Today is the very first Wednesday of 2016, and you know what that means, don't you, O readers? That's right! It's Why Do I Work Here Wednesday on the blog of Anne B. Walsh! In which, if you're wondering what that's about, I report the latest shenanigans of my "beloved" employer, which I call Glass Bathroom Bank, and my reaction thereto.
Management at GBB recently decided that too much money is being spent on custodial services. So starting next month, all desk trash cans will be removed. Employees are now going to be expected to take their garbage to a "centralized location" on the floor to dispose of it there, so that we will only have to pay somebody to empty the centralized garbage cans and not eighty or ninety individual ones.
Now I grant you, this plan is definitely cheaper for GBB. But now envision somebody coming in for their first day working for a bank. And not just any bank. I've deliberately never given my employer's real name or any truly identifying details, but we are not a small operation. In any case, imagine it. This new employee for our department meeting me (it would be me, since I do all the employee orientation for our area), being shown to their desk, sitting down, and looking around.
"Um, can I get a trash can?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. We don't provide those anymore. There's a trash can in the break room, down the hall, or one in the little coffee nook right there. Or if you really want one in your cube, you can bring one from home, but you'll have to empty it yourself at night."
Yes, that's right. A multi-million-dollar purveyor of financial services which expects its employees, many of whom have more college degrees than I can spell, to take out their own garbage. Can anybody say "not the best use of their time"?
I don't know. Maybe I'm making too much fuss about this. But I just really do think it's a stupid policy, and an even stupider place to try to save money. And if any of the upper management team try that "our employees are our most valued asset" line on me any time soon, I am going to be awfully tempted to stand up and ask if they empty their own trash cans every night.
Of course, I already know the answer. They get their assistants to do it.
But that is a post for another day.
Thanks for reading, all, and I'll see you soon! Possibly another story on Fiction Friday, if my head will cooperate with me!