There is a secretary at
my job who receives blatant favoritism. She works from home one day a week
which is a privilege not afforded to any other admin let alone a personal
secretary. Almost all admins could work from home one day a week but my
employers would find that investment laughable.
The Favorite is become
notorious for abusing the ‘work from home’ privilege. Her record was coming in
less than 5 days out of 15. The longest she’s taken to answer an email on a ‘work
from home’ day was 5 hours. They have cracked down on that recently but it’s
far from perfect.
Not too long ago a
project The Favorite was in charge of needed to be finished to go out on
Wednesday. Tuesday was her work from home day. Did she come in on Tuesday to
make sure the project got done? Absolutely not. I had to neglect my own work to
make sure hers got done in time because she didn’t have to come in and do it.
For most of us, my place
of employment allows zero flexibility with time. You leave a set number of
hours after you get there. You leave 1 minute early too many times in a year
and they can, will, and have docked pay. Once I left the office at lunch but
got in at 9 minutes past the hour. That cost me an hour of leave and I have in
writing that I was not allowed to make up those 9 minutes somewhere else.
The Favorite Secretary gets
to leave an hour earlier than everyone else is allowed to every day. This past
Friday she got to leave 2 hours earlier than everyone else because she called
her boss and said she had errands to run.
Today The Favorite told
me she is expecting an important call. She will tell me when she’ll be away
from her desk but if she’s at the copy machine or something nearby I have to
get up from my desk and find her. The only other people who have asked me to
get up from my desk and find someone are executives who outrank The Favorite’s
boss.
Earlier she walked by my
desk and asked me not to get up while she was away. Coming back she asked if
anyone called. In the past my chain of command was so warped the managers weren’t
sure who should be doing my annual evaluation. I still can’t see how it works
out that a personal secretary gets to treat me as her personal secretary.
A few weeks ago my job
was threatened because I wasn’t adequately doing hers. When I argued that The
Favorite did a horrible job of communicating her sporadic absences, I was told
that was my fault. Apparently enough time has passed that these issues should
be resolved. The Favorite’s lack of participation in this was irrelevant. The
fact that she should be doing her own job was also irrelevant.
I appreciate that
sometimes you have to pick up someone else’s slack to make sure a job gets
done. I have no desire to do it almost every day I come to work. No one is
overly motivated to do the work of someone who makes more money, works fewer
hours, and receives better treatment.
I wish there was a way
to communicate to management what this does for the moral of every other admin
here. All of us resent the special treatment she gets and the nothing done to
hide it. It kills morale because we mean less to the organization than she does
despite doing more for it.
Paying multiple people
to do the same job costs you more than dollars. It makes you look stupid to
your staff. They also aren’t motivated to work as hard. Why should we be
expected to give 110% when The Favorite makes top dollar and doesn’t have to
come into work every day to do it? She doesn’t face any consequences so what can
you really get off saying to us?
I think The Favorite’s
attitude is offensive. I think the men letting her get away with it are even
more ridiculous.
Music: One Step Closer
by Linkin Park
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