Question about dead letters

[Caniel]

Day off yesterday and my rest day cover was off sick, came in and there was a load of mail brought back and a pile of dead letters. I tied the deads up and put them on the managers desk. Anyway the lino comes round about 9am and tells me I have to do them I said no cos they was left from yesterday, an argument followed with him saying that because the walk was prep'd by two posties pulled off sorting and delivered by someone off processing that's why they wasn't done. I pointed out that there is supposed to be a clear frame policy in our office and he was not doing his job properly by ensuring the frames are clear, I also said that deads are supposed to be done as part of out prep so if he's pulled people off sorting to prep the walk they should do the deads. He wasn't having it tho so in the end I did them but only because I wasn't 100% sure on this.

Would I have been right to stand my ground and flat refuse to do them?

[Exrep]

You can not refuse a reasonable instruction from your manager and this was a reasonable instruction,although i can see your point and you are a 100% correct in saying it should of been done by the preppers the previous day.

By refusing he would take you down the conduct code if hes a real arse highlight this problem to the rep and he can bring it up in his resource meetings and hopefully it shouldnt happen again.

[island_boy]

no as it would be considered a "reasonable request" to do them, and you cant really refuse a reasonable request without a good reason, ie because someone didnt do it yesterday is not really a reasonable reason for you to refuse it today, its work that needs to be done so to speak

it would hovever be also completely "reasonable" after completeing them pointing out to said lino, that as you had "reasonably" done his request, you can now see that you will not be able to finish on time and ask him what "reasonable" request he would like you to do in regardb to what mail to take out as you could not "reasonably" see yourself working any overtime and would likely cut off

[coxie]

put in a grievance if you feel that hard done by, you are right they should have been cleared for you but they wasnt so he was always going to make you do them, but you are correct in pointing out he is not doing his job properly in making sure it was clear, you should have had a wind up with him and told him you was going to keep them to show someone higher up as he failed to ensure they were done its wilfull delay

[ashadd]

So what is a "reasonable request"? how would it be defined? It seems management can hide a multitude of sins behind the old "reasonable request" chestnut....

[TrueBlueTerrier]

So what is a "reasonable request"? how would it be defined? It seems management can hide a multitude of sins behind the old "reasonable request" chestnut....

To me a reasonable request is anything that you have been trained to do and is within you normal working hours and is not automatically unfair.

In this case there were 4 people involved and 1 was going to get it in the neck fairness wise.

Who do you chose.

1. The Processing guy who has been lumbered to do the delivery and would not know how to kill off.
2. The 2 guys who were removed from IPS or their own prepping and probably in a rush.
3. The postie who does the delivery normally.

You decide.

I am afraid rationally I would always say No 3 as he would probably spot any dodgy kills offs.

Ideally though anyone on light duties could do it.

[dblad]

yea, some arse covered my walk for about a month while i was off, he never killed off 1 letter but chose to just throw them into a tub and push it under the frame, i told my dom about it and a month later they are still there..no way i'm doing them

[Big Daz]

To me a reasonable request is anything that you have been trained to do and is within you normal working hours and is not automatically unfair.

Sounds right to me, the problem is when managers dont realise that doing something else may impact on what you are scheduled to do anyway. Lets say Im asked to prep on eof the other 30 hour duties I know, not a problem Im fully trained and its within my working hours, howeevr that might leave me without enough time to complete my own duty and if that ends up being the case, I do not expect any hassle from a manager if I choose to cut off or book O/T. A decent manager would forsee this and discuss with you which option you would take.

[dados]

stick it on the docket

[Caniel]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll speak to my rep tomorrow and see if he can bring it up in his next resource meeting.