Admin assisstants etc..

[draggar]

This is nothing against the admin assistants etc..

But..

Why is it the people who have admin assistants feel that they have to do EVERYTHING.

Scheduling - fine. Talking calls and filtering emails - fine.

Calling help desk to troubleshoot an issue - NOT FINE
Having me work though them - NOT FINE.

I have better things to do than play telephone and wait for responses as I leave messages, then get a call back etc..

Oh yes, and as usual, if you're going to cancel an appointment, please have the courtesy to cancel it BEFORE the appointment, not an hour and twenty minutes AFTER.

[Catwoman2965]

Along those lines, I'm not an admin, but my boss used to think that my sole purpose was to deal with the things he couldn't be bothered with. He got PAWNED big time by our help desk one time! He was having some sort of computer issue, I forget what, and asked ME to call the help desk. Sure, whatever, not like I had a choice...so I did, and the woman asked me what kind of error message or problem HE had. I said i didn't know, I was only calling for him.

She proceeded to go off (not on me) and said, fine, hang up and I'll call HIM. Apparetnly she did, as I never heard another peep out of him, and his issue seemed to be fixed!

I had somethign similar happen when I was an admin, at another job. My boss traveled several times a year, and would sometimes take her husband. As her admin, it was my job to arrange for her travel...this was before email and internet, so i would call, get the info, show her, let her choose flights etc and call travel back. So one time she's got me on the phone, with travel, and i'm going back and forth between her and travel, as she tries to figure out what arrangements to make for her husband! Travel finally said, you know what, let me speak to her DIRECTLY, it will be much easier. Which I'm glad they did, as I was getting sick of the back and forth.

[persephone]

There is ONE exception to the troubleshoot your technical problems on your own, not through your admin and that is ONLY for people that aren't in the office very much, and therefore said admin can be sitting in front of the problem computer and troubleshooting without having to relay instructions.

That is one of the times I would put my foot down as an admin. If you wanted something done that I had to be at your computer for? Either YOU are talking to IT or you are getting out of your office and letting me do it from your computer.

Never had a boss fight with me on it. Guess I had good bosses.

[Kiwi]

I worked in admin "office support" offically but most people in the office thought that we were a freaking information desk

how do I use this program, ASK YOUR BOSS

where does this person sit ASK HR

where is a good resturant WTF!

how do I apply for a job in department X (this is from a current employee) ASK YOUR BOSS

where can I get a pen (ok that I can help you with)

what department is BLANK in
whats this persons phone number
what department handles this problem
the office is too cold
the office is too hot
its my birthday who do I get my gift from (seriously I was asked that on an almost daily basis)
where is this meeting room
where is the cafe
where is the "tower"
how do I apply for time off
how do I ring the australian branch in sydney
my phone doesnt work
the toilets blocked
who is the first aid person

every single one of those questions could have been answered by going to our OWN COMPANY home page and typing in our very own version of google

my KPI's were very clear, my job description was very clear I was not paid to tell you things your team leader is paid MUCH more than I am could tell you

i was there to book meeting rooms electronically (not baby you step how to thats your managers job)
operate the switch board
make sure we never ran out of pens, photo copy paper
organise dry cleaning pick ups and drop offs (I was not there to touch your nasty dirty clothes, you wouldnt believe how many time I came back to my desk to find my chair covered in clothes, dirty clothes that were not mine and yes I called the owner and had them come remove it)
and make sure the EA's get their bosses catering on time

sorry this turned into such a vent but the majority of my energy at work was explaining to people that I was not their mommy and that with 30 seconds work they could already have had the answer

[technical.angel]

Oh good gods. This is one of my biggest pet peeves except for the case that Persephone mentions.

If you don't know what's wrong or have access to the system, DON'T CALL!!

[Gerrinson]

My g/f is an admin assistant, and when her boss gives her an order, she has to do it. Fortunately, he is the senior VP in charge of the IT Dept, so she's never bothering the help desk. But he does make her write memos chastising other people, including VPs and management, and makes her send them from her own email, in her own name.

I said she should start making up emails herself, now that they've all been trained to treat her email like a crack of the whip. She could be running the company in no time!

[persephone]

My g/f is an admin assistant, and when her boss gives her an order, she has to do it.

My guess is OP realizes that it's not the assistants fault and that they do, usually, kinda have to do what Big Boss tells them too. Doesn't make it any less annoying.

I just hope OP takes his frustration out on BOSS not ASSISTANT.

[mandaliz8704]

I was an executive assistant for 6 years. Frankly, I like working at Staples better.

The admin/exec assist is the poor thing that gets ordered to do all the stuff that nobody else in the office wants to do. That job gave me ulcers.

[AirHostess]

I've been a Personal Assistant before and agree with all of the above points!

[draggar]

My guess is OP realizes that it's not the assistants fault and that they do, usually, kinda have to do what Big Boss tells them too. Doesn't make it any less annoying.

I just hope OP takes his frustration out on BOSS not ASSISTANT.

Yes, I know it's not the admins. I have two I work with, one is cool because his boss actually logs tickets herself but the other one her boss has hr do everything (go get me coffee, go get me a paper, etc..). I guess whether being an admin sucks or not is based on who you're an admin for.

The admin/exec assist is the poor thing that gets ordered to do all the stuff that nobody else in the office wants to do. That job gave me ulcers.

Yep, I see it with them and it doesn't help the fact that one of the admins (the one who logs the tickets for her sup) has a similar personality to her boss. It makes it interesting.

Now, some supervisors are having their workers do their work (logging tickets). It's getting better - I guess that's job security?

[persephone]

Yes, I know it's not the admins. I have two I work with, one is cool because his boss actually logs tickets herself but the other one her boss has hr do everything (go get me coffee, go get me a paper, etc..). I guess whether being an admin sucks or not is based on who you're an admin for.

Yep. It's like working anywhere. If you have a good boss and good coworkers, chances are you'll like your job a lot more. Bad boss = not like work. So when you work THAT CLOSELY with "boss" it BETTER be a good one!

[TOLady]

Being an exec admin sucks sometimes!

In a prior position, I had a boss who travelled frequently and would call from all over the world and do dictation over the phone (I'm a really fast typist). If they were out of the office, I would be able to work from home occasionally. Unfortunately, sometimes this person would forget the changing time zones and call at 2:00am to dictate his thoughts from a recent meeting with the Asian partners. It pissed off my DH to no end when he called on the weekends and then wanted me to fax the letters dictated (this was before everyone used emails), which meant getting in the car and driving to Staples!

After I left that company, a replacement couldn’t be found for a while who could keep up. They tried calling me at home to get me to do the dictation until they found someone else. I was even offered me more than they had been paying when I worked for them full-time! It lasted a month and I had to cut him off or lose my DH (and my sanity).

In my current place, I was the exec asst to someone who was completely helpless. I mean completely. It drove me nuts. I was expected to be able to know exactly what they were thinking with only a 3 word note left on my computer. I was checking my email and voice-mail on vacation, when I was out of the office sick, just because they weren’t able to cope alone for a day.

Even though I am assigned more than 2 individuals to work for, this person took precedence, to the detriment of my performance reviews on more than one occasion – even though they were the ones giving me my review! Apparently, I didn’t multi-task efficiently enough! Dammit – every time I tried to, I was told to ignore anything but their request! Arghhhh – it still makes me angry!

It’s been almost 2 years since this person left for a new company, and I’m still getting calls from the admin at their new company asking for help on deciphering 3 word notes left on her computer!

[persephone]

It’s been almost 2 years since this person left for a new company, and I’m still getting calls from the admin at their new company asking for help on deciphering 3 word notes left on her computer!

Haha, yeah, I've been there. I was a personal assistant for this guy when I still lived in Tennessee (we're talking 7 years ago). The girl who replaced me had me on speed dial and in her e-mail address book. Whenever it switches, the new assistant is given my contact info and told to introduce herself to me.

Buddy was a little scatterbrained but somehow, I always knew what he wanted with the most minor of details. Somehow I can still usually decipher his insane notes and e-mails to his assistants!

[draggar]

OK, this one in paticular is about to be on my $h!t list (along with her boss).

She's always calling whoever is at the desk every hour to see if one of their packages is in (whoever is at the desk calls people when they receive packages). Each time the person at the desk tells them that they'll be called when the package comes in. (Luckily they know better than to pull that with me).

This admin was at the front desk Monday and Tuesday. I check the mailroom yesterday afternoon (late in the day). Two package are waiting for me. I check the tracking numbers - they were delivered early Monday morning.

So, she needs to nag everyone for her packages but can't even send out an email to let other people know they have a package??

[KellyHabersham]

I enjoy being an admin assistant for the most part, one of the few things which does irk me though, is having to be the "phone message" person for people in the congregation. (Basically, people prefer giving out the church office number as contact info, and I have to relay messages back and forth) Sometimes I can understand someone would want calls to be directed to the church office, other times, it's not very effecient.