Soapbox: Putting the Foot Down

I had to very adamantly tell my boss that I am already taking on a lot more job responsibilities and hours than we initially agreed upon at the start of my employment. I'm surprised he backed down so quickly. 

I'm all for taking initiative, taking on extra jobs, taking one for the team, etcetc. I've gone down on my hands   and knees (sometimes figuratively and sometimes literally) to clean poop, barf, pee, blood and chunks of tissue from the ground/walls as a camp counselor and hospital assistant (aka O.R. janitor). Although all of those things suck to clean, I'm not above doing it. I went in knowing that kids and adults will occasionally make unintentional messes and that these messes need cleaning. Which is me saying: I'm not a diva. 

But as an "office assistant" I wasn't planning to lug supplies to and from the office via public transportation, or go door to door in a 200+ unit senior home to promote the office, or take work home because the laptops he bought us can't seem to connect to the building wi-fi. 

For all of those, there is an easy fix:

a) Drop off toiletries/office supplies when the boss makes a supply run. The location I work out of is right between Costco (where most of these supplies come from) and the main office. But he won't. 

b) Hire another marketer, since the other two quit (because he was mean). 

c) Get those broadband internet USB thingies. It's like paying for a data plan for a phone, except it's on a laptop so we can do things like access the laggy electronic medical record system. But he won't. 

Some days, I feel like a pack animal. My schedule is all over the place and I have to plan when I stop at the HQ in advance to grab supplies, which means I also have to schedule my gym around it, because I can't carry supplies, my work files AND my gym bag (and it's not safe or convenient to leave it in one place). Well, I physically can, but it would suck. Once I have supplies, I have to decide whether to drop it off at both Office A and B in one day, or to one office at a time. If I opt to do a slow-delivery, I would have to show up earlier to Office A to grab supplies and travel to Office B before the first patient. And hopefully, I remembered to clock in at Office A, otherwise I just put in 15-30 minutes of manual labor for nothing and I have to ask the boss to change my time sheet, which elicits a lot of grumbling for some reason. And hopefully, I didn't forget anything. Otherwise I have to do it again. I'm fortunate in that this city has a pretty reliable public transportation system. My monthly bus pass also allows me to ride the bus as many times as I want in a day. But there is still a lot of walking involved: walking to the bus stop, walking to transfer to another bus, then walking to one of the offices. 

Now that I think about it, this would explain why I've been getting hungry more frequently.

If anything, this past year has been a lesson in learning when to put my foot down. Honestly, it feels good, but I wonder if I'm just being diva-ish and high maintenance because NO ONE ever complains openly. I don't want to just commiserate over drinks during happy hour, especially when things are especially miserable for everyone. The problem with that, though, is then I risk coming across as a diva to everyone else who keeps their mouth shut. 

It seems like a lose-lose.