It's Girl Friday! (Or What it Means to be an Administrative Assistant)

I came across this interesting tribute to the American secretary this morning on Huffington Post that basically gave the history as to how the Administrative Assistant became known as an Assistant and not a Secretary, not a Girl Friday, and not an Office Wife.

Sure, there are plenty of discussions these days on how people migrate toward each other in their work environments and form bonds similar to spousal relationships (minus the smooches, one would hope).  Anyway, the way the Office Spouse/Wife/Husband has developed makes sense to me.  Everyone wants to have a friend in the office, that way, if you are about to throw your stapler at your boss's head, you can go tell your "Office Spouse" first, they can calm you down and assure you that, "Yes, throwing a stapler at his head would indeed get you fired and would contribute to the financial downfall of your marriage.  Don't do it.  Kevin would be mad."

Okay, it's not like that situation ever happened in my vast experiences as an office assistant, I never wanted to throw anything at anyone's head! (*wink*  If you believe that, we have not met in person.)

But the point is, there is still a stigma in being an assistant to someone.  I think that my previous post about wanting to be hired based on my qualifications stems from the stigma and my frustrations that come with being someone's secretary.  Yes, the Lord blessed women with beauty.  But He also blessed them with brains and talent.

I grew up in Texas and it is no surprise that there is still a very large good ol' boys club that exists there.  That belief system, the men do the real hard-thinking jobs and the ladies do the typing and taking out of trash, has a strong hold in the culture here in New Orleans as well.  What is interesting is that I am now, in my opinion, overqualified to continue on this assistant's path.  I have a master's degree, tons of experience, and a savvy way with which I handle those "good ol' boys".  I'm tough.  I learned how to behave like a lady and still hold my ground when it comes to inappropriateness in the work place and I can thank my mother for that excellent role model.

Except, here's the thing.  My mom WAS the boss.  She was the one who had the secretary and worked all the time.  I'm sure there was a time in her life that she typed for people, but she worked her derriere off to get to where she ended up in her professional career (she has since retired and is doing freelance work).  My mom, the boss, was my role model.  Not her assistant. Not those working for her. And she would prefer I say with her, not for her.
  
It's frustrating that some professional men continue to perpetuate this belief system.  It's unfortunate that women and men today have to deal with a less than black and white situation in his or her work environment. I think that comes with the type of work I do as well, and I must always keep that in mind.  Working in the arts, even if it is an office environment, is different than working in a paper company or law firm.  Arts = emotions = crazy people with emotions.  So, I'm going to cut my experiences a lot of slack in that department.

However, from this point on in my assisting of professionals, I am going to make it a point to remind myself every time that boss asks me to pick up the giant pile of trash he just dumped in the middle of his floor that I am strong like my mother.  And, I'm younger than my boss. 

Which means, I still have time to get to the top.  Here's to everyone who has had to get coffee for someone who thinks they are too good to get it themselves, here's to everyone who has had to learn to be a computer networking expert in a matter of 2 seconds because something crashed the system, and here's to everyone who knows in their heart of hearts that the place would literally fall apart if you stopped showing up.

But, I suppose they really can't get their coffee themselves, sometimes  I wonder if their wives let them get away with that at home. . .