Manager: You really shouldn’t be doing that

Dev: It’s in my job description

Manager: Yeah but you still shouldn’t be doing it.

Dev: Who should I hand it off to?

Manager: We don’t have anyone else to hand off that task to.

Dev: Ok, do I stop doing it?

Manager: 😡 Of course not, it needs to get done! I’m just saying you shouldn’t do it.

Dev: ???????????

This hurts my head.

The open-endedness of this post hurts me 😩

For those who find this situation difficult to comprehend...
The manager expects work and recognition for them sympathizing with the dev. The dev is expected to say, 'Right? But someone has to! I must. Thanks for the talk good buddy manager.'

Not an acceptable response: 'Yeah I thought the same, I'll mail the team to find the identify the resource and switch to my task'

I would making him explain what this means. The ambiguity is bullshit and would cause me stress.

My boss on the other hand:

"I need you to work on something tedious and not as fun."

Turned out it was interesting and just needed done.

"You did a good job on this." Was his response when I finished it.

@anux

Manager: I have identified a problem

Dev: Ok, are we going to fix it?

Manager: No lol, good chat

sounds like the manager was at that moment applying exactly the same "logic" on him talking to you

@boombodies 2 days later.

Manager: Did you fix it?
Dev: ...

When the manager is on the spectrum too.

Lol

managers..

Non tech managers acting like they know everything.

Typical waste of air manager conversation that is a bunch of words but doesnt actually mean or do anything

The manager is crap. It's their role, as a manager, to remove impediments from their team and to ensure you are freed to be as productive as you can.

I believe I know what they meant - for instance, maybe you were being asked to change the toner in a printer because you're in "IT" (whether a developer or something else). Now, it needs to be done, but it shouldn't be you. It should be the lowest-paid person who is capable of doing it.

However, for the manager to say "you shouldn't be doing it" and then still leave it on your plate is a problem. That manager should have gone and spoken with (say) the Administration team leader, or whoever, and figured out how to get it off your plate.

The fact they didn't is a sign of bad management.