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How to say this assertively?
I find it difficult to be assertive at work.
There is a task at work that I keep being made to do, and I find it extremely stressful.
I am expected to do it because they took the time to train me, and because its expected of me as an employee who has been there for years (compared to people who have been there for only months).
The problem is, every time I tell my bosses that I don't want to do it, they don't really understand. When I am rostered on to do it, I refuse to, and I make them find someone else to do it. I have said to them "I already told (our store manager) and (our rostering manager) that I can't do it", and I have told them I don't want to do it because it is stressful and makes me anxious. No matter how I tell them I am still pestered about it. I get asked to do it, I am STILL asked questions like:
Why can't you do it?
Why do you find it stressful?
Who have you told about this?
I know that I am not very assertive when I tell them... I am usually like "Oh, it is just a bit stressful for me, it just makes me a little anxious", and I try to remain pleasant and smile, which I know makes it worse, but at my work, if you do something to annoy them, they stop giving you shifts all together. Also I don't want to seem like a drama queen, since everyone else who does this task doesn't find it stressful at all.
Please help me with: How do I word it? How do I actually tell them it is too stressful, without being aggressive or over-dramatic?
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If I were your boss, I would be saying, well if you don;t like a task that comes with the job, you either better have a very good reason or maybe you should be looking for a totally different employer.
You put your job in jeopardy be blatantly refusing to their faces to do one part of your job.
Here's an example of a problem I had as a temp sent to work in a call center. People would be constantly calling in orders and I did the best I could, I knew I wasn't fast enough to get a quota of so many people spoken to in an hour. So I told them what I was doing and how I felt stressed about it. And asked if they could think of anything else that might help. I was courteous to them and to customers. No one had any problem with me other than speed on the computer, otherwise I was following the rules well and beyond what they expected for a call center operator. So after they took time to give me some pointers and it still didn't work. I told them I didn't know what else to do, that maybe I should look for a job elsewhere. They had a position come open in their out bound call dept. to call to get correct address or credit card numbers on orders that didn't go through. And since this wasn't a speed related position, I did great there.
So you need to let them know if its something that no matter how hard you try, you can't seem to meet their standards. But they have to see you honestly trying. All my calls were monitored, recorded and timed, so there was no pretending on that.
You have to be honest. Perhaps they will be willing to switch some things and give you something no one else likes to do but you excell at.
But you must start to communicate. It is not an aggresssive move to tell some that you are having uissues with a particular task. Ask them to watch you and closely monitor what you are doing so they can see for themselves what is wrong. If the job is done fine but the stress is all in your mind, then honey, you're in the wrong job.
A good rule to go by in life in any area of life is, "If you're not having fun...you're doing it wrong."
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What is this task?
Why can't you do it?
Why do you find it stressful?
This issue isn't necessarily about being assertive.
This is about having a valid concern or reason to decline an assigned task.
No matter how assertive you may be, if your reasoning is simply "I don't like it" or "Its stressful" you are unlikely to be taken seriously.
I imagine your bosses understand perfectly well that you don't want to do this task, but you haven't given them a real reason to care. They aren't your buddies - if you have been trained to do it then they can fairly expect it of you. They don't care if you don't like it or if it makes you anxious. If you can't tell them, clearly, what it is about this task that you don't feel capable of, they aren't going to take you seriously.
These are sorts of concerns a employer may take more seriously:
I don't feel physically capable of this task.
I don't feel safe in this situation or environment.
I have not been trained properly to do this.
There is no magic way to re-word 'stressful' into something that they will take seriously. We are all expected to deal with stressful assignments from time to time, you'll need to either dig deeper and find a better way to express whatever your concerns are, or you'll need to accept that you'll be assigned this task sometimes, and learn to make the best of it.
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It would help if I knew what the assignment was and why you find it stressful. It also sounds like management knows this job is not something anyone likes to do and rotates it among employees. I say this based on what you have written.
Your employer has the right to know why you find certain tasks stressful for it may have been something that did not come out during your interview for the position. This may not be your fault as they may have not asked the right questions.
An example of this would be. If this task requires you to climb a ladder to stock shelves or take inventory. Then during the interview they should have asked if you have a fear of heights or climbing ladders. If this were to be the problem and they did not say anything in the interview about this, then they are in the wrong. If they did and you did not say anything about your fear of heights or climbing then you are in the wrong.
TO be assertive you have to have proper footing. Using the example above. The assertive way to address this would be. "You never said I would have to climb ladders as part of my employment, if you did I would have told you I fear climbing." That is an assertive answer to that situation.
If you would care to write back in a private message with more detailed information. I would be happy to try and help you.
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