Let’s overcomplicate things, shall we? Most definitely rhetorical sarcasm. I inquired about some training I need to satisfy an additional duty at work. The answer I received was this: it should only be an hour or two. Well, which is it?! And what do you mean by “only”?
In referencing additional duties – the Navy calls them collateral duties – an argument ensued between my team and an individual over the concept of additional duty vs primary duty. I thought it was self-explanatory but I was wrong. You see, everyone has additional duties. Military, civilian, contractors, all of us. So when someone uses the phrase this is my additional duty, it hits me wrong because we all have them, aka it’s not an excuse to disregard the duty. Next time, I’ll draw pictures.
How to make a corsage. Step 1: don’t. Hire your sister. Or mother. Depends. But this is what she gets for volunteering to make my niece’s prom corsage. Hope she’s keeping notes. Her additional duty.
When I wake up at the butt crack of dawn to finish a paper and discussion post so I can focus on a different paper of a million words and a gazillion pages – that’s a primary duty. Does this require any further explanation?
No questions please. The demonstration is over.
______________________________
I ask you –
What is the civilian terminology for additional or collateral duties?
Are you creative enough to make a corsage? Definitely not.
Tell me the page length of the longest document you’ve ever written!
(The post Miss Big Mouth first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)
© 2023 Running on Fumes
Running on Fumes 
“unpaid work” is the civilian term for collateral duties.
I’m not sure I’m even creative enough to spell “coursage”.
~45 pages, my senior thesis in college.
LikeLike
Unpaid work – that’s it!!!
LikeLike
Every education job I have ever seen has a final bullet point which reads, “Other duties as assigned.” Doesn’t matter if there are fifty or a hundred duties already listed!
LikeLike