Refusing to do the mysterious other duties as required

Firstly, how long have you been working there?

And when did they begin asking you to help in another capacity?

Job descriptions these days will usually have the line "you will have the main responsibilities of but not confined to the following". (Meaning they can ask you to clean the jacks if need be).

Do you remember if this was in your role description?

I would be mainly concerned if your main responsibilities are suffering from over extending yourself in ad hoc responsibilities. If this is the case you can of course let them know this. I wouldn't be staying late in any circumstances. Life is too short.

You are not painting yourself in a great light here after only 4 post. Pretty confrontational I'd imagine. By the sounds of things' your negotiation would go something along the lines of .... I'm right.

I feel someone may be looking for a new job soon.

You specifically asked "Is it doomed to failure to start saying I am sticking to my job description?".

NiceFella gave you a on-topic reply which addressed the key issue regarding whether or not it's doomed to failure, which is how long you have been there. If the less than 1 year, then yes, it is doomed to failure: you are on probation and are not a good fit with the company culture. If you are there less than 2 years, and are pretty replaceable, then I suspect it's also doomed: the departments can easily enough be re-arranged so that your current position is redundant, at no cash-cost to the employer. If longer, then as Jim007 said, it depends on your value.

It sounds like your problem is that you are being asked to do tasks in another department. And there's a whiff from your post that you don't like it because that department is Customer Services, and you feel that as a Researcher (not just a researcher!), this is beneath you. If that's right, then you need to get-the-fcúk-over it: bottom line is that CS is the most-important part of most companies, even if it least glamorous.

Oh - and cleaning the jacks is pretty damn important, too. Filthy facilities will put you out of business quickly enough. However it's a specialist task (need to understand use of the chemicals + equipment used), so probably not reasonable to ask generalist staff to do it. Even though they should be well-able for it.

Says the immature youth of today

Lol. With a response and attitude like this it seems pretty obvious they’re trying to get rid of you- the easy and cheap way. Can’t say I blame them!

Ask the labrador then, see what he says. If a clearly hyperbolic statement is what you took from the post then you need to have a bit more humility.

It's obvious what I was saying, that if you are not there that long you have little bargaining power in the situation.

I find some of the replies hard to comprehend with the level of detail given by the OP.

One side of the argument could be - you have a job, count yourself lucky, suck it up and if you don’t like it “find another job”

other side of the story could involve someone in a skilled position they have worked hard for, trained, gone to college etc, or just generally invested in a career. They might possibly have spent a considerable amount of time interviewing for this job along with others. They could have got a couple of offers and spent time deciding which option ties in more with their career, and chosen one with a job description that was suitable for their career progression. I could understand not being too happy.

what do you think a tradesman would do if you asked them to clean the jacks.

some of the replies in this thread could look equally as obnoxious as what some of you are claiming the OP is, depending…..

OP i would say depending on the HR set up of the company, your role, how replaceable you are etc will go a long way in determining the outcome, if you have leverage you have negotiating power. A job description from hiring time would be useful too.

if your career driven and there is not enough work of the type you want to do where you are then for your own progress it may be time to move on. If there is enough of what you want to do then you’d be justified enough in asking why you’re not doing it.

what do you think a tradesman would do if you asked them to clean the jacks.

Clean them, and bill you at the usual hourly rate they charge for work they do.