Boss threatens to move me off my favourite task if...

Post Reply New Topic

...if I make any mistakes.

At the large care home where I work, all of us cleaners have been given our own section to 'take care of'. I like that idea, and my section is my favourite part of the building, as it is rather Aspie-and-ADHD-friendly. I am happy with this.
But the boss seems to be watching over me, even when she's not there, because if I do make a tiny mistake, it somehow gets back to her, and she won't tell me who says what to her (and we don't have hidden cameras).

I find this rather pressurizing because I know that if I accidentally make one small mistake, or forget to do something, or don't get time to do something, I know full well that she will take me off my section and put me somewhere I'm not so keen on. But I don't see how doing that will help, because as I'm only human I'm going to make mistakes in whatever part of the building I'm cleaning, particularly in a part I don't like.

My boss does know about my ADHD and anxieties and that, but I think she gets a bit too carried away and thinks that she's the head of the army or something. Are bosses meant to be like this? It's not like my job pays more than everybody else (then I would understand why she'd want to move me if I make mistakes), and it's not like my wing is the most challenging part of the building either (and again I would understand if she'd want to move me on to an easier wing). I'm not struggling on my wing, in fact I'm happy and she knows I'm happy.
But each time I make a mistake, she threatens to move me on to a different wing. What can I do?

How many times has this happened? If she is pulling you up at every opportunity, then making the same threat, rather than following through on the last time she made the threat, it suggests a certain kind of very bad management style.

I have had managers who behave in this way in a couple of jobs in the past. If they have little confidence in their ability to manage people and motivate them (or are just nasty people!), they can sometimes resort to keeping staff "on their toes" by constantly dangling a threat over their heads, even if it wouldn't make any sense to ever carry it out. But, of course, you can never call their bluff, because then they will carry out the threat. Very manipulative, and horrible to be caught in the middle of!

Do you know if she makes threats like this to any of the other staff in her charge?

I don't think she does threaten others to move them off their wings if they make a mistake, and I'm very certain that they make mistakes too. The other week there were complaints on how dirty one of the other wings were, but the girl on that particular wing never got moved, and the wing I'm on never gets complaints.

Every day I polish all the furniture in every room, and I wipe down things like picture frames and light switches. But when my boss feels with her hand where I've dusted, she says it wasn't dusted. This confuses me because I know I do dust down religiously and I know I do it daily, and so it stresses me out when I AM doing the right things and I'm getting frustrated to be told I'm not doing it. I try to tell her that I did do it, but she's so sure I don't, so it makes me look like a liar. Why does the dust keep appearing after I polish the dust off?

Hmm, sounds more like one of those "face doesn't fit" kind of things. I wish I could offer you some good advice, but I've never been good at dealing with those situations myself, either.

I just find it very distressing when I can't even reassure myself that I won't get into trouble if I'm doing my work properly, because I STILL get pulled up on something and accused of not doing it. I mean, what can I say other than "but I did, I did!"? Those words just don't get listened to and makes me look like a stubborn liar.

You might want to start looking for a new job where management might treat you better & leave you alone & trust you to do your work

It's very hard to get a new job, especially if you have a disability. I am looking, but the thing is you don't know what sort of boss you might have.

It seems every time I arrive to work in the morning I get a bollocking about something that I did or didn't do in my last shift, even though I know what I'm doing. I feel insulted when this happens. It would be more reassuring if they praised you up about something, like "what you done on X yesterday was good, you done a good job. But you need to work more on Y.." something like that. That would help my self-worth.

Sorry, just venting here makes me feel better, I'm not expecting people to give me a miracle.

Hello! I quit a job like yours, housekeeping aid at the hospital, the main reason was that they have never treated me fairly, the difference though was that there was so much work every day that it could never be done even if I would stay at work for a week without any rest. Every day I absolutely had to leave something not cleaned, like floor at one of the offices, computer monitors at laboratories, desks. And I felt bad about it every day, mostly angry and helpless. I tried to be a good worker and please everybody there to an extent where I would clock out at the end of my shift, but instead of going home (at 12:30 am), I would go back to my area and continue cleaning until 3-6 am, sometimes 8 am for free. Considering I have never taken lunch break and sometimes didn't have a drink of water for 10 hrs. But there still was always so much left to do. I also don't have a car so I had to ride my bicycle to and from work. My co-workers used to do just as much as they could in 8 hrs shift minus 45 min break. They also would always find time to roam around in hallways chatting with each other. Or even sitting in the housekeeping building at the table and chit-chatting with supervisor and laughing like crazy and having a good time (I would see a scene like this when come to get more supplies for work). Actually, I saw their duty sheets where they put how many rooms they cleaned and it was 9-12 patient rooms plus their area. I was able to clean 4 rooms on average, maximum 7, but it happened maybe three times in one year. I could never understand how. I lived like this for 7 months or so until I almost lost everything, my health was/is ruined, my family almost fell apart, because I was never home, when I was, I was asleep. For some months I tried to do as much as I could before the end of my shift, so I could go home, but it was impossible and it was a torture. I was always the last person to leave. And I knew everybody had their lunch and was able to sit down for at least an hour, while I was always on my feet, hungry, thirsty and upset. The last straw was when I got stuck with a needle that was on the floor after a patient and when I reported it, my supervisor sent me back to finish my work instead of filling out blood exposure forms and taking me to emergency room and the lab to take tests, when I tried to find out what I am supposed to do according to hospital policies in case of blood exposure. After that they acted like everything was my fault, the needlestick, the not going to ER immediately, not making it clear that I want to fill out the exposure form whaaaaat? I just got so sick of all of it..
Now looking for a job and you are completely right about not knowing what kind of boss and co-workers you are going to get at a next job. Almost every job was unbearable for me so far, except for one, where my boss was my old friend, who was good to me, but I can't expect similar situation to happen this time in this country.
My husband explained me, and I also read about it right somewhere here in a job related topic, that co-workers and bosses who is coming to work only to collect paychecks and doing nothing but sitting together and gossiping all days long, see you as a threat, because you are actually working hard and it makes them look bad.
I'm sorry that you are going through this and I think your boss is a horrible person for doing this to you.
About dust appearing right after you wiped it down - it actually may happen because when you deal with it, it flies up and then goes right down after you are done cleaning, so it's never ending process. Also in rooms with older people it tends to be dustier, and when people wear wool jackets and sweaters. I had office chairs covered with thick layer of dust every single day and chairs that stand right next to them almost without dust at all. By the color of that dust I could tell what color is that person's favorite sweater. And also in rooms where they use (shake) linen a lot, like rooms with babies. But your Supervisor is supposed to be aware of it if she has experience in housekeeping and some common sense..