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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Do you think it is unreasonable for a boss to ask his Secretary to make a cup of tea?

234 replies

Pepperypig · 06/05/2018 12:42

My boss asked his Secretary to do this for him and a client the other day. It used to be commonplace but I would have thought that it wasn't part of her duties?

OP posts:

ReanimatedMuse · 06/05/2018 12:56

I've not worked anywhere with secretaries- they're surely an outdated concept since typing pools vanished

I have an exec assistant and it's absolutely her role to make coffee, arrange lunch etc.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 06/05/2018 12:56

But it is reasonable within the hierarchy of the workplace. Regardless of the sex of the boss or secretary it is par for the course for the secretary to arrange refreshments, including getting them into the meeting, by catering dept or their own 2 hands.

If it progresses to getting tea just for the boss then there would need to be a conversation. Though, having been the boss and the secretary, I have both been brought and gone and got the first brew of the day, elevenses, sometimes lunch etc. It isn't always a power trip, sometimes it's just about who is doing what, how busy they are!

helpfulperson · 06/05/2018 12:57

I work in team of 6 equals. If one of us has a visitor then one of the others will do the tea/coffee, male or female. I means the visitor isn't left in room on their own which is both antisocial and potential against security guidance.

SerenDippitty · 06/05/2018 12:58

Meant the PAs do it for boss’s visitors and include one for the boss but otherwise bosses make their own.

BumpowderSneezeonAndSnot · 06/05/2018 12:59

And client facing meetings you don't want the office apprentice doing it you want someone who can hold their own with a client, presents well and is a supportive member of the team.

In my office it's whoever puts on the meeting supplies refreshments and the junior members of that project are expected to source them. We all provide our own drinks outside of meetings, make them for each other etc. But hosting external clients is a different matter

AlexanderHamilton · 06/05/2018 12:59

I’m asecretary/PA/Accounts assistant. I would always make tea if asked. I would also hoover the stairs or perform any other housekeeping task. However the boss usually asks one of the manual workers (all Male) to do cleaning jobs. One day he even asked one of the lads to wash my car as he was doing the company van anyway (it was quiet.

In the office my work is sometimes less important than the contracts engineers who are on time deadlines for tenders so of course I’d do those kind of tasks. Conversely if I’m on a deadline doing payroll they would make me a drink or do the sandwich run (I’m one of only two females in a company of 30 men.

BakedBeans47 · 06/05/2018 13:00

My secretary will make tea and coffee for clients and she’ll ask me if I want a drink too. I don’t ask her to make them though.

BumpowderSneezeonAndSnot · 06/05/2018 13:00

And I agree you don't wander off leaving a visitor unattended in a building it's both rude and a security risk.

Rachie1973 · 06/05/2018 13:00

I worked in a surgery. The doctor used to just instant message us 'tea' on the PC system when he wanted a drink. No please or thank you or anything. Infuriated me lol. I didn't mind making the drink but just the basic lack of manners was rude.

Sparklesocks · 06/05/2018 13:02

I’m a PA and when my boss has one or two external clients visiting i will make them a tea/coffee as a hospitality gesture, if it’s a larger meeting then I’ll order some from catering who will bring jugs to the meeting room etc.

But my boss wouldn’t expect me to make him a tea just during the day as he fancies one.

It’s just something we do for guests to show hospitality so i don’t mind doing it as it’s part of my role to make clients feel welcomed.

maddiemookins16mum · 06/05/2018 13:04

I think it's all about the context (iyswim). The boss (so senior to you or whoever), is holding a meeting. The person who reports to him/her is 'junior' and does stuff to enable the meeting to run smoothly/make the client welcome so probably includes booking appt with the client, reserving the room, providing refreshments, reserving said client a parking bay (that happens at our place) etc etc.

Worded as above seems perfectly fine to me, 'secretary making the tea' sounds af if we're working for Grace Brothers in 1975.

nokidshere · 06/05/2018 13:08

TestingTestingWonTooFree that is a different scenario and I have a boss who will happily make me a cup of tea and I will happily make her one. However, I think it's the whole being asked to make tea which seems a bit demeaning. I doubt they would ask a man to do this

Presumably they would if their pa was a man though?

I seriously do not get the whole "it's demeaning" to be asked though. As a PA you would either be aware that providing refreshments for clients is part of your job description or you would be the person that organises a third party to do it.

99ProblemsHopeTheMailAint1 · 06/05/2018 13:09

I would expect the receptionist to make tea, rather than the PA/secretary. However, if for whatever reason there was no receptionist available... sure. Making the tea for an external visitor is a support staff role.

I suspect you're getting offended because the boss is male and the secretary is female, but should the genders be reversed, I would have the same expectation.

Now, outside of a client meeting... I would expect the boss to get his own tea if he had his own office, or possibly to take it in turns with the secretary if open plan.

boywiththebrokensmile2 · 06/05/2018 13:09

''I used to make tea and coffee for the doctors in clinic (am a retired nurse). Sometimes if I was mad busy due to understaffing they would make me a brew. Don’t see a problem with it.''

exactly my ex used to be an assistant head in a secondary school and he'd often go out at break times and pick up the rubbish in the halls and the grounds with his mate who was a maths teacher. People really need to get over themselves.

AlexanderHamilton · 06/05/2018 13:17

I’m probably the most junior person in our office. I don’t see any task asked of me as being demeaning. If the boss fancies a cup of tea I will make him one. If I’m not there he will ask one of the male contracts engineers.

Nothisispatrick · 06/05/2018 13:20

I'm a PA and I absolutley do not want to be asked to make someone pissing tea and coffee, I actually have a genuinely huge workload. Thankfully my boss doesn't really ask me and has tea making facilities in her own office.

TalkinPeece · 06/05/2018 13:22

I doubt they would ask a man to do this.
Do get over yourself OP

The subordinate makes the tea, regardless of their gender or age

AlexanderHamilton · 06/05/2018 13:22

*TalkinPeece

I doubt they would ask a man to do this.
Do get over yourself OP

The subordinate makes the tea, regardless of their gender or age*

This

OliviaStabler · 06/05/2018 13:23

It's part of her job.

Does an MD or CEO really need to waste their time making tea when someone is employed to look after them?

When I was a PA, I'd bring refreshments, go and buy lunch etc. Whatever made the bosses day easier.

bloomsburyer · 06/05/2018 13:24

I think it's fine,

LBOCS2 · 06/05/2018 13:26

If I arrange a meeting, I will let my assistant know when it is and whether we need refreshments. They then book in the meeting room, update my calendar, provide refreshments and if required, take minutes for typing up and distribution post-meeting. I did it when I was in that role years ago too; I've just worked my way up over time. At the moment, my assistant is a young male graduate. He makes an excellent cup of coffee .

TalkinPeece · 06/05/2018 13:30

When i was with the accountancy firm, the most junior first year student always made the tea
regardless of gender or age or creed or colour
till we saw his tie dip into the cup and him squeeze it out back into the cup

JaiPo · 06/05/2018 13:31

I would hate it if I was asked because I was a woman. eg, in the case of the engineer at the start of the thread being asked when the secretary isn't available.. Like if you're a secretary you understand it's part of the job, probably. But if the secretary isn't there and they look around and ask a woman, that'd make me craaaaaaayzzzeeeee

DamsonOnThisDress · 06/05/2018 13:33

Sounds fine to me.

Even if it wasn't 'my' job I'd have no problem doing it. Have made tea, cleaned up boak, washed dishes, washed linen, cleaned and wiped arses amongst other things when it technically wasn't my job. But it needed done so I did it.

But then my pet hate is "that's not in my job description" people. Obviously not opening self up to exploitation but I like people who, if something needs done, roll up their sleeves and get on with it. Usually have it done quicker than the usual suspects spend mithering that "that's not my job".

I'm probably in the minority but I really can't be doing with people like that. Especially over a cup of tea.

greendale17 · 06/05/2018 13:35

Completely standard. Anyway it is the secretary’s job to do whatever the boss asks be that making drinks or doing paperwork

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