My boss is asking me to provide her with personal technical support that has nothing to do with the business. What do I say to her? [closed]

Question

I work part-time at an independent bookstore with two storefronts in the same town as the publicity and events manager. The storefront where I work is often quite distracting, but I do my best to do the job while also being the cash wrap/gift wrap/shipment person.

I left my previous job doing tech support because I don't enjoy the high pressure, immediate fix nature of it, but I do enjoy teaching people new things (to those who want to learn).

As the current publicity manager, I'm responsible for a lot of technical/editorial things (website design, advertisement design, writing press releases) that my co-workers can't or don't want to do.

When my boss asks me to do personal, technical things for her, I feel like she's exploiting me. They don't have to do with the business (e.g filling out forms so she can attend a political convention), and when I've tried to explain to her "how" to do things, she's said she either doesn't understand or wasn't listening. She was supposedly excited to hire me because of my technical background, but she won't give me the time or environment necessary to do business-related technical things, like updating the website.

I was paid +$3/hr more in my last job doing technical stuff; is it right to ask for more money if my boss wants me to do personal, technical support, or would I be better off just asking for a raise in general, and the chance to do my best work in a different, less distracting environment? She doesn't seem to think it's worth a full-time job (or changing storefronts/days when I work to avoid all the distractions), but I might be amenable to doing publicity as an independent contractor, but I don't know if she would see that as beneficial.

Answer 1

That would depend on whether or not you want to keep your job and relationship with your boss. Bosses asking for little things or even coworkers asking is not unusual at all. You have a useful skillset.

If you don't want to do it you can basically either feign ignorance or kick up a fuss. Or get a job elsewhere where they don't know you have these skills.

My strategy is just to feign ignorance "I have no idea on those gadgets, I just do computers, sorry.". But this is best done the first time rather than later on.

It also depends on your seniority, juniors are pretty much expected to do whatever they're told to do within reason.

Answer 2

Is your boss the owner of the company? If she's not the owner, then by making you do work that is paid for by the company's owner, but only serves her, she is stealing from the company's owner.

If she is the sole owner, then having the company pay for your work will reduce profit and therefore tax liability, so she is stealing company taxes from the tax office. Also, to be able to pay for your work the company would have had to pay her salary or dividends, on which she would have had to pay tax.