It's Not My Responsibility

Someone actually uttered those words to me this week. I couldn't believe it. Are you serious??

I have a friend that makes this statement rather frequently. She calls it boundaries. I call it just plain obnoxious.

Back to this week. I was in the midst of something that, frankly, isn't written down in my job description, so I guess it's not my responsibility, but I was doing what normal people do and following up on something for my boss. I had to do one of my most favorite things in the world, ask for help. And I got "It's not my responsiblity" for an answer.

Splendid. Is this how we help each other out? I mean, if I work for someone (which I do), and they ask me to do anything during the hours they pay me, as long as that anything isn't illegal or immoral, doesn't it stand to reason that the answer is "yes" ??

How does one choose "no"? And why is "It's not my responsibility" an acceptable way to phrase that. This has gotten my ire up, and I've realized that it would be much better if people would just say what they mean...maybe I could accept that better. A few suggestions:

• Yeah, I would, but I don't want to.
• Sorry, I'm just too lazy, frankly.
• I don't really like you, so, no.
• I'm not a team player. It's all about me. I'll thank you, in the future, to not speak to me unless you are spoken to first.

Of course, there's always, "Sure, I'd love to." Even if you don't mean it. Act nice and maybe, just maybe, you'll fool some people.