FWD: Anecdote on secretaries etc.

["Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

Name withheld upon request. Please reply on list.

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I know the secretary thread has evolved into other subjects, and I've
read all the posts with great interest, but recent events at my own job
prompt me to add one last story.

Many of the other stories have dealt with managers, developers, and
other non-TWers who have viewed or treated us as secretaries. My
situation is different -- I have a fellow writer who's been trying to
treat me that way ever since I started here a few years ago. At first it
wasn't so obvious because I didn't have much experience at the time, and
so some of the stuff he handed off to me was considered "training." But
it included things like filing, typing text in (before we had OCR
capability), scanning photos, and filling out paperwork for his
projects. Furthermore, he still tried to do it after my formal training
period ended, and even after I was promoted. Most of the time I politely
deflected it away. ("Sorry, too busy, you'll have to do it yourself.")
But there were times when his project load was very heavy, and mine was
very light, so I would help him out. I'm sure you don't need me to tell
you that when the situations were reversed I couldn't get him to return
the favor.

Yes, I should have taken a firm stance and resolved the issue with him.
But I kept thinking he'd finally get the point when I kept deflecting
his stuff. Plus I was trying to avoid confronting him directly because I
know he would have changed the whole issue into a big power struggle,
complete with political backstabbing. As I waffled around trying to
decide what to do, he transferred to one of our other branches. You can
imagine my relief.

Unfortunately, guess who recently transferred back? And guess who is
trying to use me as his personal assistant again? This time, however,
I'm not putting up with it. Now the only question is how long it will
take for him to get the point. I've already handed stuff back to him
with very direct comments. ("This isn't my job. This is your
responsibility.") He's still trying. I sense that I will be taking an
even more direct approach with him soon.