I think during some point of our working lives, we all utter the phrase, 'But that's not my job.' If you haven't, count yourself one of the lucky ones. When you've been working for awhile and you start looking for other jobs, they will no doubt be similar to what you're currently doing and so when you read a job posting and the responsibilities of the position, you have a fair idea of what's expected of you. It's when you get to preparing your resume to apply for that position that you start thinking, 'Wow, I've done a lot of OTHER stuff that's really not my job.'
I am an IT Analyst and PM - what does it all entail? Too much to list here. But for the most part, I analyze people's issues or enhancement requests, see if it would be good for the business, translate those requests to requirements for the developers and see that it is delivered in a timely manner with benefit to all our users - not just the one requesting it. So what else am I doing that isn't part of the Analyst/PM realm? Hmmmm....I do production support and that usually entails a lot of hand holding, repeating things that I've said multiple times already and doing things that these people could definitely do themselves. Mind you, we have a production support group to support us - where are they (in the parking lot smoking - it's a fact)?
More recently, I've been asked to cold-call some of our users. Cold call? Do I look like a sales person? If I even remotely liked cold calling (which I learned all about in marketing class), don't you think I would've chosen another profession other than IT? It baffles me that I was asked to cold call because I don't feel like taking these people off guard. It's not like they'll hang up on me but they could give me the cold shoulder and guess who gets stuck feeling like the turkey (moi).
Ordering office supplies is another task of mine that I tend not to boast about on the resume. Although it shows that I'm capable of supplying a group of 30 with much needed pens, notebooks, and post-its, I just don't think many potential employers will be impressed by that. How did I end up being "the one" that orders for the whole group? Probably because I'm the only one that knows how to order from the internal system - wow, I'm capable AND clever!
All of the examples listed above are those times when I mutter to myself, 'This is NOT my job.' But I do it anyways. Cause I'm a sucker.
Why can't I have one of those 'Not my job' tasks of firing people? That would be awesome cause there's some dead weight that I would've voted off this island LONG ago. Sigh.
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Fortunately, this hasn't happened too much with me in my lawyer jobs (although in Austin, I was asked to babysit kids and watch dogs - not really okay, but they did pay me for it like a regular sitter). However, I distinctly recall having a slow shift in the smoking section at Kruse & Muer (a restaurant in my hometown), and the manager decided that because it was slow, I could work in the kitchen rolling bread instead of standing around. This was not acceptable. If anyone doesn't know by now, the hourly wage for a server is about $2.50. The regular bread rollers made at least $5.00. I had that bitchy look of death on my face the entire time, I was so pissed.
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