My problem is I’ve got a clear job description that management and some coworkers who feel entitled to boss me around oftentimes forget because it suits them to offload what they don’t want to do on me. What infuriates me is, it lasts way longer to argue with them than simply getting the job done, but if I don’t establish a boundary I feel like an idiot, because I feel they offloaded their shit on me, meaning they’ll keep doing that in the future, because I didn’t establish a boundary.
Establishing a boundary sometimes means they badmouth me, complain about me to my superior or yell at me, but I’m in a union.
I’m also not a patient person and arguing with a coworker about job duties when those are clearly written is not my strong suit. I just want to do my job and get paid.
When management offloads like this, I comply the first time, but then I start half assing it, working slower, not doing the job as good as I could.
This is not sustainable and feels like bullying. How do you deal with this?
You don’t sound thin skinned.
Having a thick skin doesn’t mean being unbothered by people trying to walk over you, and thereby letting them.
I get accused of being thinskinned sometimes because of starting a confrontation over a problem or behaviour I’ve noticed, but that makes no sense. Being sensitive to issues is not a weakness, and being numb to them is certainly not a strength.
I can push for change precisely because I’m unbothered by the stress of working against the status quo.
But like others said, you don’t always need to convince. If you say you won’t cover a task because it’s not your responsibility, then there is nothing to discuss. If they expect a task to be done even when you said it won’t, that is not your problem.
It’s theirs.