evil secretary
 

so now that my secretary is here, she thinks she is the boss or something. she doesnt listen to me at all, she does what she wants, she questions everything i tell her and goes behind me to see what im doing after i tell her to do something else. now everytime she doesnt like what i say to her or something, she goes into the owners office and tells him. today she asked for more file drawers and she has like 9 on her desk, i said what for and she rudely said, because my desk is cluttered and i want more and if you wont buy them for me ill buy some for myself. i then said ok well i think we have some in the closest ill look later. well she didnt like that. she went right into the bosses office and was in there for 30 mins with a list she had made. now it is driving me nuts, but he for some reason loves her, i mean loves her. i hate her, i really wanted to hit her today for how she is with me. if i complain im a bitch who just doesnt like anyone as weve gone through 5 sec already, but if i dont complain im gonna quit. i dont know what to do since my boss likes her better it seems. i just cant take it anymore.

i keep telling myself, 2 more weeks, 2 more weeks. i think if i can get through 2 weeks, id quit after the holidays, but part of me doesnt want to as i was here first and here for a year and she just came here, but the whole job is driving me nuts. i dont to quit and let her win and get my job, but i dont know what to do. talking to her isnt an option.

maybe ill lock her in the ladies room all day lol.

i just needed to vent because noone else her understands. i wish i could leave at 330 when i leave and come back around 430 to see if she is still here. she is suppose to work till 430 and after 330 everyones gone but her, i wish i could catch her in leaving or something to get her in trouble.

i just cant go to my boss and complain how she is when she just bugs me, she isnt saying fowl language or anything, even though she doesnt listen to me at all. i need something to get her fired lol. i wish i could make her quit, but shes such a snitch she would get me in trouble instead......

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

You can't fire your own secretary? What kind of BS is that?

Would your boss even require you to justify it? Can you conduct a performance review and give her really low marks?

It doesn't sound like you are your secretary's boss -- and that should be enough to go to your boss with.

It sounds like she's forgetting who is the boss of whom and, although it isn't fun, you're going to need to remind her.

Is she older than you? My first job out of college my secretary was a woman in her mid thirties who had been there awhile and, meanwhile, I was 23. She would forget to do things I needed her to, take long lunches, spend her time gossiping with other secretaries. And I think it was because she felt she didn't have to respect someone younger than she was.

I decided to take her out to lunch one day and (nicely) explain to her that we were a team and I needed certain things from her. I told her that maybe she was used to doing things a certain way, but I had my way of doing things and that was how it was going to be. It was all very civilized and not unpleasant.

After that, I did have to remind her a few times but within a few weeks things were running smoothly. It seems that, with some people, if you don't sit them down and tell them directly that YOU ARE IN CHARGE, they will assume that THEY are in charge and can do what they want.

It's not always easy to do, but you really need to assert yourself. Good luck to you! :)

Here at my office we went through like 5 secretaries before we found an actual good one. Its sad, but finding a good secretary seems to be hard to do. I have my opinions why, but I wont get into that.


We had one who I swear was on drugs the whole time, one who would go into the work kitchen and just clean. She would pull out rubber gloves she had in her bag to clean with and used these other cotton type gloves when sort papers and such. There was one who could never figure out how to use our phones, but of course said she had plenty of experience.. she would come over the speaker phone and yell that she needed help!)

Sounds as if she's planning to take over your duties in two weeks to me. She's already got your boss wrapped around her finger, and is trying to see exactly what you do - she's gunning for you.

I'm a little strange when it comes to work, but I'd call her into your office, and ask her if that's her plan. If it is (and she's willing to admit it), then thank her for her time, dismiss her, then march right into the boss's office and say that you will train the twit, but nothing else will get down in the next two weeks if you do.

If she won't admit it, then tell her sweetly that you would greatly appreciate having fond memories of your last two weeks, and a harrassment suit would not fulfill that dream of yours. And then stand in front of the boss's door so she KNOWS that she can't squeal without you knowing about it. Then, tell your boss the same thing - that you'd like to be able to do quality work for the last two weeks, and it can't be accomplished with this twit continually disrupting the office. Believe me, NO boss wants discord so close to the holidays!

Oh, make sure you bake her some brownies for Christmas - laced with exlax.

Make a appointment with the owner if you have no HR dept.

I would document everything that she has done in the past that has prevented her from being a quality team player. Make a list of what she needs to do as well as an attitude change in order for her not to be replaced. Explain to your boss that you'd like to make sure that the company is using her talents effectively. Suggest to your boss that a document signed by him putting her on probation so the screwy secretary knows it was his idea and she no longer wastes his valuable time with petty requests. Put her on notice that this kind of behavior will no longer be tolerated in the workplace. Give her 2 weeks to clean up her act.

When she was hired, did she sign a statement about being hired at-will? If she did just drop her asap and get a qualified temp if that's allowed.

Also lock up whatever personal items you have at the office because I suspect she's looking through your things as well when you're gone.

She obviously isn't qualified to do your job or else she would have had it when she was initially hired.

Re: evil secretary
 

Unfortunately I know exactly how you feel. I had the same issues with a receptionist - who was the friend of the Presidents pet at the time - so after I complained about her and he refused to believe me (a 5 year employee over someone that had been there for a few weeks) I told him under no uncertain terms would I be responsible for her if he wasn't going to allow me to manage her as I saw fit. He said fine....things steamrolled from there and I quit about a month later - while she sat at the desk with a cat that just ate the canary's grin on her face.

Well after I left all these bad things kept "mysteriously" happening until she was caught in so many bold faced lies and untruths it was obvious to Stevie Wonder that she was the miscreant in the office. There was not enough money in the world for me to even consider taking that job again but her mistakes cost him a grip of money and offended a number of donors who never returned. To say I laughed when I found out what happened is an understatement and it took everything in me not to call and say I told you so.

So that is to say I don't know why your boss is taking a liking to her to the point where YOU the person that she is to report to is not allowed to do your own job (which is namely to manage her). Talk to your boss - not putting blame - just ask - why is the secretary meeting directly with him? That is putting you in an awkward position and is creating a communication issue (as in the chain of command).

As far as seeing if she is there why not call the office - if she doesn't pick up you can summise that she left early (that's how we caught another liar - she was suppossed to come in at 8:30 to set up and was actually coming in at 8:55 every day until the cleaning staff ratted her out :p ).

OK, I'm a secretary and she sounds like a bit much, BUT, a lot of times the people we support have no clue what is really going on in "our world" and how we get things done.

Is she YOUR secretary, or is she the secretary for the company - and therefore might have reasons to be in the boss' office for half an hour doing things. I find it odd that you have a secretary BUT you are also in a position where a secretary could take over your job if you left tomorrow.

I'm sorry I sound bitchy, but we've been having issues with the people we support being really obnoxious in their demands lately at my office, so I might be a bit sensitive. I'm just trying to determine if you just don't like her, or if she's really a bad worker. There's a partner here I hate and would lock in a closet all day every day if I could, but the clients like him and he gets the job done, so he's staying! :(

This is what I would do. Don't ask open ended questions or make requests where she feels like it's a maybe.

Say:

"Tabitha, I need 3 copies of this book sent to this address via FedEx to arrive there tomorrow"

not

"Tabitha, how are you? hey can you help me with something? Do you think you can send this package out for me?"

For requests like folders, why is she coming to you? Show her where the supplies are and tell her to talk to your boss to order more. That's it.

-Rudey

Stories like this make me appreciate my secretary even more. However, she's going to be promoted within the next several months to paralegal, so i'll likely end up with someone new :(

Oh, goodness, another person who thinks like me. I'm not sure the world is ready for this! :p