"Secretary" Work

[CTGirl]

I am so glad that I only have about a week left at my job, cuz I am about ready to kill someone right now.

As some of you know, I work in a very small office, with just 2 other people. I was hired here after finishing my MA, and my title here is Associate Consultant, however, my 2 coworkers (ever since the Office Manager left) seem to think that I am their secretary as well.

One of my coworkers just left a job application in my inbox with a post-it on it telling me to send it to one of our clients. It took her as much time to do that as it would have to send the damn thing herself.

Last week, my other coworker called me from the road and told me that he'd gotten a voicemail from a client, but didn't have time to call the guy, so he wanted me to call the client and tell him that my coworker didn't have time to talk to him and to call him the next day. It would have been easier for him to call and tell that client that than call me to tell him.

I also seem to be responsible for making all of their appointments for them, and then they get annoyed when I schedule things at inconvenient times for them - if they wanted things at certain times, they should really be making their own appointments, as I am not their personal assistant!

Ugh, this crap annoys me so much!

Anyone ele get treated like a secretary/personal assistant just cuz you're the lowest on the totem pole?

[sondra_finchley]

We had this problem at my last office- it was a nonprofit/govt funded and we had a crazy secretary who decided not to show up one day ( she was in jail) Two years later they still dont have a proper secretary. The real kick in the teeth was the gal they got to do it for a while they moved up to do some other job and so all of us researchers in the back and the interns had to fill in on front desk duties. It sucked- answering the phone sucks, running around trying to remember what goes where sucks, and we all hated it. To make matter worse, the gal who was promoted to more admin duties (since some others left) got a bit of a big head about her new "duties" and could be a real pain to work with. God knows why they wouldnt just hire a half time secretary to at least cover for her when she needed to do other things because all that phone answering and running around started to really limit the work we were able to put out in the back.

The worst was when she would schedule us for a phone answering shift and then decide that she didnt need it done that day- especially when it required shuffling around of the schedules of 4 other people to accomodate the request.

That whole mess was another reason why I wanted to get the hell out of there.

[cache]

Ohh, good venting thread...

I work in a building that is made up entirely of facility upper management, senior engineers, and me. I've become "the copier representative." Copier jammed up? Ask Eric. How do you scan documents? Ask Eric.

Some incidents:
A few weeks ago, one of those upper management's walked down to my office, which is on the other end of the building as the copier, to let me know the box of paper clips that is by the copier was empty. The extra boxes of paper clips are 5 steps away from the copier.

My office is conveniently located across the hall from a bathroom. You know, just because my office is near the bathroom, doesn't mean I receive daily briefings on the plumbing system. People walk into my office "why won't that toilet flush?"

...it gives me even more opportunities to roll my eyes everyday :rolleyes:

[CTGirl]

Ugh, I hear ya cache. Somehow, because I'm the youngest here, I am somehow assumed to know all about technology and how to fix any IT problem we may have (despite the fact that I have been here for MUCH less time than the others and am MUCH less familiar with the services we use). We had a problem with our server and a software program we use, and for some reason, my coworkers thought it a good idea to put that issue entirely on me to deal with despite the fact that I knew very little about our server and the software program :googly:

Oh, and today I am somehow responsible for finding out where to get a replacement charger for my boss's palm pilot, cuz for some reason he is incapable of doing this himself, ugh!

[cache]

My co-workers are the same with MS Office stuff, but I have it a bit easier. If I fix a formula in Excel or something like that, they will look at me like I just figured out who killed JFK. "Wow! How'd you do that!"

[BlueEyedFunOne]

We have shared calendars here in Outlook, so people can generally figure out if someone's out of the office, in a meeting, etc. Yet, I still get people that grill me about where my boss is, when he'll be back, where he went. I'm not his babysitter!

[WorkInProgress]

We have shared calendars here in Outlook, so people can generally figure out if someone's out of the office, in a meeting, etc. Yet, I still get people that grill me about where my boss is, when he'll be back, where he went. I'm not his babysitter!

I want to get a shared calendar set up (which I think we could do on our intranet), so that everyone knows. Because I don't, always. And somehow I'm expected to...whenever the someone wanders in or calls. It doesn't help that one of them is the only person who can really do his job (and people wait until the last minute for stuff that they need him for) and he sometimes (like every couple days or so lately) has to be out working on other things. I'm actually considering getting one of those big paper calendars and posting it somewhere to have people write when they expect to be in or out. Just so that I have an idea, since I am apparently expected to know.

[Kitty]

This happened to me at my first job because I was a woman, young, and in marketing. Some ass holes assumed that also meant I was supposed to make photo copies for them as well :googly:

[CTGirl]

I want to get a shared calendar set up (which I think we could do on our intranet), so that everyone knows. Because I don't, always. And somehow I'm expected to...whenever the someone wanders in or calls. It doesn't help that one of them is the only person who can really do his job (and people wait until the last minute for stuff that they need him for) and he sometimes (like every couple days or so lately) has to be out working on other things. I'm actually considering getting one of those big paper calendars and posting it somewhere to have people write when they expect to be in or out. Just so that I have an idea, since I am apparently expected to know.

We have a shared calendar in my office, but they don't always see fit to use it. I've had my coworkers send me emails asking me to put something in the calendar for them, meanwhile it took longer to send me an email telling me to do it than it would have for them to do it themselves :googly: They also don't check the calendar all the time, so my one coworker has missed things a couple times because she asked me to schedule something for her, and then didn't look to see when it was scheduled for. I swear, they're like children :frustrate

[weary]

This happened to me at my first job because I was a woman, young, and in marketing. Some ass holes assumed that also meant I was supposed to make photo copies for them as well :googly:

yeah, at one job i was working - as a director, but the only woman left standing after layoffs - the office admin had been let go and the first day she was gone some dipshit asked me if i was going to make the coffee. i replied, "i've never had a drink of coffee in my life and don't know the first thing about making it. i thought the coffee-drinkers here made the coffe, no?" he turned beet-red and made his own damn coffee.

[WorkInProgress]

I swear, they're like children :frustrate
Pretty much. They're generally getting better about letting me know when they'll be back. I refuse to ask them about it, though. I don't mind keeping track, but I'm NOT going to hunt you down for it. It's a slow process. (And generally speaking, I don't mind. Some days, though, I mind a WHOLE LOT.)

[Kitty]

yeah, at one job i was working - as a director, but the only woman left standing after layoffs - the office admin had been let go and the first day she was gone some dipshit asked me if i was going to make the coffee. i replied, "i've never had a drink of coffee in my life and don't know the first thing about making it. i thought the coffee-drinkers here made the coffe, no?" he turned beet-red and made his own damn coffee.

Way to go!!

[WorkInProgress]

yeah, at one job i was working - as a director, but the only woman left standing after layoffs - the office admin had been let go and the first day she was gone some dipshit asked me if i was going to make the coffee. i replied, "i've never had a drink of coffee in my life and don't know the first thing about making it. i thought the coffee-drinkers here made the coffe, no?" he turned beet-red and made his own damn coffee.

Sweet. That's how it works at my office. Whoever's drinking it is making it.

[shimma]

Ugh, I hear ya cache. Somehow, because I'm the youngest here, I am somehow assumed to know all about technology and how to fix any IT problem we may have (despite the fact that I have been here for MUCH less time than the others and am MUCH less familiar with the services we use).

Ugh, try if your job is actually IT related. You can't figure out the budget database? Come ask me, I administer the flippin' thing.

Your machine is physically broken? Your voicemail is messed up? Forgot the password to your blackberry? How the hell would I know how to fix it?! I'm not even the youngest in my office, though....

[dddork]

argh..............

[cache]

yeah, at one job i was working - as a director, but the only woman left standing after layoffs - the office admin had been let go and the first day she was gone some dipshit asked me if i was going to make the coffee. i replied, "i've never had a drink of coffee in my life and don't know the first thing about making it. i thought the coffee-drinkers here made the coffe, no?" he turned beet-red and made his own damn coffee.

HA! When I started at my current position, the woman I was replacing was showing me around on the first day, and she mentioned that she makes coffee every morning, and I should continue to do so. I told her I didn't drink coffee, so I wasn't going to make it. She said something to the extent of "well, the engineers and management all need their coffee, so you have to make it. She actually went to the boss to tell her I was being insubordinate on my first day.

[WorkInProgress]

HA! When I started at my current position, the woman I was replacing was showing me around on the first day, and she mentioned that she makes coffee every morning, and I should continue to do so. I told her I didn't drink coffee, so I wasn't going to make it. She said something to the extent of "well, the engineers and management all need their coffee, so you have to make it. She actually went to the boss to tell her I was being insubordinate on my first day.

That is ridiculous.

[coll214]

Ugh, try if your job is actually IT related. You can't figure out the budget database? Come ask me, I administer the flippin' thing.
I'm computer support here, so that translates to anything that's plugged in I seem to need to know how to fix it. Fax machine broke? Yup that's all me. Your calculator won't work, yeah come to me b/c that's IT related :googly:.

And I also get since i'm the youngest here the ridiculous tasks that it'd be easier for my supervisor to do in the time it takes for her to explain it. Though when i'm busy and she's not, it's even worse. Last week she wanted me to clean out a closet :rolleyes:. i didn't even turn around and said that's on the back burner i'm waaay too busy for that!

[mishl982]

I get annoyed when people ask me to do administrative things. I wouldn't mind so much if we didn't have an administrative assistant, but we do and she is ready and willing to help everyone. My coworkers also don't seem to get the fact that I have moved up from being an AA and am in a job totally separate from it. They seem to not like change or they are just too lazy to rely on someone different.

[Kitty]

argh..............

We typically try to communicate beyond grunts around here.

[AshleyJordan]

I get annoyed when people ask me to do administrative things. I wouldn't mind so much if we didn't have an administrative assistant, but we do and she is ready and willing to help everyone. My coworkers also don't seem to get the fact that I have moved up from being an AA and am in a job totally separate from it. They seem to not like change or they are just too lazy to rely on someone different.


Try being in my situation, where one of the admins trys to get me to do her sh*t. .. .i.e. answer the phones, file, make copies, even though it's supposed to be the other way around. A couple of days ago she finally got around to doing the filing I had given her, but not without cursing at me about it. . . can anyone say passive aggressive?

[LaFille]

GOOD THREAD

i wonder every single day at my job how some of the VPs got to where they are when they can't even use a computer. and i seriously think they ask me to do some of their work not because they are incapable of it, but because it gives them a power trip having someone working under them. i am the receptionist where i work, but i am also the assistant to a very busy and very demanding VP--however, since i am sitting at the front desk everyone assumes that i'm sitting there doing crosswords all day or something, so i get work thrown at me allll the time that there's no way i can get to.

oh, and my favorite is the fact that i am responsible for answering the phone and receiving people at the door, so i am chained to my desk. fine, i'm the receptionist, it's my job. but people do not seem to understand this, and constantly ask me to run around looking for people or hand-deliver documents, or bring coffee into the conference room, or personally deliver their mail, etc. if i say i can't right away because i need to find someone to watch the phones, they act like i'm lazy or something. and not to mention my direct boss won't come into my office to give me instructions, so i have to go down the hall when i want to talk to him (he hates the phone) and sprint back into my office when i hear the phone or front buzzer ring.

time for a new job already :mad:

[LaFille]

oh yeah, and one more thing... i love how since i am an admin/receptionist, people come into my office wanting to chat nonstop. it's part of my job to be nice to everyone and put them in a good mood, so of course i chat with everyone who comes in even if i don't want to. but then certain people constantly drop comments like 'hey don't you guys do any work in here" and "sigh... i wish i were having a relaxing day too" even if i have a million things to get done.

one guy i work with one day saw me running around and he goes 'i am so glad i don't have your job.' it was one of those occasions where pity was welcomed.

[cameralady]

so i get work thrown at me allll the time that there's no way i can get to.
This is something that has never changed in the 6 years I have been doing this.