The worst part about any secretarial work is when you get griped out for matters over which you have absolutely no control. For example, when I worked at a garage door company in Abilene, I was chewed out over the phone because a worker driving our company vehicle had cut off someone on an entrance ramp to the highway. Guess how much control I had over that situation.
Today, I was chewed out because Murray State University takes too long to write checks. MSU is a college, and like any college it is a huge, complex bureaucracy. So, yes, it takes a long time to get a check written. Incidentally, it takes a long time no matter what the secretary in the Adventures in Math and Science Program says or does. In fact, the people who write those checks don't even know the poor little secretary in the Adventures of Math and Science Program, and they wouldn't care if they did. It would still take a long time to get the check written.
So people, be nice to the secretary. He or she has no power to do anything about anything. We can't make people drive better or bureaucracies run faster.
*deep breath* I've been needing to say that for about two years. I feel better.
4 comments:
I'm right there with you. If "they" don't tell us, we don't know. If "they" make a decision, we don't have any control over it. We're caught in the crosshairs. I guess that's all part of the job. All of us lowly office workers need to hang in there together.
Love ya, Mom G
I know exactly what you mean. At ACU, I got griped out for checks being late, for the fact that we had a Chapel policy, for someone's kid getting suspended for drug use, for taking a lunch break, and for other offices not answering their phones, among other things. I am so happy not to be a secretary any more. If you ever need to vent, give me a call!
Ha. So funny that you wrote this yesterday. At 4:58 someone called to gripe about his freight charges....from September. In a very slow irritating southern drawl. This lasted for 10 minutes and I wouldn't have minded much, except that he called in September to gripe about his freight charges as well. I do hope he feels better, because all he succeeded in doing here, was assuring that I will not be bending over backwards for him again any time soon.
I empathize completely! I've experienced that with every secretary job I've worked. When I worked at the Camps office last summer, a camper's father chewed me out because a counselor asked his daughter to change because her shorts were too short. Because the person answering the phone in the tiny office had apparently totally masterminded that situation...
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