I agree with this, and said as much to one of our directors when he suggested that my manager would only pass a task to me (it was to do with office safety or something similar). I believe I phrased it as "No, that's managers work, why keep a dog and bark yourself? It's not like we keep him around for his good looks!" This got a very bemused look from said director, who obviously assumed that the manager employed us, and not the other way around.