I have a work dilemma, what would you do?

[.Poppy.]

Alright guys, this is going to seem really silly but I'm struggling with this a bit. I've been at my current job for about five years now. I enjoy it, and I'm good at it. I am currently deciding if I want to stay and apply for a job that my current boss says may open up in a year or so, or if I want to do something else (but that's not super relevant here).

In the five years I've been here, we've done most of the office cleaning ourselves. We do have a custodian who empties trash and some other minor things, but deep cleaning/vacuuming isn't something that really happens unless we do it. Our previous head of the office left about a year ago and we have a new person who took the job. He asked me about having the office deep cleaned (something that probably hasn't happened since the start of covid) and I said I would ask the custodian - so I did. After a couple of weeks, he came back to me and asked me why it hadn't happened. I explained I had asked but would ask again - so I did. The custodian said that he would get to it when he had time and then also left the vacuum in our office but hasn't been back since and it's been about a week and a half.

I'm worried I may have made a blunder because when I asked the second time I made the joke that we used to do the vacuuming ourselves and had an office vacuum which had been taken away. So even though I asked the custodian to do it, I'm worried that he may have thought I just needed the vacuum to do the cleaning myself, like we had done in the past. My other boss asked me today what was up with the vacuum, and mentioned our boss had asked about having cleaning done, so I told him what I'd said and what the custodian had said, but that I'm not the most pushy person so may have reached a stalemate.

I'm not sure what to do. Even though I successfully work with our customers daily, I'm afraid that me not being able to get this done will reflect poorly on me if I do go for the open position in the future. I'm at the point where I'd just do it myself (and have, some) but I'm rarely in the office alone anymore so I don't have the chance to do so. I just felt really weird about it on the onset, because making the request implied the custodian wasn't doing their job correctly and also because it's not a request we ever would have made. But after asking twice, I'm not really sure there's much more I can do.

Any advice? One of my bosses has been here a lot longer than I have, and I think he's understanding of the situation as he probably sort of expects it, but I'm afraid of the newer boss becoming angry with me and assuming that I either can't get this simple task done or thinking that I'm deliberately not doing it.

[ErinKC]

I'm sorry you're stuck in this stressful situation! This really sounds like a problem with the custodian. I think if I was in this situation I'd write an email to the new boss (maybe CC the other boss if that seems appropriate) and say something like:

I wanted to update you on the custodian situation. I've now spoken with [custodian] twice about it and haven't had much luck. He's told me he'll get to it when he can and then, after the last time we spoke, left the vacuum here perhaps thinking we would be the vacuuming. He hasn't been back since our last conversation. In the past we've mostly taken care of the cleaning ourselves and perhaps set a bad precedent. If you think having cleaners to do a more comprehensive job is the way to go, we may have to go with a different custodian/cleaning crew or reach out to [custodian] in a more official capacity to review and outline the scope of his duties.

[.Poppy.]

Thanks, that's probably a good bet. I did mention to my other boss that I had talked to him twice, but then had a panic that maybe it reflected badly on me that I couldn't get it done even after asking twice. But I wondered too if my boss would talk to the head boss and let him know what had transpired.

It feels like kind of a fine line to walk because we are friendly with the custodian (they are part of our workplace, not a contracted company) and the custodian was very close with the previous boss. I just don't know how to press the issue without coming across as really harsh or implying that their regular cleaning schedule isn't up to par. Because honestly, I do a lot of the dusting myself and we're not very messy as a whole, so it's just the carpet that needs attention. The head boss suggested putting in a formal request for services with the cleaning department and I did inquire with the cleaning department about doing that as the custodian can sometimes be hard to track down, but then I caught up with him (the second time) so I didn't need to submit a formal request. And after asking twice, I feel like submitting a formal request would be kind of like a slap in the face.

I suppose I feel bad too because I know they work long hours, are paid terribly, and supervision for them sucks too. I'm sure he's overworked and really is trying to get to it when he can. I suppose we'll see what transpires next week - I swear, if I could just get an afternoon alone in the office I'd happily just attend to it myself.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Poppy, I agree with Erin.

This can be a common problem for people transitioning into management roles. You learn to strike the right tone where you are assertive but remain friendly. It's always harder for nicer people, like yourself, to do this since it doesn't come as naturally.

Is it so different as a parent being assertive with a child? Or you telling your dog off when he's been naughty. Nice people don't like to upset their loved ones (not saying the custodian is a dog or a loved one!) or anyone really.

One way is to say your boss has asked you to resolve the situation. Hopefully the custodian will understand it's not you judging his performance. Any judgement her feels should be aimed at your boss. He may feel awkward about it but you can smooth that over by retaining the position of authority whilst involving him in the resolution process. Make it an informal chat, be friendly.

But it could just be confusion. Maybe he assumed, because you guys just do it anyway, that you would be happy with the hoover? Maybe understanding why he left it might lead to him apologising for getting it wrong, you both laughing and him sorting out?

So at this stage you may be trying to work on mitigating problems that won't exist? In fact, being on this forum there is a strong chance of that from all of us! But that doesn't mean it's a negative, you'll only learn from it.

Just be fair. Involve people. Make them feel valued. Most people respond well to being treated well and everything I've seen of you on here points to someone who has that nature.

[Carnation]

Poppy,

I think you are creating a much bigger worry than is needed here.
You asked the custodian (twice), and he said he wouldn't not do it. Time is probably a factor, probably money too.
So you asked in a friendly way, which is the right way.
What response do you think you would have had if you were assertive? Not a good one I expect.
You shouldn't be doing the deep clean and your boss knows this. That's why it was requested the custodian do it.
I would just pass the situation back to your boss, stating you relayed the request, nothing has happened since so the request might need to come in the form of a written request or from the boss themselves.
You could outline that up until now it's been a laid back, easy going situation.
You have enough to deal with poppy, don't let it worry you. This will not affect any decisions of promotion or your current position.

[.Poppy.]

Thanks all! Lots of great advice here.

Terry - I think it's tricky because I don't really have any authority over this person. I kind of feel like it's the "water wars" all over again (which are ongoing) - we had a water cooler in our office and they stopped delivery during the pandemic when we were working from home, but when we wanted to pick delivery back up again they were really inconsistent and most times just did stop by to drop off at all. I was constantly on the phone with them trying to get them to come back and they didn't. We finally switched companies and it's been great, but the old company still hasn't picked up their cooler despite multiple calls for them to do so. The thing is, I'm really good at being assertive to customers, mainly I guess because most issues that come up are pretty black and white: you need to do this, it is required, etc. No other way around it. But "I'll get to it eventually" is kind of a stalemate, the ball is really in their court now.

Carnation: you are right, I'm probably making a bigger deal out of this than needs to be, and also have a lot of other things to worry about that are much more pressing. And I'll be frank: this is probably above my paygrade anyway. My old boss would have me to do things, but would be very straight with the fact that I wasn't paid enough to deal with anything that was overly difficult so to forward all of that stuff to her. And I think my other boss is very aware of the fact that I've asked and maybe it needs to come from someone else. It just feels like an awkward position; I really hate when something needs to be done and the task is reliant on another (possibly unreliable) person.

Either way, we'll see what happens. With any luck I'll come back from vacation and it's all taken care of.