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In the United States, unless you have an employment contract, a manager can require an employee to do just about anything that's legal. But, should they? Sometimes accidents happen in the workplace—water leaks, copy machines break, infestations occur, the internet goes down, among other unexpected messes that can make the office environment unhealthy or interrupt work—and someone has to clean up. So what should a manager do? And, what are ten things that a manager should never do? Anything You Wouldn't Do Let's talk about cleaning up dirty messes. They are unpleasant tasks, and you likely have maintenance services or building staff to take care of them. But what happens when you are stuck with a mess in the middle of the workday and that service or staff can't take care of it? If there is someone who has that duty as part of their job description, fabulous. If not, you have to assign it. Don't assign work like that out if you aren't taking your turn. Sooner or later, in a small business, everyone has to do gross things. The boss gets to do it first, otherwise, don't ask your employees. Cancel a Vacation Sometimes the world comes to an end, and you truly do need all hands on deck. However, most crises are caused by lack of planning. Don't ask an employee to cancel a pre-planned vacation, especially if there are other friends and family members counting on that person and they have purchased tickets. | 
