their children/relationships while sending me out to tend to their own duties. I have my own duties to perform within the company. Just because I was hired a year after you doesn’t mean you have the right to treat me like an indentured servant.
Sure, I wasted my measly half-hour break one day to drive 20 minutes to pick up your Sushi order. Imagine my surprise that, upon reaching the restaurant, I found that there was not enough money to pay for the order. I blurt out my apologies to the kind lady behind the counter, blush profusely, and proceed to scrape up whatever dollar bills and change I can find in my purse to make the bill. (Being newly separated, and as I don’t make a lot on my job, times are tight. 😉 )
Sushi order in hand, I drive back to the workplace. I explain to the person in question that she didn’t send me off with enough money, and present her the reciept.
“Oh,” she exclaims, sounding affronted. “Well, this isn’t the amount they told me over the phone.”
Did I get reimbursed for my time or money? Nope. But it was a lesson well learned. In the most polite way my Scorpio personality could manage, I made it clear to everyone that I am not, and would not be, a delivery girl.
My co-workers pay a little extra for restaurants to deliver to the workplace these days. 😉
And to #5, Steve. As one who has been a waitress for most of ten years previous, you have no idea how much I did enjoy seeing well-behaved children with their parents in the restaurants I worked in. 🙂
I have read this entire blog attentively, along with all the comments, and honestly I have to say that I really understand and agree with the overall theme and opinion of everybody involved……however, as you said originally, there are two sides to every story. The first thing I thought when I read this blog (sadly enough) is that those two EMT ‘trainees’ could very likely be held liable if anything wrong were to happen to the woman in their care before anyone else arrived. Liability is a scary and convoluted concept these days. Now, before anybody gets up-in-arms about how wrong and inhumane it is to not assist a pregnant woman in need (I AGREE WITH YOU!) I think everyone needs to take a step back and really consider the erroneous law suits that are often pitched by those self-righteous, entitled, ‘me, me, me’ individuals that this blog spends most of it’s time discussing, and how those lawsuits affect individual liability. Now, I’m not sure if that was what was going on in the head of those EMT’s….. but it’s worth mentioning. They should have helped her. WE should have a system that promotes this without making people fearful of there own life situation. WE should also provide all EMT’s with proper ‘public responsibility’ training.