For Admin Assistants

Re: For Admin Assistants

oh man, you hit a nerve !! I can totally relate to that, big time (esp the part about your guy wanting a window seat....... LOL) Sometimes I question how they got thru school and can manage out there in the real world. Then I realize they CAN manage, they'd rather just act obnoxious and delegate all the little crap to us.

My bosses , all three of them, are totally helpless. Heaven's forbid they figure out how to put paper in the printer or try to email a document themselves instead of FORWARDING it to me , only to haev me turn around to email to a client If you can forward it to ME, you can forward it to the client, right?? DUH

My partner (the big cheese) is really out of control some daysthat if he doesn't get upgraded to business or first class you'd think the world were about to end! Not to mention, when he asked to be switched to a flight minute b/f its leaving, then gets pissed off when I can only get him whatever seat is available

I swear I thought one day I'd be fired because the only seat left was a middle seat in economy and he was so aggravated.. too bad to have to suffer like the rest of do, eh?

I can go on and on for days.......... this is such a thankless job, as we all know

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Re: For Admin Assistants

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Posted by Janice

or one day mine sent me down for a book of stamps and told me he would pay me back later!!! Hello, do you think I have a daily expense account!!! I have nothing, (I mainly come to work with only enough for my lunch so I don't snack) or I love it when I have to make arrangements to have their golf clubs fed ex'd to their meetings, DH has no idea too, one time a guy got so nasty with me about a spreadsheet, and DH was like why doesn't he just do it himself, I was like what? this guy is not even capable of unlocking his door in the morning, let alone a spread sheet. I love it also when they discuss their vacations with me, I could not even tell you were these places are located, and here they are asking me if I have been. but my sore spot-----their wives!!

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Oh yes ... the WIVES.. They truly take the cake. I don't even know where to begin on that topic. They truly believe that not only do you work for their husbands, but you work for THEM also!!

Right now I'm trying to figure out how in the hell to get Broadway show tickets for Wicked or The Producers (good seats but not using a broker, mind you) for the week in between XMAS /New Years - this is for my boss, the wife and 3 kids. Um... do I have time for this? Do I have some secret way of getting good seats during the busiest time of the year? Can't your wife who sits home all day figure out how to do this? She sure knows how to pick up a phone and call you all day .. can't she just call Ticketmaster or hop online? Uh ....... I guess not

My boss also asked me last week to 'go to Tiffany's and pick up some gifts for his clients? I was like - ok, WHOSE card am I using? My credit card would max out if I bought a pen at Tiffany's, let alone spend the thousands of $$ he wanted to spend on a few 'trinkets' I suggested he open a corporate account to make life easier, but 'that was too complicated' for the big guy

It'll only get worse now that the holidays are rolling around and he'll expect me to figure out what to get his wife for XMAS

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Posted by FeliciaDA

It'll only get worse now that the holidays are rolling around and he'll expect me to figure out what to get his wife for XMAS

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LOL !! My sister usually gets a regift of something wife doesn't like ro somethign CHEAP from her boss for Christmas. With all the personal stuff she does for her boss and his family, I figured she'd get something.


My friend has a great boss (I am soooo jealous). She always gets a nice holiday bonus. The boss's wife is such a sweetheart. At the holidays, she makes a trip specifically to hand deliver gift (last year a $500 American Express giftcard), flowers and they take the staff to lunch. She says best of all, its fun to go to work everyday.

My boss won't even let us out early on Christmas Eve.

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OKay so where does your friend work?

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She works for Estee Lauder. I also know someone else that works there and she hates it. So I guess it depends who you work for and with.

I work for Pepsi and I hate it - mainly because of my boss . I'm looking to leave. FH's friend works there and thinks its the greatest place on earth. I have to get out of there. I would just like once to have a sprite with my luch !!!!!!!

Re: For Admin Assistants

I give you guys all the credit in the world for sticking with Admin assistant. I couldnt deal with the way so many of the 'bosses' look down upon Admin as if its a job just anyone could do. Thats why I had to go back to school. I personally decided I'd rather do an entry level career job with a title than be admin again. So many times I was in tears because of the way they treated me..especially when I worked for a boss with a High school diploma and I was going back to school for my second degree she gave me the ****** assignments even though I was more qualified than the other people. SHe hated me for having an education.

I hope this year you all get great fat bonuses since we all know its Admins who do most of the work

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OK where do I start about my old boss.....
Hmmmm. I work in magazines (so think The Devil Wears Prada)
I'd have to say my favorite tasks were:

Faxing her divorce papers

Taking her ex-husband (who she was cheating on) off of her insurance. And she used to yell at me when I put his calls through to her so she told me never to let her know he called. So when he did, I used to get yelled at by this poor guy because he thought it was my fault she wasn't calling him back.

Talking to the school principal about her son on her behalf

Fudging deadline dates on really important articles that were going to print.

Calling a PR agency on her behalf to get compliementary items... so she could give them as holiday gifts! (cheap b!tch!)

And I used to love when she would hunt me down on our floor, passing several copy machines, to have me make a copy for her. It killed me.

I can really sympathize. I totally went through that, and got verbally abused at the same time! It was really rough for me.

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I'm with you guys!!! Not a day goes by that some attorney doesn't speak to me as if I had the IQ of a turnip. This is especially frustrating with the first years.

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I have to chuckle at each of these! I WONDER how they have made it THIS FAR!!! Did anyone forget to mention, programming ALL THOSE numbers into their cell phones! I didn't get the cell phone insurance ?? I DIDN'T KNOW (me) there WAS cell phone insurance!

Emailing me from the LIRR from his blackberry to Delete emails from his computer before he gets into the office???

Emailing him weather reports from a certain website while HE IS ON HIS BOAT and I am sitting in the office doing NOTHING! But they have to be emailed around 4pm so he knows i am STILL at my desk.

Calls me at home on a Sunday for his Conference Call ID number....

there is MORE..
An old boss had me house sit at his house for his house and the dog. I had to ASK and ASK and ASK to get paid -I had to travel via car about 1.5 hours one way to get to the house and sit for 3 days and he gave me $75---;

another guy bought me a candle in grand central station for an xmas gift,

another guy made about $750,000 in commission and he gave me $250 as a gift out of his commission bank, not his own personal check (I had worked abour 46 hours of OT for a golf outting and ended up I was not able for OT $---I was an a**!)

Another boss --whom I loved!! Gave a bag of homemade cookies as a holiday gift...

One guy whom I hated, gave me $700 in cash

(go figure)

OH, and filling out their Medical Forms and for the wife that is mentally unstable and anorexic who can't do it and for all her medication, different doctors and KEEPING TRACK of all the checks, the declines and status of each claim!!!

the best, sitting there ALL DAY doing NOTHING and at quiting time, 'CAN YOU STAY LATE'!!????

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Posted by SandraLynn

the best, sitting there ALL DAY doing NOTHING and at quiting time, 'CAN YOU STAY LATE'!!????

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literally, that happens every day to me -- W T F is wrong with them??

all of your items were classic and in variations have happened to me as well. The one about the boat was hysterial (since my boss is ALWAYS off 'sailing' and has used the 'call me at 5pm, not a minute before' line on me ALL THE TIME)

In a strange way, its good to know you aren't the only one who goes thru it... but its sad at the same time to realize that is no different no matter WHERE you work as an AA

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I have a great boss now, but I had my share of whoppers. Had a lady boss who would not use Outlook or the computer and demand that I keep changing her manual calendar and erasing and re-entering and making a copy of it so it was always in front of her updated. Keep a phone list that she never called anyone back so it grew to about 9 pages and she wouldn't let me delete anything. She was obviously keeping it as a rolodex. I offered to keep a rolodex for her since she didn't use the computer except to surf the internet and play solitare.

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I have a good boss now and I am so glad. But I have had some bad ones in the past.

Re: For Admin Assistants

I was a admin/personal assistant to this rich A$$HOLE on the UES.

He used to make me type up huge documents of everything i researched (best places to go apple picking with his kid, great restaurants to take his girlfriend to) and then would never read them. EVER. it was infuriating to put in all that work every day and have him go on fridays: 'I didn't get a chance to look at it - just make me a reservation somewhere close by.'

That is just one of many stories...

I swear, what we go through. And for PENNIES!!

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Posted by SandraLynn

the best, sitting there ALL DAY doing NOTHING and at quiting time, 'CAN YOU STAY LATE'!!????

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OMG!! I know exactly what you mean! Or, it is 4:45 and you have been doing nothing and then they give you something that'll take 2 hours and tell you it has to get done by the end of the day!!!

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Man these posts are bringing back all the reasons I decided to leave this field to teach.

It truly is hard to believe that these guys (& girls) could get by in the world without us.

Offhand I remember:

Hours programming personal phone numbers into his Palm (by hand) (over 500) only to have him forget to charge his battery when he was on a month vacation and I had to redo it on his return.

The attitude I would catch if he wasn't able to sit in an aisle seat,

Looking the other way when his 'associate' from his last job would call (& he'd shut his door & talk for an hour) but then would tell me he can't pick up on his wife right now.

Pretending I don't see the raunchy emails in his SENT folder (when he's asking me to look for an email he had sent) to his mistress

Spending hours coordinating his country club list and mail merging a letter to over 300 of his personal friends/associates to donate to a cause I am FULLY against (not work-related)

I can relate to fed-exing the golf clubs, and not being cc'd on something that you are personally involved with (& when people start calling/emailing you have NO idea what they are referring to).

and researching for hours a certain type of hat he wants me to order (company based in China) and after finally talking to someone that understands English and placing the order he tells me a day later he found a place on LI that he can order from & to cancel the order.



I can go on & on, but I thank you for bringing up all these 'bad' memories. :)

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these stories, wow, keep 'em coming!